The dog training world is currently extremely polarized.
On the one hand, we have trainers who don’t hesitate to use aversive techniques to train their dogs (in other words, they will sometimes inflict pain or discomfort). On the other, we have trainers who will jump through hoops to avoid aversives – or won’t use it at all.
For simplicity, I will call the trainers-who-don’t-think-twice-about-sometimes-using-aversives balanced, and trainers-who-avoid-aversives-at-all-costs force free.
Yes, I know, I know – that’s an oversimplification. There are many different training approaches out there and some people may be affronted by being unceremoniously grouped like this.
If that’s you, I’m so sorry – no offense intended. I’m painting with big strokes here, and the details aren’t that important for the purpose of this blog post. I hope towards the end, you’ll agree.
I recently ran a poll in the Do No Harm Dog Training group on Facebook, curious to know the backgrounds of the members – had they transitioned from balanced to force-free trainers? And their comments were revealing.
The ongoing evolution in the dog training world.
Here’s my take on what’s been going on:
In the Do No Harm group, the current fraction of converts from balanced to force-free (they’re often called cross-over trainers) were about 42% in this poll. 53% had never practiced balanced training but rather adopted force-free training straight away.
These data, of course, will likely change in the upcoming months – those numbers are simply a glimpse into the current composition of the group; or rather, the fraction of the group that chose to answer my poll in the last few days – and that may or may not be representative of the group as a whole, or the force-free community at large. The fraction of cross-over trainers in any given group is bound to depend for instance on which country the trainers come from, the social media groups they hang out in, the types of objectives they have for training their dogs, and when the poll was carried out, which will likely affect the degree to which any force-free advocates have started successfully spreading the word within that niche.
Do I think that force-free trainers will replace balanced trainers altogether, sometime in the future? No. I think there’ll always be people who will resort to using aversives in their training, no matter how much we educate them, show them alternatives and dispel the myths (more on this below). However, I don’t think we’ve yet reached the equilibrium point – several of the people answering the poll had converted within the last few months.
What about the balanced trainers, I hear you ask? Don’t people convert from force-free to balanced? Yes, I’m sure that they do. But since this particular group was created to discuss force-free training techniques, I couldn’t get that data there – there weren’t enough balanced trainers in the group.
In a way these data are rather uninteresting since they only give us this momentary glimpse of a corner of the force-free world, frozen in time. It’s not the number per se that I find interesting, it’s the fact that many people convert from one camp to the other.
Switching from balanced to force-free.
I became particularly interested in the stories people shared about how they came about switching from balanced to force-free dog training. Here’s some of what they shared about their balanced days and the decision to convert:
- “Balanced was all there was back then” – Several people mentioned that when they started learning about animal training, the force-free alternative didn’t yet exist, or they hadn’t heard about it. In other words, becoming balanced was not an active choice.
- “I used the methods my dad taught me. They seemed to work and who was I to question him.” – It’s completely normal not to question authority, and we often adopt the patterns of the people closest to us. Without other role models, it’s hard to be the one blazing a new path.
- “My mother insisted I hit my dog or he would be killed running off and doing stupid things. He nearly was killed many times, but hitting him didn’t help.” – This type of framing is common in the balanced community: it is argued that the only way to save the animal is to use aversives. Sadly, the side effects of using corrections are unpredictable, numerous and potentially extremely serious – and there are often multiple alternative ways of dealing with behavioural issues that do not require the use of aversives.
- “Grew up training my dogs the balanced way, because it was familiar and seemed logical.” – I think it’s ingrained in our culture that we’re supposed to use carrots and sticks to change behaviour, although I think it’s fair to say that the stick is unnecessary and potentially does more harm than good. Essentially we can change the animals’ behaviour by addressing their underlying mood state, their emotional reactions to stimuli, the antecedents or reinforcers of behaviour, paying close attention to optimizing the animal’s learning environment, and introducing changes gradually.
- “I spouted uneducated misinformation about positive reinforcement training since that’s what I’d been taught.” – There are many myths about force-free training in the balanced community (some of which are addressed below), and latching on to any argument vilifying the “other side” is a way to feel better about one’s choices – especially if there is some cognitive dissonance.
- “I used a choke chain, even though I disliked it” – Many people in the group attested to feeling uneasy about using balanced training methods, which often involve inflicting pain or discomfort on the animal.
- “My dog was 2 and did not want to work with me… I realized that he became quite frightened when I approached him quickly.” – Several people told their heartbreaking stories of how their use of corrections impacted their relationships with their dogs in a bad way.
- “For the first time in my life, I had a dog that reacted really poorly to the training.” – Multiple people mentioned that it was not until they encountered a dog who didn’t respond well to aversives – including snapping at them – that they started looking for options.
- “Never knew there was anything else.” – If we’re never exposed to alternatives, we don’t know better. This, to me, brings home the importance of education. The value of sharing videos, stories, training successes – and research findings. If people don’t know about force-free methods, we can’t expect them to invent the wheel and discover them on their own.
- “When I came across force-free methods I quickly abandoned other training methods” – Many people will take the leap the moment they realize that there is an alternative. Which, again, leads us back to the importance of showcasing success stories, dispelling myths and getting the word out.
- “I came across a TV show showing force-free methods. It felt like the veil had been lifted & there was no going back.” – Many people attested to stumbling on R+ training and never looking back – through books, videos, courses, and friends. This, to me, illustrates the importance of spreading the word on multiple fronts – some people prefer books, some videos, and others conversations with friends.
