Positive Reinforcement: Does it really work?

“There is no need to use an axe to remove a fly from the forehead of a friend”
- Confucius


There is also no need to hit, knee in the chest, scream and yell at your dog to fix his behavior. Most of our dogs grew up from puppyhood being allowed to jump, run amok, soil the carpet, and chew on furniture. We always responded with “he’s just a puppy, he didn’t mean it.” Then the puppy grew and continued to act as he had always been allowed to act. The difference now is two fold; 1. Time. We got sick of cleaning the carpet and 2. Size. Our dogs got bigger.
The key mistake here is that we never told the dog what was correct behavior in the first place. Why? Because we don’t like yelling at cute little puppies! Yet we all feel strong when we yell at bad behaving dogs! But in the end it was our mistakes that have caused the dog his new problems. Had we explained from day one that sitting gets your ears scratched, that walking with a loose leash gets longer walks, that chewing on your toys gets you the run of the house, that going to the bathroom outside gets you quiet owners, we would have wonderful obedient dogs. But we didn’t.