I also have a b.c. mix that is a sweet pea and wouldn’t fight with another dog, ever. He is clicker trained, never worn a prong or choke and never needed to. He’s a natural follower, looking to me for guidance at every turn.

I think positive reinforcement should be used for household tricks and behaviors. Sit, down, stay, speak etc. And also for dog sports–my lab has 3 years of agility under her belt, 100% positive training.

However I have never garnered a clear understanding of how a clicker and some treats are supposed to stop or prevent a dog fight. Or prevent my lab from trying to dominate every dog in our neighborhood.

It’s a mixed bag for me, you have to tailor the training to the dog. Both methods have been proven to be effective in various situations. What worries me about the resurgance of corrective methods is that with little information the average person has the potential to harm their dog with these techniques. No easy answer I suppose.

Greekman–for the type of work you do, the training you use is spot on. I would argue however, that just as many good dogs have been ruined by corrective training as those ruined by the positive training. My border collie would break under that kind of pressure, however he would never be the type of dog to use in protection work or ring sports. Each dog has a job to fullfil and your training methods depend on that entirely!

So these folks got together to form what I like to call the Association of Platitude Dispensing Trainers – and the whole positive movement then had a collected voice … and boy have they got a lot to say (you’ll soon see what I mean). And the best part … to this very day, the only membership requirement is that members have to keep their dues paid. Members do not have to be able to train any dog, heck, there is no requirement to ever have even owned one. If you can fill out the application and a check … you’re in.

Funny as all heck … at their annual conferences, attendees are discouraged (I’ve heard prohibited) from bringing any dogs … can’t be trusted to manage them in public places. How’s that as a statement for the measure of the positive movement?

How long will it last? Part of me says: I hope forever … they are great for business!! But then I see the numbers of dogs they are failing, or breeds they are contributing to the banning of (by failing to get the dogs trained and the owners motivated) and I hope they go away, before my best friend does.

It will ebb and flow. People will get so sick of permissive parenting/dog ownership and start the beatings. It will ebb and flow. Both methods work, and I’m in the middle. I have more fun looking for things I like my dog to do, but there’s a time for “no.”

I’m a teacher – I see these kids every day. The ones with no accountability, no sense of responsibility because they aren’t getting it at home – and neither are their pets. So they raise brats for children and brats for dogs.

Do dogs deserve spankings no – but think about it people. Negative reinforcement need not be abuse. Negative reinforcement can be as simple as shaking a can of coins at a barking dog (which I got thumbs downed for by the way – how cruel!!). Negative reinforcement can be as simple as – you are pulling me this way so I am going to go in the opposite direction because I decide where we go.

My trainer does NOT advocate intimidation but she pointed something out – that I think a lot of people forget. In a pack – even a pack of dogs (not wolves) somebody is leader – and if my lower on the totem pole dog does something the pack leader doesn’t like, the pack leader is going to put him in his place – quickly, swiftly, and with no remorse. Dogs don’t feel bad about putting an ill-behaving dog in its place. Nor should we. if need be, if you need to control an out of control dog, people need to think like a dog. I’m not saying alpha roll or beat the dog, because you are a human and your dog isn’t going to get it. But life is NOT always about positive things – you have to teach humans and pets to deal with negative things as well – it can be just as powerful if not more so.

ETA: To Jackie G,
A lot of dogs have devolped fear, aggression and injuries from traditional methods
This is untrue, dog do not become aggressive because of training unless the training was unusually cruel, unjust and the dog did not understand what was expected, then the dog would come to fear the handler and become aggressive because it had no choice but this is not what is being discussed. If you were a knowledgeable dog trainer, you would know that all dogs do not react the same to every training method. Also, I just want to add that I do use corrections in my training and my dogs do not fear me, as a matter of fact, I have 5 shadows everywhere I go because they see me as the leader and they respect me. Dogs are not humans and they do not view things the same as a human would.

Seems to me the preferred training method ought to be whatever works for the person and the particular dog. If, instead of embracing an entire methodology we would look at them and learn from many…we’d be much more effective as trainers and as people.