The only option for me
20 years ago, when I adopted JODY, my rottweiler, everyone told me “he’s a bad dog”, you need to take classes with an instructor. So I went to a training club… After 2 classes in which I saw my dog being jerked around by her collar and hung on the end of her leash, I swore I’d never do that to her again!
For many years, dog training was synonymous with “torture”. I certainly had the least educated dog in town, but I didn’t care. She was right at home! Then, one day, someone told me about a respectful and caring approach to dog training (commonly known as the positive method)… It was a revelation!
Ethics: the basis of everything
There are basically 2 ways of teaching & getting results from the learner. One can be based on constraint, threat or fear. The individual will then produce a behavior to avoid suffering a negative consequence. Alternatively, we can cooperate, motivate and reward. In this case, the individual will produce the behavior because he or she is motivated to obtain the positive consequence. It’s the ethics that differentiate these two teaching methods. Do we choose to respect the individual in front of us, or not?
In my opinion, every adoption should be based on respect for the dog as an individual, for what he is and not for what you would like him to be. Every animal is the result of its genetics, its environment, its training and its individuality. All this must be understood and respected when sharing your life with a dog.
With an ethical approach, the relationship between dog and human is fundamentally different from that envisaged by traditional education. The owner is no longer the dominant one, but a partner who stimulates the dog’s motivation and creativity. He respects his emotions, his autonomy and his choices. He satisfies his needs and channels his instincts, thus promoting his well-being and positive integration into the family and society. It’s also from this respectful foundation that trust between dog and human can grow.
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.