The only option for me
Twenty years ago, when I adopted Jody, my Rottweiler, many people told me, “He’s a bad dog — you need to take classes with a trainer.” So I joined a training club. After only two sessions, during which I saw my dog being jerked by the collar and suspended at the end of the leash, I promised myself that I would never put her through that again.
For many years, dog training felt synonymous with harsh and outdated methods. I probably had the least “trained” dog in town, but I didn’t mind — she was happy, and that mattered most to me.
Then one day, someone introduced me to a respectful and compassionate approach to dog training, often referred to as positive reinforcement training. It was a revelation.
A holistic approach
My work is based on a holistic and compassionate approach that considers all the elements influencing a dog’s well-being and behaviour. Behaviour does not arise in isolation: it is shaped by many interacting factors, including the dog’s biological and emotional needs, physical health, physical and emotional comfort, sleep quality, nutrition, the environment, and the relationship with the humans they live with.
For this reason, my support looks beyond the behaviour itself and focuses on understanding the broader context in which it occurs.
My approach is not based on authority or controlling the dog, but understanding and cooperation, and respect for the individual. I place particular importance on emotional safety, freedom of choice, and recognising the dog as a sentient individual with their own needs and limits.
Dogs learn and adapt most successfully when they feel safe, understood, and respected. When given the opportunity to make choices and when their boundaries are acknowledged, they are more able to develop confidence, emotional balance, and resilience. The well-being of the dog and that of the human are closely interconnected. Supporting one inevitably means supporting the other, so that both can experience greater calm, mutual understanding, and harmony in everyday life.
Choice & cooperation
Respect for animals and their well-being means giving them as much freedom as possible to make choices about their lives and their environment.
We control almost everything in our dogs’ lives: what they eat, when they go out, what they’re allowed to do and what they’re not allowed to do… Like wild animals in zoos, the domestic dog also lives in a form of captivity. Science has shown that having control over one’s own life – by being able to make choices – is a sine qua non for well-being, whatever the species.
By opting for respectful training, you’ll be giving your dog back control over his life. You give him the opportunity to make choices and influence his life through the consequences of those choices. You no longer impose, but cooperate with your dog to improve your life together.
The science of behavior
Thanks to scientific research, we now know that dogs learn by making associations. This allows us to influence their emotions, which in turn influence their behavior. The first thing to take into account in any learning process is the emotional state of the learner (in this case, the dog). If the dog is too stressed, he won’t be able to learn.
B.F. Skinner – an eminent 20th-century psychologist and one of the masters of the behaviorist school- was interested in the operant aspect of behavior: what is the effect of a consequence on behavior? In particular, Skinner established that to increase the future frequency of a behavior, it must have a positive/pleasant/desired consequence for the subject. This is known as positive reinforcement. Conversely, any consequence that decreases the future frequency of a behavior is called punishment.
Dogs always produce the behaviors that are most effective for them, those that bring them the greatest satisfaction and well-being. So we have two options:
- let the dog choose his behaviors and reinforce them on his own
- guide the dog by reinforcing behaviours that satisfy his needs in conditions that are acceptable to us
In practice
The behaviors we demand of our dogs don’t come naturally to them. They have to learn them. So it’s “work” for them and, as with us, all work deserves a reward 🙂 .
We focus on error-free, stress-free, fear-free learning. We create the conditions for the dog to learn and produce the desired behaviors. We give the dog the opportunity to choose the “right” behaviors by reinforcing them, not by punishing behaviors considered undesirable. In this relationship, the dog gradually understands that he can trust his human, because he listens to him, reassures him and allows him to flourish.
At the same time, when we are confronted with a behavior that disturbs us, we need to understand what function this behavior has for the dog. Each behavior has a function and responds to the dog’s needs. Then we can teach the dog an alternative behavior that’s acceptable to you and enables him to fulfill the same function & meet his needs.