[gsdhunter]

It's been bugging me for awhile and i know many of us have delt with this. How do you handle people hitting their dog and using punishment methods that refuse to see any other way.

I'm talking about the mindset that they dog must obey or they are in trouble. How can you help them understand how positive reinforcement is a much better way to go. Especially when they refuse to see the evidence supporting positive reinforcement training ? Do you just give up despite the fact that they are punishing their dog for being scared ? Do you just wait to see what happens ?

It's frustrating !
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[wideturn]

Understand that balanced trainers use both corrections and positive reinforcement. So it's not that they don't believe PR isn't beneficial, because they DO use it, they just don't use it exclusively.

 

[Naira]

It's extremely difficult to change someone's mind if they are set in their ways. Especially since they are probably seeing some results from punishment training. I'll follow this thread for suggestions as well.

 

[gsdhunter]

Maybe a better question would be, how to convince them that punishment will set back their training ?
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[SnackRat]

In what context? Professional consultations, the internet, some dude you saw smacking his dog on the street, friends & acquaintances, family, etc.?

 

[gsdhunter]

Acquaintances in my case, a friend of my boyfriends family.
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[piano88]

For myself at least, I find it helpful to remember that positive reinforcement really helps you develop a good relationship with your dog. I don't want my dog to behave a certain way just because they are afraid of a correction from me. That's not the kind of relationship I want to have with my dog. I'd much rather them do something because they associate it with something good coming from me. I know that some people, unfortunately, don't care so much about a relationship and just want the dog to obey them. These are the people who have to be shown the evidence that positive reinforcement is in the long run more effective.

Another thing is that positive reinforcement makes training much more enjoyable! For me at least, using punishment and corrections would make training less enjoyable and much more stressful. I for one want training sessions to be fun for both me and my dog.
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[CoyotePro]

You said they refuse to see the evidence supporting PR training does this mean they won't read articles or books you give them? Cuz reading is what really helped and convinced me.
Since you don't know them that well it probably won't be easy to convince them though.
And if they are refusing to even consider any of the evidence you have there really isn't that much you can do.
Maybe you could try discussing their training method, why they choose to do what they do with there dog ask them questions and stuff. Perhaps it would clarify some things and help you find common ground?

What was their dog doing that they felt deserved punishment?


(here are some links anyway you might find helpful?)

http://www.dogforum.com/training-behavior-stickies/suppression-modification-shutdown-fallout-4776/
http://www.dogforum.com/training-behavior-stickies/calming-signals-10084/
Fallout from Use of Aversiveseileenanddogs
6 Myths about Positive Reinforcement-Based Training - eileenanddogseileenanddogs