[NAGDU] Using positive reinforcement instead of punishment

[Bianka]

Hi Jiska and all,

My current school does not usually teach to rework a situation like this but I know it from my previous school and have used it with all my dogs. Personally, I found that leash corrections are not the right way to handle these kinds of situations. I feel asking the dog to stop, turn around and rework the situation is disrupting the flow in such a way that usually the dog will be motivated to do it right next time. Now, if I see the same mistake a second time I usually drop the harness handle and show my dog the overhead obstacle or the curb he/she missed if it‘s safe, that will usually do the trick. Even with my black lab who was sometimes hard to motivate a leash correction would only shut her down in those situations. 

As for the clicker, I have conditioned a praise word and I do use treats if I know it will help my dog stay on track. I find the clicker very helpful in training really specific behaviors but you have to be very careful as to the timing of the click. On route I use a conditioned marker word and treats. As for a no reward marker, I think it‘s a question of attitude. Dogs are very good pattern matchers. So you could either use a non-reward marker or just use a command to tell the dog what he/she should do. In fact, my school teaches a non-reward marker or verbal correction has always to be followed by the thing we want our dog to do in that particular moment. 

Just my two cents, hth, 

Kind regards,

Bianka