Does Dog Training Need To Be Revamped?

Dr. Dunbar is well known for his approach and stance on dogs and dog training. I found this article to be interesting mostly because it shows how “science” gets way off topic and then screams for a revival. This is why balanced training always will be relevant as oppose to the newest fad.

“Off-leash puppy socialization and training classes caused an unplanned paradigm shift in dog training. The off-leash format was ideal for socialization with people and puppies and produced confident, friendly, good-natured and well-behaved dogs. Also the off-leash format was ideal for teaching off-leash verbal control at a distance in an extremely distracted setting without the continued need for training aids. The field of science-based, pet dog training exploded and other fields of dog training (obedience, protection, search and rescue, bomb/drug search and hearing-ear dogs) followed suit, because petdog trainers were training puppies to off-leash control within a tenth of the time that it took on-leash trainers. Basically, teaching a dog what to do is quicker than teaching a dog what not to do, because … there is only one right way compared to the infinite number of wrong ways. Reward-training is simply far more time-efficient and effective than punishment–training. And so, pet dog training became a happy place with an abundance of food and toy lures and rewards producing friendly, confident, well-trained dogs.”

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