- “I left to the accusation that I was too soft to train a dog, and he would end up terrible. But he didn’t.” – Leaving a well-known community of friends and family behind may lead to snarky comments. It’s important that the force-free community is welcoming and supportive to help people during this difficult stage. This transition is not just about dogs’ wellbeing – it’s very much also about peoples’.
- “I didn’t know enough to notice the subtle appeasement and stress signals in my previous dogs” – After crossing over and learning more about body language, emotions and behaviour, several people noted that they had not understood the extent to which their dogs were unhappy before they made the switch. Body language is sometimes very subtle – not all dogs will be blindingly obvious when communicating their displeasure at the human’s choice of training procedure.
- “I wish I knew what I know now when she was a puppy, because she would have been a different dog, but all I can do is move forward with her and thank the universe for her resilience.” – Several people mentioned feeling more or less crippled with guilt about how they had treated their dogs prior to converting, some battling shame for up to a decade.
Wiser people than I have offered words of consolation, should you be so afflicted. Sharing a powerful poem that helped me come to peace with previous choices.
I have been a thousand different women
– Emory Hall
make peace
with all the women
you once were.
lay flowers at their feet.
offer them incense
and honey
and forgiveness.
honor them
and give them your silence.
listen.
bless them
and let them be.
for they are the bones
of the temple
you sit in now.
for they are
the rivers
of wisdom
leading you toward
the sea.
Before we leave this section, back to the scenario of force-free trainers also very likely sometimes converting to balanced approaches. I would guess that the main reason for doing so would be the perception that the force-free approach isn’t effective, or that there’s too much work involved. And to the latter yes, I would agree – resolving unwanted behaviour without resorting to aversives may in some cases take more time and commitment. Not to mention that it requires skill: R+ training concepts may be simple to understand in theory, but difficult to carry out in practice. What I’m saying is that you need education to become a skilled R+-trainer. Finding good teachers can be difficult, and so people might give up. Especially if they were going at it on their own.
As many of my students attest, it’s lonely being the only force-free trainer in your village/stable/organization. Luckily like-minded people can be found in many online groups!
Another reason why people may abandon the force-free approach is because they cave in response to the onslaught of misinformation and myths related to positive reinforcement training.
The myths of positive reinforcement training.
Finally, I feel I can’t leave off without addressing some of the myths about R+ training that are circulating in the balanced world.
Many of these misconceptions seem to be borne out of the idea that in the R+ equivalent to balanced training, you would simply replace a well-timed correction with chucking a meatball at the dog, who would then immediately stop doing whatever it is they were doing.
And on that I completely agree – that suggestion is preposterous. Doomed to fail.
But it’s also based on a fundamental misunderstanding. As a general rule, and unlike when using aversives, R+ trainers don’t teach in the context where the unwanted behaviour occurs.
They teach outside of the context.
For instance, let’s say the dog excitedly jumps at grandma when she visits, and nearly knocks her over. Contrary to what many balanced trainers seem to suggest, R+ trainers wouldn’t solve this by waving a meatball in the dog’s face as the front paws connect with her shoulders.
They would start training a week before her visit, by for instance teaching an incompatible behaviour, such as standing with all four paws on a mat. Then they put the behaviour on cue, so that when they say “mat”, the dog enthusiastically runs over to the mat, looking expectantly for the meatball. They might gradually make it more difficult by asking for the behaviour in the presence of familiar people – and then unfamiliar people, until finally, after many many successful repetitions, when grandma comes, they give the cue “mat” – and the dog eagerly bounces to the mat to receive their meatball.
And if the trainer feels that the training isn’t quite there yet when grandma arrives, they will perhaps put the dog in another room or behind a barrier until they have calmed down and can say hello without going nuts. That’s another difference: in R+ training, we don’t set the animal up to fail just so we can administer a correction that they can learn from – we manage the environment to avoid the animal ever having the opportunity of practicing the unwanted behaviour.
In short, R+ lives in a completely different paradigm than training-using-aversives.
One particular example illustrating the type of misinformation often seen is “Positive reinforcement isn’t effective when recalling hunting dogs off wildlife”. I’ve heard this one a number of times, and this argument was lately brought forward in a shockingly bad scientific paper (now going under the name of “the banana-study” in R+ circles). I point out the many fallacies of the study in nerdy detail, and link to multiple R+ trainers making a living out of helping their clients successfully in those precise situations, here. I also discuss the problem of shocking dogs in Norway to render them “sheep-proof” here.
… Just out of curiosity… what other examples of myths and misinformation have you seen related to R+ training?
What the force-free community can do
To conclude this post, I thought I’d summarize what my thoughts are on this topic, and what we, the force-free community, can do.
- Balanced trainers love their dogs, and they’re doing the best they can with the information they have available.
- Spread information – in different ways. Videos, courses, blog posts, books, pamphlets, There are balanced trainers out there who haven’t heard of alternative approaches, and many of them are ready to convert. Use memes!
- Dispel myths. One thing holding people back from converting is that they think force-free doesn’t work. Prove them wrong. Why not make a series of blog posts dispelling those myths, one by one (and I’ll gladly pass that baton to someone else since I’m not a dog trainer – and I think video evidence is needed)..?
- Be kind when talking to balanced trainers. Make them curious, not defensive – they are much more likely to convert if you’re not hostile. They will likely face backlash from their peers when converting, so make sure to be welcoming.
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If you’re still here, and you’re curious about what the force-free world has to offer, perhaps you want to check out my online course Getting Behaviour – The Foundations of Animal Training. I also write the occasional blog post, participate in podcasts and summits, offer free Masterclasses as well as other extensive online courses – all on the topic of animal learning, behaviour and wellbeing. Sign up below and I’ll keep you posted!