The term balanced dog training refers to using both positive reinforcement and aversive techniques when training a dog.
This might sound interesting, but is it really effective? Does it really help dogs learn? Can this keep dogs happy and willing to learn?
Let’s explore this a bit deeper.
When did Balanced Method become popular?
Aversive techniques and corrections have been used for such a long time and they were incredibly popular in the ‘80s and ‘90s.
Then, positive reinforcement had slowly started to be used by a lot of trainers and owners and became famous in the next years.
Balanced Training on the other hand, which is a mix of using both rewards and corrections has been recently brought up on the surface and became popular.
People believed that it’s the most effective way to teach a dog since you reward the good behaviours and punish the “wrong” ones, so the dog is able to understand better and faster. Is this true though?
Is there any science to support the effectiveness of balanced method?
There is currently no scientific study out there that states that balanced methodology is effective or better for the dogs.
On the contrary, there are loads of studies that have proven the ineffectiveness of using aversive tools and punishment when it comes to dog training.
Is balanced training right for me and my dog?
There is definitely a few ways to train a dog and that includes punishment and aversive tools. No one doubts that. All dogs are different and there is a lot of times that you need to adjust your techniques, advice and suggestions according to each dog, owner and environment.
Owners decide for their dog and they take their decisions according to their knowledge, experience, personality and views.
My job is to educate people as much as possible and transfer my knowledge so each person makes the best possible decision for their dog.
Punishment and aversive methods do work! The reason that they work though and have an immediate result, is because they focus on suppressing the dog’s emotions. When punishment is used, the dog feels threatened, defenceless, scared and gives up. They give up their emotions and they learn to suppress them so they can avoid the punishment and the bad consequences next time.
It does not matter if we use positive reinforcement the next day or even the next hour. It won’t make the dog forget the discomfort, pain or stress that they had before, and it won’t replace that.
My concerns in relation to the Balanced Method are listed below:
- Damages the bond
Dogs need to trust their humans. If dogs feel stressed or scared, they naturally seek comfort and help from their humans. Imagine getting punished by your favourite person because you may have acted naturally. That would certainly break your trust.
If we however, behave in a kind way and give right guidance to our dogs, they will learn to trust us and to want to be with us. - Confuses the dog
Dogs learn with consistency. Using 2 completely different methods every single day is going to have a negative impact on the dog’s well-being and behaviour.
Imagine being a dog and your favourite person praises and rewards you for walking nicely on the lead and the next moment, the same person yanks the lead and shouts at you because you followed an interesting smell and pulled the lead!
The stress and the confusion that you will get, is enough to change your behaviour for the worse. - Creates negative associations
When using punishment and aversive techniques, not only the relationship between human and dog is damaged, but the dog can easily associate other situations, people, animals etc with negative emotions.
If for example, a dog is punished for whatever reason and a kid on a skate happens to pass by, the dog may start developing a bad connection with kids on skate and may start reacting negatively towards them in the future. - Increases stress
It’s scientifically proven that aversive methods increase stress in dogs.
According to the AVSAB (American Veterinary Society of Animal Behaviour), “dogs trained with aversive methods or tools showed stress-related behaviors during training, including tense body, lower body posture, lip licking, tail lowering, lifting front leg, panting, yawning, and yelping.”
Balanced Training is a fairly new way and approach of training dogs but if we look at the science, we will see that reward based techniques offer the most advantages with the least harm in dog’s behaviour and well being.
Before any dog owner decides which method is suitable for them and their dog, they need to do their own research and choose wisely.
Personally, I believe that everyone wants to have a great bond and relationship with their dog and wants their dog to trust them.