23/08/2025
“Reward based training” “Positive reinforcement training” “positive only” “Force free training” “science based training” are all terms you’ll have heard recently… or rather have had rammed down your throat 😝😆 (sorry not sorry) but what does it mean?? What does it ACTUALLY mean?? And why do some trainers use it and others don’t? I don’t use the terms to describe my training!! Why?
Well here’s the thing - ALL trainers use positive reinforcement for the vast majority of training and behaviour!
It basically means we add something nice when the dog does what we want!
Sit = treat
Simple as that! So why aren’t ALL trainers saying we are “Positive reward based” if we all use it?
Well because it now represents a group of trainers who use it EXCLUSIVELY and will not use any other method available - they wouldn’t remove something nice from the dog to give a consequence, wouldn’t add something not nice (like a verbal correction) or anything that they perceive the dog to find mildly unpleasant (lead correction, aversive noise, introduction to what the dog finds triggering)
There is no escalation or deviance from just rewarding the good thing the dog does and you as the owner have to stand through long periods of bad behaviour simply ignoring it and waiting for the dog to do something good or simply avoid any situation your dog may do something bad- I’m going to give an example to make it easier.
If a dog (not a pup) jumps up continually at people a positive reward based force free trainer would drop treats on the floor to encourage the dog to not jump up but to stay on the floor and get the treats….. Now… I would tell you that’s rewarding the behaviour!
So what would I do? I would start by rewarding the dog for getting off, but if that didn’t work I would escalate my methods until we found what worked and stopped the behaviour - and that’s going to be different for every dog!
I would use something that the dog doesn’t like to discourage the behaviour! That could be a loud hand clap, sharp “OFF” command or a pet corrector to introduce a noise that the dog doesn’t like and therefore associates with the jumping up and doesn’t want to do the behaviour again.
Some extreme Positive only reward based trainers would say that it’s unkind as the dog doesn’t like it!
But I’ll tell you that dropping treats on the floor doesn’t stop the behaviour, the dog has no idea that you’re trying to stop them jumping and therefore will continue to do so! Which can be dangerous! They can knock children/ elderly people over, scratch and hurt people which gets them into trouble and it’s an unwanted and unnecessary behaviour!
So there is a fix
And there is a kind way to make owners think they’re fixing it but they’re not!
And now the perpetual argument starts
The Science based positive only trainers will make out that anything other than permanently feeding treats is cruel!
And normal logical thinking trainers like myself tell you that leaving a dog in a perpetual state of uncertainty and not setting boundaries is cruel!
I suppose it’s up to you, the dog owner to pick a team! 😆😆😆 So good luck because it’s an absolute sh!tshow in the dog training world 😆😆😆😆and nobody agrees and if you want to give this post 20 mins of being on the internet and then read the comments you’ll begin to see how many extreme and varied levels of ideology and methodology there are in dog training!!
