by Christine Bennett

Created on: November 30, 2008   Last Updated: September 11, 2010

My side of the debate took some thinking about because actually this side the "correct' side could also be on the positive reinforce side, and vice versa,as that is what you doing when you correct, you reinforce, if you are doing it positively then you are rewarding with a happy out look.

However I am aware of what they are trying to say when they say reinforce, it is really repetition of the dog doing the correct thing, in other words saying to the dog, that it's particular behaviour is the correct one desired.

Correction is in my opinion very important in the training of an animal, because if bad behaviour is allowed, it will continue, and if bad behaviour is allowed then we can actually be positively reinforcing it, hence my reason for choosing the correction based side, when know trainers will frown and say all training should be by positive reinforcement.

When I had my new puppy, a chocolate Labrador called Coco, she was full of fun and loved to bite, or as we call it, mouth on anything and everything, including my hand or ankle. This action was corrected very simply by my action to her every time she did this and what I did was to cry out as if in pain. This is a natural response with puppies, they teach each other or rather tell each other - That hurts - don't bite so hard!'

You could say that this is reinforcement, but to me it is correction, I am teaching my puppy that if she bites my hand it hurts and so she is gentler next time.

Ever seen a pup grab a squeaky toy, as soon as it squeaks the pup releases it's hold a bit to gently hold the toy in it's mouth .

Correcting a dog does not mean you have to smack them, a dog quite quickly learns what NO means and that word doesn't have to be shouted it can be spoken with the same amount of volume but with a disapproving look on your face.

Your dog knows when you are not happy about something and the word you speak isn't important so long as it is always the same word, and NO is quick and easy.

I can say NO to my dog across a field and she will stop what she is doing, I introduced this word very early in her training to cover anything she does that i do not want her to do, so that the first time I caught her chewing something of mine I said no and corrected her action by replacing what she was chewing by a toy of her own.

Just like a child, she now knows that no means don't do something, but also that yes means she is ok to do what she's doing.

Each time I caught her I took away what she was chewing said

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