Discover positive training - a science-based, humane approach to dog handling that includes rewards-based, positive reinforcement methods - and its four pillars.
There are many different terms used to describe "positive training." These include positive reinforcement, reward-based, force-free training, and more. Positive training is not a scientific term, but rather a set of teaching methods and living principles that focus on building strong bonds with dogs, understanding their needs, creating enriching learning environments, and giving them the skills to live successfully in a human world.
When we at Positively refer to the power of positive training or you hear Victoria describe herself as a positive trainer, that means we're incorporating philosophies, techniques, and levels of awareness that cumulatively add up to our idea of what positive training is. Contrary to what others in the training world often suggest, being a positive trainer does not mean that we never say no to our dogs or that we don't instill boundaries. We do, but the methods and guiding principles we use when working with dogs are constructive, humane, science-led and do not involve any tools or methods that inflict physical punishment, cause fear or intimidate dogs into behaving.
The Positively Pillars
The Positively Pillars will help you build a solid foundation of understanding and will give you the essential ingredients needed to help your dog learn and thrive without having to resort to punitive training techniques. The Positively Pillars will enhance your training success and make learning an enjoyable experience for both you and your dog.
The four components of The Positively Pillars encourage us to:
- Appreciate the dog's point of view
- Recognize and meet the dog's needs
- Understand and apply positive training
- Avoid fear, physical punishment and intimidation
All four pillars work together. Without any one of them, the philosophy is not complete and is not as powerful and effective in building long-term relationships with your pets based on mutual trust and understanding.
Pillar #1: Appreciate the dog’s point of view
Appreciating a dog’s point of view forms the foundation of everything we do with them. Understanding how your dog moves about her world, thinks, feels, and learns will not only make teaching her easier, it will also give you a deeper understanding of her needs.
Learning about the canine experience is all about exploring the world of dog senses, emotions, and cognition (or how dogs think) and putting yourself in their paws so that you have a better understanding of what drives their behavior and how you can help them adapt more easily to domestic life.
Pillar #2: Recognize and meet the dog’s needs
Even if we try and suppress them, dog-specific behaviors will find a way to express themselves, so meeting your dog’s needs rather than suppressing them means honoring his dogness! Dogs are often blamed for their 'misbehavior' but in dog world there is no such thing as 'good' or 'bad' behavior, there is just behavior. We are the ones that have attached the labels, 'good' and 'bad' to behavior we like and behavior we want our dogs to stop. We have good reasons for this, as some canine behavior is unacceptable and even dangerous in our world, but that doesn't mean dogs should be punished or blamed for behaving like dogs. If anything, we can learn a lot from our canine companions because they're nothing but completely genuine. They feel what they feel, and they're going to express those feelings without reservation, even if we don't appreciate how they express them.
Once we understand what our dogs need, we can provide them with the things that make them whole and sometimes this is the only ingredient needed to modify or stop a disruptive or unsafe behavior. Identifying your dog's needs can change the way you live with him and open up a whole new world where he feels content, safe, enriched and emotionally healthy.
Pillar #3: Understand and apply positive training
Dogs are very good at learning and adapting to different situations and environments but the human world is full of obstacles and hard lessons that need to be learned, so teaching dogs to navigate this world is made easier by teaching them the skills they need to be successful.
While we must teach these skills using positive methods and guide dogs into making the right choices, (choices we need them to make because we know what works and what doesn't in our world), we can also use positive training methods to help with disruptive or dangerous behavior issues that make things hard for dogs or disrupt the dog/guardian status quo.
When our dogs do things we don't like, we focus on getting them to stop! We get annoyed and shout or scratch our heads and wonder how we're going to get them to behave, and as we worry and scour the internet for advice on how we can stop the behavior, we forget to ask WHY our dogs are behaving in ways we don't like. Dogs are often blamed for behaving 'badly', and this simply is not fair. But this is where positive training really shines. Teaching dogs skills helps them navigate their world successfully and improves communication and trust.
Pillar #4: Avoid fear, physical punishment and intimidation
There is no plainer way to put this: fear, pain, and intimidation simply have no place in the relationship we have with our dogs! No matter how seductive the results seem to be on that dog training show you just watched where the trainer wrestled an aggressive dog to the ground and made him stop biting - (it's a miracle!) - do not be fooled! This is not the way anyone should be treating a dog, even in the name of training, and there is no justification for handling any dog violently, regardless of the behavior you're trying to stop.
