12/14/2024
Iāve seen a lot of debate over balanced training vs purely positive so letās set the record straight before people keep falling into the trap and wasting their money on scam artists claiming to be dog trainers.
Dog training at its core is based on the four quadrants of operant conditioning. These are positive reinforcement, positive punishment, negative reinforcement, and negative punishment. At face value, it seems as positive means something good, and negative means something bad. By definition, this isnāt the case. In operant conditioning, these are what each term means:
Positive: to add a stimulus to a situation
Negative: to remove a stimulus from a situation
Reinforcement: to increase the likelihood of, or maintain an existing behavior
Punishment: to decrease the likelihood of a behavior happening again
With that in mind, youāll see thereās much more to it than just good or bad like the purely positive trainers claim. Now letās put the terms together to understand the full definition of each quadrant.
Positive reinforcement: to add something to the equation to increase the likelihood of a wanted behavior. This could be as simple as giving a treat when the dog performs the command you ask. You are adding a reward to get the dog to continue offering that behavior in the future
Negative reinforcement: many people consider this term as correcting a dog, which isnāt the case at all. This quadrant is the rarest and most difficult quadrant for a trainer to put into practice. A good example would be ending a training session when a dog gets too stressed or excited to efficiently work, ending the session and removing yourself and the rewards from the equation to increase the the likelihood of the dog working effectively moving forward. This is the most misunderstood quadrant.
Positive punishment: often confused with negative reinforcement. This quadrant involves adding a stimulus to stop an unwanted behavior. The simplest example of this would be telling your dog no to get them to stop barking. You are adding (positive) the verbal command to get the dog to stop barking (punishment). This can also be seen on display when a dog is pulling on the leash and the owner tugs backwards to stop the pulling. Adding a leash correction is your positive, to stop the pulling is your punishment.
Negative punishment: remove a stimulus to stop an unwanted behavior. When your dog jumps on you while petting, you remove your hands to get the dog to stop jumping. Taking away the affection (negative) to get the dog to stop jumping on you (punishment). Removing a reward from the dog when the dog doesnāt comply is the simplest way to put it.
Now that you understand what each of the quadrants actually mean, itās clear that all dog trainers use every quadrant when training. The trainers who donāt use all four quadrants are typically the trainers you see telling people their dogs canāt be fixed or even suggest putting them to sleep for ābehavioral reasonsā which Iāve seen way too many times myself on dogs Iāve ended up fixing after their owner gives up on the purely positive scam.
A GOOD balanced trainer uses all four of these quadrants, some more than others, and the frequency of each quadrant used varies from each dog. Adaptability is key when training dogs. Donāt fall for the fear tactics these purely positive trainers use when they manipulate the definitions of training terms to land clients who arenāt well educated on the topic. Do thorough research, ask questions, and ask for referrals from past clients before deciding on a trainer. It could make or break your dog.
