The Power of YES

I was recently accepted into the Karen Pryor Academy Professionals Program and I have been getting so excited and inspired by reinforcement based trainers that I have read about, watched videos about, and interacted with online. Deciding to use only positive reinforcement training on your dog, or becoming a positive reinforcement dog trainer is a lot about science but it's also a lot about shifting your mindset, not only when it comes to your dog, but when it comes to all relationships and expectations.


We are all so programmed to think in terms of "No's." So many people come to me expressing the things they do NOT want their dog to do — jumping up on guests, barking, digging, begging! And this is totally normal, and that's what I'm here for, but what I ask my clients to do and what I'm asking you to do right now is try to start thinking about what you DO want from your dog instead. Is your dog jumping on guests? Instead of telling her NO a thousand times, show her that there is a great benefit in sitting politely to greet guests, or that she will earn more attention and reinforcers from going to her bed or station when the doorbell rings! After so many NO's in a day, the word no really ceases to have meaning. Instead, actively look for behaviors that you like from your dog, and reward those behaviors. I promise you they will start recurring more and more frequently as you reward them.

I had one client who told me his dog had a really good "Leave It." He was frustrated because he didn't feel that his dog was being challenged by the open cans of food we were using as a distraction for the exercise, but when I watched him walk by the open can with his dog, it was evident that his dog was not happily looking to his owner instead of gobbling up the food, as the other dog in the class was doing, he was shrinking up and laying down in fear of making the wrong choice and being punished. With a sinking feeling in my stomach, I asked the client if the dog had ever been hit for trying to grab something off the ground, and he sheepishly admitted he had. This dog was not learning that it pays off to use impulse control, he was simply shutting down because he didn't know what was expected of him and he feared the worse — incidentally this same dog had once been friendly and outgoing but was suddenly displaying aggressive behaviors towards other dogs, probably as a result of his newfound insecurities and fear.

So many people tell me, "But if I yell at him (or smack him) he stops (barking/jumping/digging/chewing), so doesn't that mean it's working?" For the time being, maybe. Just because something works in the moment doesn't mean it's the best possible solution. Sure, people have been smacking around their dogs for a long time, and sometimes with fairly decent results. But if you could have the same results — better even! — with more reliability, and a happier, more confident dog, wouldn't that be the better choice?

If you are at all interested in positive reinforcement, for dog training, for cat training, for giraffe or dolphin training, or because you want to communicate better with your kids, or be a better, more effective manager or teacher, I highly recommend checking out Karen Pryor's book Don't Shoot The Dog! Although the title has the word "dog" in it, I assure you that this book has many applications for pretty much everyone. It is such a good feeling to start looking at things in terms of what is good, and trying to increase that good, instead of picking at the bad parts of your day, your self, the people around you, or your dog.