The guru of force free and positive only training.......... ? This video has been posted on a few dog trainer pages. I am going to put my 2 cents worth here as well. Jean Donaldson Is a renowned and well published author and considered a guru on force free training methods, and is followed almost religiously by the PO and force free fraternity as an expert on dog behaviour and humane training. I would like to point out a few things in this video of hers. 1: She advertises this video as depicting a dog-reactive dog, and her methods of extinguishing or inhibiting this dog-reactivity. Well firstly I would like to point out that this is NOT a dog-reactive dog. This is a dog that is just frustrated because of being restrained on a leash. Because the dog is pulling on the leash (and showing a complete lack of control by Miss Donaldson), and she fighting against a dogs natural opposition reflex response, this dog is nothing more than frustrated. This pulling on the leash is to obviously get her point across, and to either try and fool uneducated dog owners this is a dog-reactive dog, or she actually believes this dog to be dog-reactive. If she does believe this dog to be dog-reactive, then damn doesnt she have a lot to learn about reactions in dogs and triggers! This dog is nothing more than leash frustrated. 2: She advocates force free training methods. If this is so, then please explain to me how this is NOT using force, to have a dog comply to her will? Also explain to me how pulling up on the gentle leader and placing pressure around a dogs snout, discomfort up around the eyes and unnatural pressure behind the head and twisting it, is not punishment (negative reinforcement). She is applying discomfort or pain, until the dog complies, and then removing this discomfort or pain. That goes totally against the principles of force free and PO training methodology! How is this any different to a trainer using a martingale or slip collar and applying the same principle? The only difference, is that she calls herself a positive or force free trainer, and I (for example) that use the same methods/principles, but not with a halti/gentle leader, and because I use the term balanced training, am considered by her and her followers as using cruel and inhumane methods. Notice, as soon as the tension is removed from the leash the dog settles. This is not because the dog has gone from being dog-reactive to non-dog-reactive. Its purely because this dog is no longer leash frustrated, because its opposition reflex response is not triggered. I am certain she would have gotten exactly the same response from this dog, with the flat collar it had on initially, and using the same methods. I can tell you, if she had a truly dog-reactive dog with her, she would not be able to control the dog on a head halter like that. And if she did have a head halter on the dog and it was thrashing around due to its reactive response, there is a lot more chance of injuring this dog with a head halter than with a martingale or slip collar. This is due to the head halters poor design, and putting undue and unnatural pressure on a dogs neck, and also under and around the dogs eyes. But lets get back to the main points here. Miss Donaldson is doing no differently to what you see, the person she and her followers vilify as the evilest dog trainer (CM) do when he applies upwards pressure using a slip collar. Only the clips you see him using this exact same method Miss Donaldson uses are in his case actually dog-reactive dogs. Not dogs that are frustrated leash pullers, like the one in this video clip. Force free and PO trainers try to make you see what really isnt there, to try and get a point across, and vilify others. I would also like to point out, her over use of voice reinforcement. The dog doesnt understand it is doing something right, if anything, she is triggering the wrong energy in the dog, by her high pitched and excited voice inflection. Also her use of food rewards, would really have no benefit in this situation. When you see her rewarding the dog with food, the dog isnt being rewarded for not lunging or pulling on the lead. All it is, is that there happens to be food available. You cannot reward a dog for NOT doing something. Think about it, if the dog isnt doing the behaviour you dont want it to do, how can a dog honestly comprehend that that is why its being rewarded? We cant explain to the dog, Well you are doing good by not pulling, so here is a treat for you. No, the dog only knows it received a piece of food, and thats its only value in this situation. All those that attend my group classes, know that I employ the exact same principles with dogs that lung toward other dogs, but without the overly zealous voice praise and food rewards, and yet, I would be considered cruel and inhumane by this group, because I dont use a halter or socalled gentle leader. I also dont give the dog a treat for being a good dog, and I dont go over the top with my voice, and also because I state I have a balanced approach with my training.
Posted on: Sat, 18 Oct 2014 13:53:05 +0000
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