Choosing Abundance

Time and again it’s been suggested that positive training leans toward a one size fits all approach. I’m not sure where this idea comes from, but suspect that some feel being unwilling to use certain methods or tools means that a trainer is limited to only one way of doing things.

The truth is, throwing out choke chains, severe punishments, prong collars, shock collars and a whole host of other methods will still leave a trainer with plenty of options. It is not the equivalent of throwing the baby out with the bathwater. It’s simply a matter of not bathing the baby in the same old dirty water out of reluctance to refill the tub.

Anyone who has taken one of my classes has seen me adjust training according to each dog’s specific needs. Some dogs will learn much faster using a squeaky toy as a lure than a piece of liver. Some dogs respond better to a whistle for recall. Some dogs can learn to walk on a loose leash within minutes with nothing more than a piece of cheese (which won’t be needed for long), while others might take longer or require training/management tools to make walking safe for their owners.

What we start with, what we use as a lure, what tools are used, and how quickly we go from lure/reward to real life rewards all depends on the individual dog and individual situation.

If this weren’t the case, I wouldn’t have to ever see the dogs I work with! I could just tell owners what to do over the phone and have them send me a check. It doesn’t work that way. The fact that I will never condone the use of force, pain or intimidation as training methods does not stop me from having a variety of other ways to communicate with dogs.

A carpenter can have 100 tools and choose not to use five of them because she finds them dangerous and inefficient. This still leaves her 95 tools, all of her creativity and her skill to get the job done well. If she’s able to finish every project without using those five tools, aren’t they then obsolete?