5 Common Misconceptions About Positive Dog Training

As a force free professional dog trainer, I have spent my career studying positive reinforcement and behavior change. Positive reinforcement training has been shown in study after study to be more effective and more humane than any other type of training. Despite this, there are still misconceptions about it. The 5 listed here are the most common ones that I see and hear about.

1.) There is no discipline in positive training.

This is a really common misconception that I discuss with clients on a regular basis. Positive trainers don’t use physical punishments to correct a dog’s behavior, but we do work to instill discipline. In fact, I would argue that this is a large part of force free training. Rather than causing pain and fear to “correct” a dog, we work on teaching dogs to make better choices. Giving dogs options of behaviors to perform and allowing them to make choices on their own gives the dog more freedom, while improving their impulse control at the same time. Sounds a lot like discipline to me.

2.) “There is more than one way to train a dog.”

This is actually technically true. (Hold on, let me explain!) I utilize several different techniques to teach behavior. Clicker training works well for a lot of dogs, but isn’t ideal for others. For some cues I will use a luring technique (using a reward to help put the dog in the desired position/place) , and for others I recommend catching (rewarding the dog for doing the behavior without prompting). For more complex behaviors I frequently use shaping (breaking the cue into smaller pieces in order to get the final result). So, yes. There are several different ways that trainers can effectively and humanely change behavior. But NONE of these require the learner to be in pain or afraid.

3.) Positive training is bribery.

Let me be clear, the main concept behind positive dog training is rewarding a dog for behaviors that we like and want the dog to continue to perform. The reward happens once the dog has done the behavior, not before.
I encourage my clients to view the reinforcers (treats, toys, attention, play, etc.) as a paycheck. The vast majority of humans must go to work to earn money in order to eat, have a place to live, etc. Money is necessary to survival and because of this, humans view it as a primary reinforcer. When we go to work and slide our punch card, we do so in the expectation that a pay check will be deposited into our bank account at the end of the week. No one’s boss is standing next to the clock in machine waving their pay check around encouraging us to slide our attendance cards. THIS would be a bribe! Expectation of payment is not bribery, but payment is a critical part of the training process. This is especially true for the early stages of training and the beginnings of teaching new behaviors. A strong reinforcement history must be built between the trainer and the learner for desired behaviors in order for these learned behaviors to become innate.

4.) Positive methods don’t work on aggressive dogs.

False! I have a lot of experience training dogs with aggression issues, and positive methods not only work but they are more effective and safer! You don’t have to take my word for it, the American Veterinary Society of Animal Behavior, the leaders of the vet behavior industry, recently published a position statement stating that positive methods of training are the ONLY methods they recommend ESPECIALLY for cases of aggression. (See it here.) In fact, traditional punitive training methods can and do make behavior issues worse.

5.) Dogs trained with rewards stop doing the behaviors once you stop giving them treats.

Not if you do so correctly! My favorite mantra is that we “treat frequently to teach and infrequently to maintain behaviors”. When dogs (humans, dolphins, any other species really) are first learning, we need to make sure we reward each exhibition of the behavior we are trying to obtain. The rewards are what show the dog what we want and what behaviors will work for them. Once they have learned the behavior, we move to a random reinforcement schedule. Once an animal (or person) has learned a behavior, being rewarded randomly is actually more rewarding than getting a reward every time. This is why gambling is addictive y’all! When the behavior has been learned we can slowly decrease the frequency at which the dog is rewarded. When dogs stop performing cues when we reduce the rate of reinforcement typically this is due to human error. We have changed the criteria too quickly, the dog truly hadn’t learned the behavior we were asking for, and/or the environment or situation was too distracting.

Countless scientific studies have shown us that positive training is the most effective, most humane, and the most recommended by veterinary behaviorists and animal behaviorists. Despite this, there is still a lot of misunderstanding of positive methods. I hope that this helped provide some insight on some of the most common misconceptions I experience with clients, friends, etc.