We add a dog to our life to compliment our family not complicate it. It's easy to feel frustrated and that's when owners react by punishing the dog. Well intentioned friends often suggest punishment based tools to "correct" the behavior. Unfortunately without UNDERSTANDING THE CAUSE of the behavior devices such as prong collars, shock collars, spray bottles, and air horns can have the wrong impact. They can serve as unintentional reinforcement, which unfortunately keeps the behavior going. They can create fear, which creates a whole host of other problems. Often these problems are worse than the original challenges. Owners often remark that the "behavior is better, as long as I have the insert punishment tool here." This is called suppression. You haven't really CHANGED the behavior. All you've done is minimized the behavior when the punisher is being used. When it comes back, and it typically will, it usually comes back at an even higher level.
So IS PUNISHMENT USEFUL? The answer is YES! Punishment is a useful training tool if the following is also applied:
1) It is applied AT THE SAME TIME, AND AT THE SAME LEVEL EVERY TIME.
2) It is applied AT A LEVEL THAT DOES NOT CAUSE A FEARFUL RESPONSE.
3) It CHANGES THE BEHAVIOR WITH ONLY ONE OR TWO APPLICATIONS.
So let's define Punishment. Punishment is something that makes a behavior less likely to be repeated. It's counterpart, reinforcement, makes a behavior more likely to be repeated. So in order to change your dog's behavior YOU HAVE TO KNOW WHAT IS DRIVING IT!
Now comes the confusing part... Punishment can be Positive or Negative. WHAT?
The training tools listed above are ADDED to try to reduce the behavior. Adding something is called Positive Punishment. It can be effective. One example is the use of a Scat Mat for counter surfing. A tingling feeling when the dog puts his paws up on the now booby trapped counter can reduce the incidence of it recurring. But without teaching the dog some other behavior that can be rewarded, such as a place stay during times he previously explored the counters, the behavior is likely to continue. You can't rely on the use of punishment alone.
Now let's look at a behavior like pulling on leash. Why do dogs pull? They pull to explore. They pull towards others to greet them. They pull to eat that nasty thing in the grass. Can you punish this behavior. Yes, you can! You can stop walking when the leash is tight, or turn and walk a different direction, thereby preventing access to what the dog wants. Taking away something the dog wants is called Negative Punishment. But stopping every time your dog pulls, or constantly turning around is boring and frustrating for both you and your dog. You need to teach fundamental loose leash walking skills that your dog can use to ask for permission! Once again you can't rely on simply trying to punish.
If you look at why a behavior is occurring you can decide IF punishment is useful. The most common behavior problems owners face are often normal canine behaviors that collide with the human family model. These behaviors can often be changed quite easily by removing the reward that the dog receives AND replacing the behavior with something the dog can perform TO GET REINFORCED! Yes, it takes time and training. We send our children to school to learn acceptable behavior. Why is it that we often fail to give our dogs the same basic schooling and resort to simply trying to punish?
That's why the use of punishment is considered "bad" by many trainers. Because as humans we don't take time to understand WHY. We just want it to end. And we think the dog "should know better." There is no way they can unless we teach them. It's our responsibility as owners to teach the dog a better option, instead of simply punishing. Trust, respect, and love are what we give our children. Don't our four legged kids deserve the same?
