#JONAS BLACK DOG TRAINER HOW TO#

Dogs learn new behaviors through goal driven learning that is both enjoyable and effective. In this modern, balanced approach to training, we begin a dog’s education through the use of rewards. Many years of thought, practice and experience, along with significant advancement in the fields of behavioral science and psychology, have resulted in a modern approach to dog training that is both compassionate, and reliable. However, we also recognized that to avoid the unwanted side effects, and to maintain a level of respect and consideration for the dog’s emotional and psychological well being, we need to be careful and thoughtful about when and how aversive pressure is used. Many of us trainers realized that to overcome the limitations of reward only training, some amount of aversive pressure is necessary. Over the last 15 years, a more moderate approach to training evolved. The biggest challenges arose when dealing with problematic behaviors, maintaining consistent responses when rewards aren’t present, and maintaining reliability outside of the classroom and in the real world where various distractions are competing for the dog’s attention. Although this was tremendously beneficial, and dog trainers as a whole are now capable of accomplishing far more with rewards than we ever thought possible, in due time, many dog owners and trainers realized that this idealized vision of dog training didn’t quite hold up in the real world, and not everything could be accomplished through the use of reward-only techniques.

This excited the dog training community, after all, no one enjoys punishing dogs and the prospect of never having to use punishment again was extremely attractive. Before long a movement had begun of trainers who were determined to train dogs through the use of rewards exclusively, without any aversive tools or techniques. Several books were published promoting these kinder techniques and denouncing the “old school” use of force. In the 1980’s dog training saw a major shift, dog trainers began borrowing from the fields of exotic and marine mammal training, where the use of force is simply not possible, and began training dogs through the use of reward based techniques, shaping and capturing desirable behaviors, and reinforcing them to increase their probability. In addition to what today seem like the obvious moral and ethical issues with this approach, training conducted this way was wrought with undesirable side effects. She was charged with figuring out the correct response, while undergoing significant pressure and stress. What made this approach particularly problematic was that force was being applied to the dog before she knew what she was supposed to be doing. In essence, the dog’s only motivation to listen was to avoid substantial discomfort and stress.

#JONAS BLACK DOG TRAINER HOW TO#

The old-time dog trainer primarily employed methods that involved the use of a fair degree of force to teach the dog how to respond to commands. Although this sounds like a relatively straightforward concept, to fully grasp modern balanced dog training it is important to understand a bit of dog training history.ĭecades ago, dog training was conducted far differently than it is done today. In other words, the trainer shows the dog that their choices and behaviors can result in either pleasant or unpleasant results. In it’s simplest form, Balanced Dog Training refers to any approach to dog training or behavior modification which involves the use of both reward based techniques, and aversive consequences. What is Balanced Dog Training Blog Category: Blog What is Balanced Dog Training?Ī rescue group that we work closely with recently asked me for an article defining balanced dog training, the following is what I sent to them:

Jonas black dog trainer