|
I was pleased to see him finally endorse clicker training in one of his episodes.
Punishment is a much broader term than you would believe. There's positive and negative punishment. Positive punishment is what cesar uses, it's a negative input presented in response to a behavior. Negative punishment is what positive reinforcement use occasionally, it's when a positive input is withdrawn or taken away. Putting kids on time out and grounding children is a negative punishment. Getting up and leaving when a puppy nips is negative punishment.
And yes, your right, positive reinforcement is much easier to fix than negative punishment. Negative punishment can cause emotional damage to a dog depending on the dog, circumstances, and degree of harshness. Or if not emotional damage, it can certainly cause a dog to be more distant from you than if you used all positive reinforement. If there are other means of fixing a behavior problem that work just as well, if not better, then there's no need to even bother risking the effects of negative punishment. This is why trainers don't use negative punishment, and this is coming from an all positive reinforcement trainer.
I don't believe there's any need for positive punishment in casual dog training or fixing common behavior problems. It can all be done with positive reinforcement techniques including redirection. I will occasionally use Cesar's "bite" technique, but not as forcefully nor as a positive punnishment. I use it to get a dogs attention if he's overly excited or displaying a pray drive. It's like a couple rowdly children playing, sometimes you must gently grab them by the upper arm or shoulder to get their attention and get them to listen.
|