This is such an awesome article and highlights the points that so many novice handlers miss, particularly the importance of a rapid rate of reinforcement.
About fifteen years ago, when I started apprenticing as a trainer, I used leash corrections and other forms of “discipline”. I no longer leash correct, and have not for more than a decade. This is not because I had a moral agenda. I simply needed an effective training solution.
Kiki, my learning dog pulled like a tugboat. We tried so many techniques we could have been the poster child for:
“But I tried positive reinforcement and it did not work.”
I chuckled and snickered with other trainers, “Ignore bad behaviour? So you just LET the dog knock grandma to the ground?” Teaching with food and then proofing with corrections seemed to make more sense.
We ran the gamut on protocols:
| Food luring | Collar corrections – flat collar |
| Collar corrections – nylon slip | Head halter use |
| Head halter to reposition dog | Head halter corrections |
| Chain choke collar correction | Special choke… |
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