The summer is really too hot for me to think properly, but in the last month or so I've seen quite a few posts and comments on Facebook dealing with positive reinforcement versus what in these circles is considered a violent way to train a dog. I thought I'd spend some time thinking about that (again) today, even though it's hot and my brain is overcooked several times over.
My interest began when I read a debate post in GP (I think), where the authors meant that we must dare to handle our dogs. They also wrote about this phenomenon of never saying no to your dog doesn't always work as intended (which I stand by 100%).
It feels like that I have written about this more than is necessary, but I think it is important. It seems to me that supporters of positive reinforcement have completely missed that several things are needed for a dog's life to function fully. It is also my experience that the same people do not differentiate between dog and dog, that they assume that all people have the same ability to handle/raise/train dogs, and that everyone starts with their dogs from 8 weeks of age.
I buy quite a bit directly that there are certainly many dogs where positive reinforcement is more or less the only thing needed. I am convinced that many of the companion dogs in particular are soft in the psyche and also docile, willing to make their man law and so on. With that type of dog, it is not very likely that you need to be more than yourself.
Men.
The exists also dogs – actually quite a few, who have a tougher and tougher psyche, who are wayward, independent, more seriously laid, happy to make decisions on their own, who take liberties without asking permission – and then they are not necessarily dominant, but just – mer, than the type of dog I described above.
Leadership and upbringing versus dog training
I do not think that I will ever understand the point of training one's dog on time and off time, to always have training to fall back on when situations or behaviors arise that you don't like. I train very little with Boyo, if compared to others – because I spend most of my time living with him and in that way informing him of what is going on. Of course there are times when we devote ourselves a little more to training; such as when we see hares or cats out on the walks. But on the whole, I believe that upbringing is significantly more important than training. Now I don't have children, but if I had children I would not train them in various manners – I would raise them. Continuously.
I know that many have a very hard time with the word leadership, which I personally think is very strange. But you yourself are responsible for your own interpretation, I have mine and it works for me. In my opinion, leadership is much more important than how, and how often you train your dog. Leadership has to do with how you relate to your dog, how to deal with it, what self-knowledge and self-insight one has about how one's own behavior is, one's own energy, humor, attitude and so on, affects the dog.
Leadership has too to do with getting a dog you can handle, regardless of whether the dog is trained or not. There are reasons why not everyone should have a working dog. There are reasons why not everyone should have a Molosser (mastiffer, guard- and cattle dogs). There are reasons why not everyone should have a hunting dog. Why? Because man and dog are not compatible in terms of mentality and psyche. It is not very nice to either to get a dog of one breed (or more) where the human ability does not correspond to the dog's needs.
And some dogs need more than constant positive reinforcement. Some dogs need very clear boundaries. Some dogs have a psyche that more or less requires a different approach and treatment than a companion dog.
But it means not that you have to be violent or mean. The only thing it means is that you have to relate to your dog in a different way, have a different attitude and a different energy. And there are things that can differ between two dogs of the same breed. I can only take Ella and Boyo as examples. Ella demanded about a thousand times more from me than Boyo. Ella had a psyche of steel, a will and a drive that cannot be compared to Boyos. Letting her run wild has never been an option, but in order to make her work, what many would surely call quite hard work was needed. I was forced to be physical with her – and believe me, I am not alone in this perception of Ella in particular. Boyo, on the other hand, is much easier to handle in every way, although he was very free for a long period when he was a teenager at his very worst.
Where is the limit??
There, it is not ok to hit or kick your dog, or to otherwise abuse it. I think everyone agrees on that. The only reason I can think of is in self defense, if the own dog or the man himself is attacked by another dog and the situation becomes untenable. It has never happened to me, so I don't know how to react, actually. But I last heard a few days ago about a person who felt compelled to kick his own dog to get it to let go of another, smaller dog. It sounds strange and unpleasant to my ears, but I was not there to see the incident, so it's hard to know how anything in the situation happened.
But if we returns to leadership, and perhaps above all this with physical corrections that I know many people are so negatively disposed to. I myself physically correct my dog when he misbehaves. Now he rarely behaves so badly that I have to, but in situations when, for example, we meet a cat, a hare or a bird – then I may feel compelled to poke him on the book or the page to break his concentration. I hit hard? No, not significantly. But if he doesn't notice, It's pointless. In the same way, I can grab him to stop him from running away or come up with some other excuse – but I think it's happened maybe three times in our time together, and the simple reason for that is that it has not been needed.
Regarding corrections, I am really of the opinion that the correction must correspond to the degree of what you want to stop/change. If I go for a walk with my dog and he wants to sniff a spot half a meter outside the length of the leash, the resistance that occurs when he passes the length of the leash is usually enough. Does he want to hit the road and chase a car, something completely different is needed. If he is too focused on something else he wants to chase (it was the thing with cats, hares and birds), a correction corresponding to the intensity of his attention is required.
It's when a correction far exceeds the intensity of the dog's action that it becomes tricky. But giving your dog a physical correction is not automatically violence – I really can't like it. If you think so, let it stand for you. But for me it is not like that.
Nurture or train
For me is positive reinforcement a great tool when I actually have to train my dog. But that applies precisely to training – and unlike many, I attach great importance to my leadership. Without my leadership, the training will be less effective, that is something I am completely convinced of. But dog training applies, At least for me, a few specific things. Above all, it is about giving my dog mental, and sometimes physical challenges and stimulation.
Other trades our life together about him learning how we live together. And there training is quite uninteresting. I want to be so clear that he understands when he needs to move from my place on the couch, or when he has to jump off the bed for me to go to sleep. I want him to be able to go with me, side by side, because that's how we take our walks – not because I have obedience trained him for competition.
In my world is there a vast difference between raising and training a dog. In my world, raising my dog comes first, while training my dog comes pretty far down the priority list. After all, it is our life together that is most important, that he functions socially both with people and animals (except outdoor cats, hares and birds, obviously) and that we have a good time together. That nice time together can include exercise with positive reinforcement – absolutely.
But the training is not the most important thing in our relationship. The most important is how I actively choose to be with my dog, how I just as actively choose to react to and handle situations that are guaranteed to arise sooner or later. Buss- and train travel. Lots of people and dogs in town. Visiting other people's homes. New environments. Meetings with unknown people late at night.
That's how I, as my dog's human and leader, choose to deal with things that are interesting. I think. And in case I wasn't clear enough; for me all this is not about training my dog in these situations. It is about, by being me, inform my dog of what I expect.