Compulsion based dog training revolves mainly around using corrections to get a dog to comply. It is extremely common to listen to compulsion based trainers telling their students that their dogs must learn that obedience will not be an option i.e. their dogs must learn to obey in any respect times. To attain this, dogs are consistently corrected for every incorrect behaviour till they eventually comply. The usage of choke chains, pinch collars etc are common with such methods of dog training. Others may even resort to using the electronic collar. Food or treats however are less often used because some compulsion based trainers consider that dogs trained with food or treats are inclined to be unreliable i.e. they obey provided that you have got food or treats available. Take away the food or treat and all the things they learn starts to collapse.
Do Food or Treats Have a Place in Dog Training?
In our opinion, absolutely yes! But they have to be administered in the precise way. In case you show a dog a treat, ask it to come back to you after which reward it with the treat, you have got just effectively made the treat a bribe. Without the treat, there may be every likelihood your dog will ignore you and go about doing whatever it wishes especially if there are distractions around.
Rewards based trainers are due to this fact very careful in using food and treats as rewards for right behaviours quite than as bribes. As a rule (other then when luring), food is rarely presented as a way to get the dog’s attention before requesting a behaviour. As a substitute food is usually out of sight initially and presented only after the requested behaviour is performed, as a reward. This fashion, the dog will not be reliant on the bribe to perform. As a substitute over time, it learns that even when food is out of sight, it just is perhaps rewarded, if it performs as asked consistently.
Can Rewards Based Training Produce Reliable Results?
Definitely. In truth, lots of today’s top obedience dogs all over the world are clicker trained. And clicker training in its purest form uses 100% rewards based methods. The usage of force or corrections has no place in clicker training. That these top obedience dogs can perform reliably in obedience rings all all over the world is proof that clicker training works and that using force in dog training is completely not crucial.
Is Clicker Training Superior to Compulsion based Training?
It’s our opinion that within the hands of the precise trainer, each methods are effective and might produce excellent obedience dogs. Nevertheless in terms of administering corrections, some trainers can go overboard, using increasingly higher levels of corrections to coach their dogs. For instance, they might progress from a buckle collar to a choke chain, pinch collar and eventually even an electronic collar. Some may even resort to using throw chains to hurry up their dog’s performance. While such methods do work, they have a tendency to supply dogs that perform not because they like to but quite since it is compulsory. Reliable as they’re, such dogs are inclined to look quite mechanical within the ring. Problems may arise if compulsion trained dogs are entered into competitions too early. Within the ring, handlers should not permitted to correct their dogs. If these dogs should not yet ready for the ring, they’ll invariably make mistakes within the ring and realise that within the ring, their mistake should not corrected. The tip result – a ringwise dog i.e. a dog that performs splendidly well outside the ring but once within the ring, all the things falls apart.
Given the above, our preferred selection is clicker training. Our dog, Rufus CDX, the 2009 Singapore Kennel Club Reserve Obedience Dog of the Yr is clicker trained. Clicker training in our opinion produces dogs that perform because they decide to and never because they must. Consequently, they’re very enthusiastic and it’s going to show of their performance within the ring. Clicker training can be more humane and most significantly, your dog will find it irresistible.
