Old fashioned trainers relied heavily on punishment in the early years of dog-training. Either the dog learned what he needed to learn, or he suffered the consequences. Consequences included physically punishing the dog (hitting, kicking, kneeing, shocking, hanging, etc), as well as implied punishment (yelling, raising a hand or fist, etc.). (Unfortunately, many trainers still use these methods).Dogs learned quickly to do what they were told. Or else. So the training actually worked - dogs did what people wanted. slowly, praise made it's way into training. Dogs got verbal "atta boys" when they did something right. They still got punished if they did something wrong, however.
In the dog training world, if the correct behavior earns and any incorrect behavior earns punishment - the dog is likely to do nothing, which according to us is wrong and earns punishment
A positive reinforcement trainer doesn't blame or punish the dog for the wrong behavior (or the absence of a behavior). Instead, a positive reinforcement trainer takes the responsibility for teaching the dog. It's not the fault of the dog, it's the fault of the teacher. Positive reinforcement trainers try to find a different way to teach the behavior.
Behavior science tells us that behaviors that aren't reinforced (rewarded) will go away. This is called extinction. Punishment merely suppresses behavior, but it doesn't extinguish it. Think of this in terms of a fire at your house.do you want to suppress the fire or extinguish it? I want the fire gone, I want the fire extinguished! I fit is merely suppressed, the fire can (and probably) will come back later. definitely not what I want.
Punishment merely teaches what NOT to do. There are an awful lot of things we don't want our dogs to do. Teaching your dog in this manner could take a long time. It's more productive to focus on what you want your dog TO DO.
Punishment often results in a sort of behavioral constriction. The person who is punished may discover that the safest way to avoid punishment in the future is to avoid doing anything that even remotely resembles the punished action.
If it can be done, then why are people still using punishment to train their dogs? Unfortunately, it is because we can. We are physically larger than our dogs and we are able to administer punishment. However, just because we can administer punishment doesn't mean we should.
Reprinted with permission of:
Laurie Luck, CPDT
Smart Dog University
