You Get What You Create

Many new puppy owners do not understand the importance of two training techniques that will often times make or break your puppy experience: Positive Reinforcement vs Positive Punishment (both of which are used In operant conditioning and we will have a subsequent post about the differences between operant and classical conditioning and why It matters In the context of training. But that's for another blog! For this one we are going to focus on Positive Reinforcement and Positive Punishment in your day to day training. You are going to need to use both and very consistently right from the get go. So let's quickly define these: Positive Reinforcement employs the use of treats and/or praise to increase a wanted behavior. The puppy sits calmly and you praise and treat and eventually apply a marker (word) to the behavior. The puppy jumps on you and you would like to extinguish this behavior so instead of ignoring it you're going to deal with it head on by saying sternly and sharply NO.....and maybe start introducing command OFF. But the harsh tone of your voice added something unpleasant to the situation for the puppy and this would be an effective Positive Punishment (adding something displeasurable to extinguish an unwanted behavior). Positive Punishment NEVER EVER employs hitting or kicking the dog as this is a sure fire way to produce a puppy with fear based aggression issues. If you (sorry when you) have to resort to Positive Punishment deal with it quickly and then once compliant set up the puppy for success by giving some commands and praising and treating and moving into Positive Reinforcement. Be patient with the process! This does take work and consistency and we have a lot more about this in our puppy training guide at https://www.premierdoodles.com/puppy-training-guide. All the best and enjoy the process....no matter how challening!