Four Legged Scholars LLC – Dog Training – Kent and Surrounding Areas
Are you struggling to get your dog to listen? Do you feel stressed because you cannot your dog to respond to you every time? This is a normal place to be, and we understand. We assure you that we can help.
I have been performing dog training (Kent and surrounding areas) for over 30 years and started when I was 8 years old. I am now 39 years old. I made many mistakes when I trained.
They are mistakes that can cause you a lifetime of pain if you do them. Learn them now so you don’t have to learn the hard way. As a result, you will have effective dog training. Kent friends and family members will be impressed by your dog’s obedience.
When you use pain, fear or anger as a motivation to get your dog to obey, you can cause serious side effects that can be hard to change later.
This means you are using positive punishment to get your dog to listen. You instill something that your dog does not like to get them to listen.
Some forms are using a choke collar, prong collar, shock collar, water spray bottle, yelling at your dog, hitting your dog, alpha rolls, yanking your dog’s collar, pushing their nose in their urine, flicking their nose, shaking their mouth / muzzle, kneeing them in the chest, etc.
Punishment can get bad behavior to stop immediately, and it can instill bad side effects. Here is a list of detrimental things that can happen when you use punishment in your dog training. Kent owners will benefit from this knowledge.
1.) Your dog makes the wrong association with the punishment and becomes scared of other things (you, other dogs or people). Instead of your dog associating pulling on the leash with pain, he starts to associate the pain with other dogs or people.
Then he becomes aggressive with other dogs, people, etc. You will feel defeated as a dog trainer. Kent residents may feel uncomfortable if your dog becomes aggressive.
2.) Your dog only listens to you sometimes. Your dog learns when the punishment will be emitted and when you cannot emit it. So your dog is now dependent on the training tools you are using in order to get your dog to listen to every time.
When the shock collar is off your dog will not come and now your dog always has to wear the shock collar in order to come reliably.
3.) You must have exact timing with punishment or dog may associate the punishment with the wrong stimulus and may become aggressive.
4.) Your dog actually becomes immune to the punishment and it no longer affects him. As a result, you feel that you cannot get your dog to listen ever.
5.) Your dog can become shut down. This is called learn helplessness. As a result, he is scared during much in his life. He is afraid to try new things.
He can at times have a frozen look when you are trying to train him because he is afraid of the pain if he makes the wrong choice.
6.) Your dog looses trust in you and in himself. He becomes scared most of the time because he receives much negative feedback in his life.
7.) You may end up with a dog that listens to you well and follows instructions well. However, I can guarantee that your dog is not calm. Inside he is an emotional mess wondering when the pain will be emitted again.
There is a HUGE difference in the overt behavior of a dog that is trained through reward-based training and one that is trained through punishment.
Dogs that are frequently punished will show more overt signs of stress that may go unnoticeable to the average Kent dog owner. A reward-based trained dog obeys and is happy at the same time. You cannot have both of these states simultaneously when you use punishment.
This is only a short list of the scientific evidence of punishment. Read the American Veterinary Society of Animal Behavior for more reasons to avoid punishment when training your dog.
Reward-based training is the best way to train and it works. We are happy to help you with reward-based dog training. Kent and surrounding areas is where we serve.
Johanna Teresi, Kent Dog Trainer, Four Legged Scholars LLC, Dog Training, Kent
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