Adversives in Training
Terry's Tips > Adversives in Training
Legacy’s classes stress reward-based, dog-friendly training techniques. We hesitate to incorporate aversives in our training because
AN AVERSIVE:
- IS AN INCOMPLETE PROGRAM. It only teaches the dog what NOT to do.
- CAN MAKE BEHAVIOR BASED IN FEAR OR ANGER WORSE. It adds yet another dimension of fright or arousal, compounding the problem.
- CAN CAUSE CONFUSION AND REDUCE TRUST. It's best to earn your dog's respect by consistent leadership and kind training, not by intimidation, force, or physical abuse.
- SUPPRESSES ACTION, NOT INTENT. For example, a dog punished for growling may stop the growling. If growling is inhibited, the next time the dog may skip the warning growl go right into action.
- MIGHT LEAD TO THE WRONG CONCLUSION. If your dog chases the family cat and you punishes her for doing so, does your dog think she’s bad for chasing the cat? She might think you’re angry at her for not running faster and catching the cat!
- NEEDS TO BE CONSISTENT. An aversive should be administered at the FIRST and at EVERY subsequent time the behavior us shown. This is rarely possible in real life! Since you’re apt to miss some of the time, your dog will learn to take his chances and play the lottery.
- MAY NOT GENERALIZE WELL. If you punish your dog for chewing the dining room table leg, she might think "Maybe the dining room chair is OK" or "Maybe the table in the living room is OK."
- MIGHT SHUT THE DOG DOWN. The proper term for this is LEARNED HELPLESSNESS. The dog decides that everything she does is wrong, so she does nothing. Such a dog isn’t learning anything -- except to endure punishment.
- COULD CAUSE THE DOG TO SUBSTITUTE. Many problem behaviors are repetitive actions such as barking, digging, chewing. Such behaviors produce calming chemicals in the dog’s body and therefore reward the dog for the repeated action -- much like rocking a baby settles the child. If you interrupt or stop one repetitive behavior, the dog might simply resort to a substitute behavior.
- REQUIRES PERFECT TIMING. ONCE. To be effective, an aversive needs to be delivered within a range of two seconds after the behavior. The aversive is not having the proper effect if you need to do it more than once or twice. After that, it constitutes abuse.
- NEEDS TO BE INTENSE. If the punishment isn’t strong enough to stop the behavior the first time, the owner typically escalates the punishment next time. The dog develops a "punishment callus". Eventually the level of punishment needed to work will have to be stronger than what you started with.
- MIGHT SEEM LIKE A REWARD. If the owner doesn’t choose the aversive properly, the dog might consider it a reward. Example: "Bad Dog! No!" Dogs like attention. The owner has spoken to him, looked at him, and perhaps got closer and touched him as well.
- MIGHT BECOME OWNER CONTINGENT: If the dog associates the punishment with the owner, the effect (if any) will not carry over to times when the owner is gone.
- SHOULD NOT BE USED FOR HUMAN SATISFACTION: The goal of an aversive is to quickly and permanently change the unwanted behavior. Is that happening or are the humans simply letting out their frustration onto the dog?
The fact is, most people that share their lives with dogs do not want to punish them, however they do want a mannerly dog. There are humane and effective alternatives to punishment.
The above information was taken from the experience of Terry Ryan. Facts and research taken from the works of: M. Breland-Bailey, R. Bailey, B. F. Skinner, K. Pryor, M. Sidman, M. Burch, B. Schwartz & others.
In this article, the words punishment and aversive mean delivering a harsh "correction". No attempt is made at categorizing the examples into formal learning theory.