Dog Advice Topic: What is Punishment-Based or Compulsion Dog Training

Bella,
I just adopted my first dog and don't know anything about training. I've read about "compulsion" training. What does that really mean?
-New Trainer in Naperville

NTiN,
The concept behind compulsion or punishment based training techniques is that a negative response is given immediately during or after an unwanted behavior. The intended result is that the animal learns that the performed behavior has a negative result and therefore will not perform the behavior in the future. The most common type of negative response that is used in dog training is a leash correction. Leash corrections are when the leash is jerked or popped quickly and normally a choke or prong collar is used to cause pain from that pop. Also commonly used are electronic collars which produce a shock or physically hitting or kicking the dog. An example of how this technique is used would be when a dog jumps up on someone. As the dog jumps, the punishment (leash correction, shock...) is immediately given. The intention is for the dog to not know where this punishment came from but only that jumping somehow caused pain to him and therefore he doesn't want to jump anymore. Please note: Collins Canine DOES NOT employ compulsion or punishment based training. See Reward training for a description of how Collins Canine trains and why we use this method.

And that's the bark on the street!
Bark up!
Bella

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