Man battling dog might make 'sexy' TV but it's a tragedy that this method of training is celebrated and endorsed by the entertainment industry and beyond. Trust your own eyes and watch the poor dogs who are put in these situations. Their bodies, tails, and faces tell a very different story to what the trainer or narrator might be saying they're learning and feeling. Dominating dogs in the name of training on television and other media as well as in private practice is not success - it is abuse. Would these so called professionals get away using the same punitive techniques to teach children? No - they would be in jail and we would all be appalled. Yet somehow, even though dogs are vulnerable beings that rely on us 100 % for their safety and care, punitive techniques are still celebrated and few trainers face the consequences of their actions. It is time for everyone, including the entertainment industry, to wake up and start treating dogs with the care and attention we show children and other vulnerable beings.
Misconceptions, punitive training techniques and theories work against the dreams we have for living our best lives with our dogs. They undermine relationships and damage trust. They make dogs feel more insecure and anxious. They damage confidence and exacerbate aggressive behavior. Just think how you would feel if you were on the receiving end of such treatment.
The good news is that regardless of the kind of dog you have or the issue you're working with, you don't have to choose between being kind to him and having him behave well. You can have both, thanks to the power of positive training!
The Positively Pillars combined
The Positively Pillars work together to create a training philosophy that seeks to reward and motivate instead of punish, a philosophy that relies on our current understanding of dog behavior and reflects how a dog experiences the world. This is our recipe for positive training.
Understanding positive reinforcement
Positive reinforcement is simple: if your dog is rewarded for doing a certain behavior, there's a better chance of that behavior happening again. In other words, if there are good consequences, behavior is likely to be repeated. The behavior has therefore been positively reinforced.
The use of positive reinforcement methods for teaching dogs has been endorsed by veterinarians and the behavioral scientific community at large as the most effective, long-lasting, humane, and safe method of training dogs.
How does positive reinforcement work?
Your dog learns that good things happen to her when she does a particular action that you want her to do. For example, if your dog looks at you, and you want her to do that more often, you can give her a reward for looking at you. If the reward is something your dog likes, she is more likely to look at you again. You can then pair the action of looking at you with a word like 'look,' or use her name to get her attention.
- Positive reinforcement relies on meaningful rewards. For positive reinforcement training to work, your dog needs to be rewarded with something she likes and is meaningful to her. That reward is most often food, but it can also be toys, your attention, praise, or access to something your dog likes to do, such as getting to sniff in the garden or go for a walk. Whatever reward you use, it needs to be something your dog really likes.
- Positive reinforcement is non-confrontational. Using positive reinforcement techniques means that you don't have to be confrontational with your dog. He decides what to do based on rewards he gets, without the use of force, so the trust you have built up between you isn’t damaged by threatening treatment.
- Positive reinforcement helps replace unwanted behaviors. If you reinforce the behavior that you like enough, your dog will repeat the behavior. This also means there is less chance that your dog will choose to do other things that you don't like or are unsafe. You can also teach behaviors that are incompatible with unwanted behaviors, such as teaching your dog to stand in front of someone when she greets them instead of jumping up.
- Positive reinforcement can reduce a dog’s frustration. When you teach and reward a dog for what you want him to do, he'll be more confident in different situations because he knows what to do. Having a skill or knowing how to respond makes dogs feel more secure.
- Positive reinforcement is safer and more effective. Science has spoken about the effectiveness of positive reinforcement methods. Modern behavioral and cognitive science has shown that positive reinforcement is the safest and most effective way to train dogs. Because positive training motivates a dog with rewards; this can change the way a dog feels about a certain situation and increases the chance that she will make the 'right’ choices. The coping skills she has learned help her navigate the world successfully and creates a feeling of comfortable predictability.
- Positive reinforcement is one piece of the puzzle. Positive reinforcement training works along with other elements of understanding and caring for your dog. When you're working with a behavior issue, you need to determine the cause of the behavior and then figure out how to modify and change it. This is much easier if you employ a certified professional trainer to help you. It's vitally important that you give your dog the opportunities and tools he needs to live successfully in your strange human world. A dog that is given consistent guidance from an early age has the best chance of growing up to be a confident dog. A confident dog is more emotionally balanced and experiences less anxiety-based behaviors.
Be the person your dog thinks you are
The strongest relationships between dogs and humans are based on cooperation and kindness rather than on human dominance and animal submission. If you choose to use positive techniques when building a relationship with your dog, you're well on your way to establishing and maintaining a connection that increases trust and results in a stronger, healthier bond between you. Put simply, if your dog feels good about you, she will be happier, confident, and more inclined to respond to you when you ask her to do something.
Changing behavior
The process of changing a dog’s behavior using positive reinforcement relies on understanding, consistency, repetition, and patience.
- INVESTIGATE. Identify why your dog is doing what he's doing. You can't effectively deal with a behavior unless you know the root cause.
- UNDERSTAND. Once you know why, then you can then ask yourself how to treat the behavior. To do this, it's vitally important you understand your dog.
