I have pretty high expectations for my dogs. I have specific goals and expectations for what Romeo will eventually be doing. (Note: I originally wrote this blog post when Romeo was under 2 years old in March 2011.) I expect him to be extremely well-behaved and reliable wherever we are and whatever I ask of [...]
I'm itching to get competing in Rally Obedience with Romeo! In preparation for competing, I needed to find some drop-in classes where we could perform some practice courses with other dogs around. Either there are not many out there, or I just can't find them. I found a Rally drop-in class on Friday mornings. Perfect [...]
This is part 3 in my series on the use of and side effects of punishment. My source is Murray Sidman's Coercion and Its Fallout. In the last post, I quoted from his chapter on Escape. This post discusses Chapters 8 & 9 on Avoidance. Rather than escaping a coercive or punishing event, avoidance means [...]
In a prior post, I quoted Murray Sidman's Coercion and Its Fallout on the effects of punishment. I want to continue with some of the points in his book, namely the potential side effects of the use of punishment. As I mentioned before, this book is about human behavior, not about dogs. However, since we [...]
An ongoing debate among dog trainers is the use of and need for punishment. Some trainers use primarily punishment to train dogs. Some use primarily positive reinforcement and try to avoid using any punishment. Most fit somewhere along the spectrum. Some say you can have a highly trained reliable dog without the use of punishment. [...]
