Why We Do Not Say "No" To Our Dogs.

It is not because we reward-based folk are soft.

Reward-based trainers get a dirty deal sometimes. We get called “cookie-pushers” or are told we “bribe” the dogs to behave. We often hear this from those who lack knowledge in our training methods or have a lack of respect for dogs.

Punishment of an unwanted behaviour (making it less likely), and reinforcement of a wanted behaviour (making it more likely)* BOTH work. They have to work by definition. But that does not mean they are equally effective or that just because you can punish a behaviour, you should.

*I know some of you will have heard of Skinner’s “four quadrants” of behaviour, and that is indeed something interesting to investigate if you are interested in learning more about punishment and reinforcement. But for the sake of simplicity in this article, for those who are dogparents and not dog professionals, we shall stick with the above definition.
By “aversive” methods, I am talking about doing things the dog does not enjoy or like, for the sake of punishing a behaviour.
As not all dogs are “foodie”, think about what your own dog really enjoys, and ask how you can use THAT as a reward. For the purpose of this article I refer to treats, but a reward can be anything your dog likes.

The trouble with punishment of an unwanted behaviour is once the behaviour stops, so does the training. This can mean a return of the behaviour, with a dog who is now resilient to a certain level of the aversive method that led to the punishment.

We will need to escalate the aversive to achieve the same effect.

Initially, using a collar check and saying “No” to deter a dog from pulling may work, but it gradually becomes less successful. You might then need to progress to a martingale collar that tightens around the dog’s neck. Following that, a slip lead. Then a prong collar. Then a shock. Eventually, some dogs even learn to run through the shock, so trainers using punishment might increase the level.

We want to stop a dog from jumping up at people. First, we might say “No”. When the dog still jumps, we might shout “NO!!!” and put them on a lead. After they jump again, we yank backwards on their lead. We might work through all the examples of aversive as we did with the pulling. Or shut the dog away from everyone in the kitchen or garden while people are around.

Using that aversive method for other training is going to be just as ineffective because the dog has developed tolerance towards whatever has been done to them.

I regularly have people bringing their dogs to me, who have been advised to use horrid methods on their dogs. The dogs initially respond, but then they push through the “No’s” and the “Bad Dogs” and the following punishment methods. Along with their newfound resistance to punishment, they also harbour a profound distrust of humans and often display anxiety in other aspects of their life.

Think – if every time you saw another dog, or a child, your “best friend” would yank a collar around your throat and yell “NO” at you, would you be overjoyed to see dogs and children? After a while, you would dread seeing them. Maybe even try to make them go away before your human is mean to you…

Now imagine if we flipped this on its head, and used rewards instead.

We need to be thinking, what does “No” actually mean? If I said to you “No” right now, would you know what I want you to do? If we see it from our dog’s point of view… They bark at someone out of the window. We yell “No.” We know we want the dog to stop barking. But what should the dog do instead?

Bark in a different pitch? Jump up and bark by the door instead? Run around the furniture barking. Stop barking and run off after the cat? “No” can mean all kinds of things.

We need to think in terms of what we DO want, and then reward our dog for doing that.

With rewards, training remains everlasting since a simple, vocal “Good Dog” will strengthen a learned behaviour, and we can always let our dogs know they are doing well. So there is no forgetting of the behaviour we find more acceptable.

I say “WE find more acceptable” as some of our dog’s behaviours are perfectly acceptable to our dog, even if they are not so appropriate for us.

In action.

Imagine the pulling dog. Instead of using aversive methods to try to control the dog’s pulling, how about this:

First, get the dog’s excess energy out by playing in the garden or on a long line somewhere safe
Next, with our dog on a long line, in a low distraction environment, like your home or garden, pop a treat by your ankle.
As they approach, say “good dog”, and as they eat the treat, walk off in a different direction. Take a few steps and pop another reward by your ankle.
As the dog comes in to get the reward, say “good dog” and walk off again.
Keep changing direction between rewarding your dog, to keep them guessing in which direction you will be walking.
Soon, your dog will begin to follow you around, zoning in on your ankle, and each time they get to your ankle you are rewarding them.
At this point, you can let your dog zone in on your ankle and take a step or two with them beside you before you reward.
Repeat this, varying the amount of steps your dog takes beside you before you reward.
Slowly build up the steps your dog is beside you, before you reward until you have a dog who is practicing walking pretty nicely beside you.
Make the lead a bit shorter once the dog is ALREADY walking by you.
Repeat in gradually more distracting areas. Allow your dog to stop and sniff – it is good for them. If, however, they pull ahead, stop walking and wait until their focus comes back to you, before you change direction and set off again. No need to yell “NO” or collar check them. If they keep pulling, then the area may be too distracting at this time, so try again somewhere less exciting. Or even stop and have a brief break somewhere, to allow your dog to calm down again.

By using this method, you are rewarding your dog for the behaviour you DO want, and with a bit of practice you can stop giving treats all the time, as your dog will have already been learning to stay near you and will default to that naturally.

Or how about the dog that jumps up?

If the dog jumps up with excitement, we can use a stairgate across a door and ask guests to stand on one side of it until the dog is calm. At that point, they can then be allowed in to say “Hello”. Ask your guest to wait for “four paws on the floor” before talking to the dog. The dog will soon work out that calmer behaviour, and “four on the floor” is what gets them the chance to greet your guests. Have people over on purpose to teach your dogs that calmness gets results. We can teach impulse control without resorting to shouting “NO”, and being mean.

For a dog who is jumping up as they are barking and worried about people, or another trigger, do not try and handle it yourself.

Instead, seek advice from a behaviourist who specialises in reward-based methods like desensitisation and counterconditioning, or B.A.T.

It’s important to occasionally reward our dogs for good behaviour to make it worthwhile for them – and in addition to bigger rewards, a simple “Good Dog” is always appreciated by them and helps to keep them on the right track.

But why not use aversives AND rewards?

Why would we need or want to? If we already know that we can teach something to our dogs using reward-based methods, we do not need to use aversives.

If a dog is not “getting the idea” from reward-based training alone, then the training itself, not the method, is usually what needs to change.

Perhaps the timing of the reward is off, so you are accidentally rewarding the dog at the wrong time and not catching when they “get it right”.

Maybe they are not that keen on the reward, and you are accidentally punishing the behaviour? If you consistently give dogs something they dislike every time they are asked to perform a behaviour, that behaviour becomes punished, not reinforced.

Maybe the environment they are learning in is too distracting or difficult? Can you make it easier for them to practice elsewhere and build back up to the more difficult environment?

The good thing about reward-based training is that you are highly unlikely to damage your relationship with your dog if you do it badly. Your floofer will end up getting a load of rewards and you might train something you do not want by accident. The fix is simple – REWARD WHAT YOU DO WANT, WHEN YOUR DOG DOES IT – AND MAKE IT EASY FOR THEM TO DO IT RIGHT!! AND KEEP PRACTISING.

Aversive methods, however, can cause terrible damage for a dog who doesn’t know what they need to do to make it stop – or understand why you are being mean to them. The fix is far less simple and involves regaining your dog’s trust while teaching them that everything else is ok too.

PLUS you then need to teach what you wanted in the first place… So why not just teach that to begin with?

We have proven time and again that our dogs are sentient, feeling, breathing beings, with wants, needs, desires, hates, loves, and interests of their own. We KNOW they have the emotional range of young children. Dogs are no longer expected to do things “Because we say so” or to exceed our every demand of them due to our superiority complex over them.

We do need to teach them to be safe, for themselves and for others, and so a level of control of your dog is necessary in ALL situations.