12/16/2025
Funny how things sound sometimes. It’s always interesting to hear lectures about “the right way to train” from someone who, for a long time, couldn’t get a reliable recall from client's dog and dog ran away more than once. For me, that’s not a training philosophy — that’s putting personal beliefs higher than a dog’s safety. For many dogs, running away just once can end in tragedy. Cars, wildlife, people, other dogs...
Positive reinforcement has its place and it is a useful tool to make desired behaviors more likely. But what often gets conveniently ignored is that it does not stop unwanted behaviors, it does not override strong instincts, and it does not automatically create reliability under real pressure. You can reinforce all day long and your dog may look perfect in controlled situations, but when a real challenge appears — prey, fear, conflict, adrenaline — instincts kick in and cookies are forgotten.
The loudest R+ only crowd often draws hard lines instead of helping dogs, shames others instead of educating, and then blames the dog when the method fails. Too often, those are the dogs that get rehomed or put down when R+ only philosophy doesn’t work — not because the dog is bad, but because the training system was incomplete.
Dog training is not about beliefs or labels. It’s about safety, reliability, accountability, and understanding drives and instincts. Your philosophy should never be more important than your dog coming home alive or having normal life when it's not stuck on the leash or fenced yard for life. All dogs are different and trainers and owners need to remember that it's about dogs, not about our beliefs and ego.
