Re: The Predictable Chain Reaction of Obedience Commands without corrections?

[Chris Duonola]

Hello,

The predictable chain reaction for obedience is set up the way it is to for the most effective outcome. Mike in creating this chain reaction, took a little bit of the best of both worlds (positive motivation and negative motivation) and then also within the training method he throws in the distractions, which give the best of all worlds.
See the Trinity chart and details in the “dog training articles” section under “Dog training forms and cheat cheat sheets” it is the one called “Dog Training Trinity”

When training, he mixes all of the above so that the dog understands that there are consequences to their wrong actions, but also there is a reward to the correct actions as well. In using all three in the training allows for the dog handler to have the most effective control without the dog getting discouraged during the training. In realty, once the training is done and the dog fully understands the chain reaction and that they will get a reward with the correct action and a correction with the wrong action, you will rarely have to utilize the correction unless it is in an emergency or a situation that there is something new and intriguing to the dog where he is willing to test the waters.

Now, to go back to your question, Strictly positive motivation works to an extent, but unless you are going to always be in an empty room with no distractions, chances are there will be times where the dog will run into something that is better than what you are offering and without any consequences for the actions set in place, it won’t be long before you are outside with your little buddy and they find something on the ground (i.e. food, an animal, etc.) they are really interested in and you are trying to do a recall and they all of sudden became def and they are completely ignoring you.

Another issue that can arise with strictly positive motivation is, what happens when you do not have any treats, toys, etc. on you, are you always going to have treats on you everywhere you go every day. Dogs are pretty clever and once you do a couple of recalls with them and they are getting nothing in return for coming back to you, what will be their motivation to come back to you when they have a nice pile of cat poop on the ground or something else that they are interested in.

I Hope this helps answer your question.