Dog Training – Positive vs. Negative Reinforcement

If you are a dog owner, you would know that dogs naturally do things that we don’t like sometimes. You know, they bark excessively, chew everything that isn’t stapled to the ceiling, pee and poo where you don’t want them to, and so on. They also don’t have the ability to figure out how to behave on their own. Simply put, they must be trained. In this article we will take a look at how we can achieve that.

There are two basic approaches on how to train a dog – positive reinforcement and negative reinforcement. Today, most experts in the field agree that positive reinforcement should be the main method of training.

What is positive reinforcement training? It’s a method where the trainer reinforces a desired behavior with a reward, with something that the dog likes or wants. Every time a dog performs a desired behavior, he gets a reward which makes it more likely he will repeat the behavior in the future. A reward could be a tasty treat, a hug, a favorite toy, or just attention and interaction with the owner.

The opposite of positive reinforcement in a negative reinforcement where the trainer delivers a punishment, or negative consequence, when the dog performs an undesirable behavior. Punishment gets the dog to stop doing something. Negative reinforcement is connected to misbehavior.

Unlike negative reinforcement, positive reinforcement is not associated with stress, fear, avoidance, and other negative emotions. In most cases, it’s more effective than punishment.

Negative reinforcement has its benefits and it would be quite unrealistic to think that you can properly train a dog using only positive reinforcement. But because it can have serious long-lasting consequences, it has to be used very sparingly and carefully.

I myself always use mainly positive reinforcement techniques to train my dogs and I love training them. This builds a strong relationship and it’s a great way to bond. Always remember, a well behaved dog is a happy dog and a credit to its owner.