Which of these mistakes do you make training your dog?
Wednesday, July 28, 2010 21:33
This morning I had a meeting with a potential client
and met him at the trendy $5.25 cup of coffee restaurant
when I witnessed something that shocked me.
I had just ordered my coffee and I knew the women serving
me was new. She was very polite but messed up my order.
I told her it was no problem and took a seat to wait for
her to make a new cup.
As I was sitting there, she told her boss that she had messed
up – this is where it got interesting.
The “Boss” started to royally chew her out. She ripped into
her telling her all the mistakes she had made that day. The
boss added that she had better “get it together – FAST!”
I felt bad for the lady and asked her how long she had been
working there. She told me that it was her first day.
I handed her a very generous tip and walked away.
As I sat at the table, I thought about an email that I received
a few days ago.
In the email the person said that she had recently adopted
a dog and she was having a tough time. She said that she
went to a trainer who informed her that he never uses treats
and the dog learns who the leader is.
The email went on to explain how her dog is now starting to
show signs of aggression.
I’ll never understand why anyone would think negative motivation
would work better than positive motivation.
The employee serving me the coffee is eventually going to
become aggressive with her boss. She’ll put up with it for
a week, maybe months, but eventually she is going to give
the one finger salute and scream some words unfit for this
Rated G family friendly email.
In short, she is going to hit her level of tolerance and become
aggressive.
Every person, every dog has a tolerance level. My wife has a
much longer tolerance level than I do.
She can get cut off while driving, sit through rude behavior at a
restaurant, long lines at the department of motor vehicles and still have
a smile on her face.
I run a little hotter.
My tolerance level is much shorter.
When it comes to training, if you use negative motivation it is
just a matter of time before your dog hits his tolerance level
and becomes defensive and aggressive.
It is much better to approach training with a positive attitude.
I’ll never understand why anyone would think treats would be a
bad idea when it comes to training.
I’ll guarantee this – using treats will NOT put your dog in a bad
mood. Using force, pinch, shock and choke collars will.
Anyway, start using positive motivation to train your dog. You
won’t have to worry about your dog going to the dark side.
All the best,
Eric
P.S. One last thing – When a dog does go to the dark side, it can
be verrrry difficult to bring them back. If you want to make sure
your dog never goes to the dark side check out The Dog Training
Inner Circle.