- LEARN. Figure out how to communicate clearly. Effective two-way communication increases the bond between you.
- MOTIVATE. Find what motivates your dog and use this while teaching. Rewards in the form of food, toys, praise, or play are powerful, but every dog is different, so find out what motivates your dog the most.
- BE KIND. Never hit, scream at, or yank your dog. Do not combat fear with more fear—recognize your dog’s concerns and challenges, then slowly and gently help him overcome them.
- SLOW DOWN. Go very slowly when dealing with anxiety-related behaviors.
- BE CONSISTENT. Everyone in your dog's life must be on the same page and provide consistency in training, expectations and reactions. If one person lets your dog on the couch and someone else doesn't, he'll get confused.
- BE PATIENT. Just like with humans, the more significant the behavior issue, the longer it can take to develop a solution. Stay the course and always remember that the power of positive training is the right choice in all situations, no matter what the issue.
Types of rewards
A crucial element of positive reinforcement training is identifying and providing high-value rewards for behavior you want. The appropriate and timely delivery of a reward during training makes learning more fun. Importantly, this positive interaction between dog and human also encourages a mutual understanding that increases the human/animal bond.
The use of rewards in training is sometimes misunderstood. You might have read somewhere that using treats is bribery and the dog should do what the human says because of a hierarchy. But that’s not correct, it’s not how dogs learn, and those ideas don’t reflect the value and power of using rewards for training. Rewarding your dog with food is not bribery, it's a valuable salary that is paid to your dog for a job well done.
So what makes a reward valuable to your dog?
- A reward should be something that motivates your dog. Not all dogs will be motivated by the same things, and what humans think is rewarding might be very different for a dog. For example, some dogs like to be petted while others prefer to be praised. Some dogs like food while other prefer toys.
- Food is the most commonly used reward for dogs that are food-motivated because it's a primary need, and therefore a great reinforcer.
- Non-food rewards such as toys, praise or play can be just as powerful for some dogs. For many dogs, the anticipation of the reward becomes as much a part of the good feeling as the reward itself.
Using food in training
Successful positive training relies in large part on determining exactly what motivates your dog the most. While each dog is different and some may be motivated by praise, play, toys, or life rewards like going for a walk, very often food is the most motivating reward and can be a powerful tool for training and changing a dog’s behavior.
Food is an effective motivator for dogs
Food is considered one of the primary reinforcers for all animals because they have to eat to survive! Food is readily available and flexible to use and helps dogs to learn with confidence because seeking for and consuming food is satisfying and pleasurable. This facilitates communication and trust between dog and guardian, which helps with learning.
Food is also powerful for its use in changing how an animal feels about a situation. For behavior issues driven by fear or anxiety, as long as the dog doesn't feel conflicted when eating, food can play a major role in creating a more positive feeling, which can help reduce anxiety and allow learning to take place. Just seeking for and anticipating food can raise the levels of dopamine, a neurotransmitter in a dog's brain that plays a major role in reward-driven learning and helps regulate movement and emotional responses.
Types of food for training
There is no rule as to what food you should or shouldn't use – your dog will usually make the choice! Some dogs work well for regular kibble, while others need extra incentive in the form of jerky-style dog treats, cheese, chicken, or peanut butter. Whatever food you use, it must work for the dog. You might need to use higher-value food for more difficult tasks or in more distracting situations as long as this is not causing conflict in your dog - for example, your dog is feeling overwhelmed in a situation, will eat the food, but still feels overwhelmed. The seeking and consuming of food must be a pleasant experience for the dog. If your dog is grabbing at, taking or eating treats very fast, this might indicate she's not feeling comfortable and it's time for you to change the environment.
If your dog doesn’t respond to food
Some dogs don’t seem to be motivated by treats, especially when in new or uncertain situations. If that’s the case, first try an even higher-value food, such as a bit of meat, cheese, or soft training treats. You can try coating her kibble with a little bit of something tastier, such as chicken or peanut butter. If you think your dog isn’t hungry, feed her less at mealtimes and make up her daily quota of food with tasty, motivational treats used while training.
Sometimes dogs don't respond to food because they are too overwhelmed by anxiety, pain, or a medical condition. Consult a veterinarian for a health check if you suspect these causes.
Avoiding weight gain when training with food
Training with food doesn’t have to mean extra calories for your dog. A few simple steps can ensure your dog doesn’t gain weight:
- Measure your dog’s daily food intake, and use the food he would normally get in his bowl as his rewards when training. This will ensure you're not adding extra calories to his diet.
- If you use treats or other food for training, reduce your dog’s meal portions a little bit, so their daily calorie count remains the same.
- Break up training food into small pieces, no bigger than the size of your pinky fingernail. That way, each treat is a small amount of food intake.
- Keep up with exercise!
