In my first post I stated: "There are no quick fixes in animal training". Well, this is not entirely true - there are, as I'm sure you know, a plethora of gizmos and gadgets claiming to offer a quick, almost effortless solution to a myriad of animal behaviour issues. From citrus spraying collars to cease annoying barking, to invisible fences to contain a wandering animal, to electrified 'scat mats' to stop counter surfacing, to shock devices allowing swift and apparently harmless 'corrections' for just about any unwanted behaviour. These are all devices which issue 'positive punishment' - an unpleasant or painful stimulus designed to lessen the occurrences of unwanted behaviour.
We are only human and as such, it is in our nature to try and find the route that gets to our goal with the least possible energy expended. We do it all the time, in every area of our lives - we have a universal remote for the entertainment system, we have an automatic car to save us changing gears, we have keyboard shortcuts for just about any action a computer can perform. It makes us efficient beings; it gets things done.
But there are some areas where, as tantalising as the thought of that fast, easy solution is, it is not the most appropriate method.
In my humble opinion, animal training is one of those areas.
You see, animals are not machines - you can't just press the right button or enter the right shortcut and make them do what you want or stop doing what they want. They are living creatures with thoughts and desires and feelings all their own, and the most humane and effective method is always going to be to look at the root of the issue and try to address it.
And, as efficient as they might be, this is where these gadgets fall down. Most of the time, all a spray or shock device does is 'contain' the problem. Its like putting a sticking plaster on an infected wound: sure, its nicer to be around, but the issue is still there under the surface and it's probably going to manifest in other problems unless it is treated.
So, here are some common issues these devices are used for, and a few alternative methods which solve the problem, not just the symptom:
1) Barking.
The most common issue people seek a quick fix for is barking, usually by going out and purchasing a shock or spray collar designed to administer an unpleasant experience to the dog when it barks. Now, this is the epitome of 'suppressing but not fixing' a problem. Sure, the dog probably barks less, but if the underlying issue isn't solved then its just going to vent whatever its feeling in some other manner (like becoming destructive, or suffering housetraining issues) and it may even serve to further ingrain issues like fear and anxiety.
The fact is that dogs bark and, depending on the breed, some dogs naturally bark a lot! Beagles and Bloodhounds are bred to howl, Dachshund are bred to yap, even some lap dogs, Pomeranians for example, were used to issue loud and piercing barks for the protection of the ladies who doted on them! If you want an animal that doesn't bark at all your going to have to get a cat... Or a Basenji (and even this non-barking breed isn't silent - They just prefer to express themselves in 'yodels').
Barking is a natural behaviour, and it is an important way that a dog expresses its mental state. Dogs don't bottle things up like humans - if they feel something, they express it in whatever behaviour helps. What this means is that incessant barking is not a sign of a 'bad' dog in need of correction: its often a sign something is wrong!
Barking and boredom:
The number one cause of constant (or near constant) barking is boredom. When some dogs are bored they get destructive; chewing the couch or scratching the furniture, but for a large amount of others barking is their way of entertaining themselves and venting their pent up energy and frustration.
Its a sad fact that many pet dogs, although often identical to their working ancestors, lead very sedentary, dull lives in comparison. They are often very spoiled and very loved; lavished with attention and treats, but they just don't have anything to do!
If your dog is barking more than he should, think about his lifestyle - Is he cooped up most of the day in your house or garden? Is he given a leisurely stroll once daily and then taken home? Is his food unceremoniously dumped in front of him a couple of times per day?
If this sounds like your dog's life, then it may be time to start enriching it more to ease his boredom and stop his frustrated barking.
Walks
A slow stroll once per day is all some dogs need, especially when they are elderly or infirm (or just of a very lazy persuasion). But for others, especially working breeds (like herders), it just isn't enough to sate the desire to be out there DOING stuff!
Toys and games
If your dog is barking in your garden or home all day long, then consider getting some more interesting and exciting toys to entertain him, and creating some fun games you can play to help him blow off steam.
Fetch is great (especially for retriever types!), and also needs some training to perfect so it provides both mental and physical stimulation, but there's a wealth of other activities you and your dog can do together. How about whirling round a toy on a rope for a high prey drive pup to chase? For dogs who enjoy following their nose you can also buy commercial scents (like duck), or rub toys with food - then just drag them around a while, hide them, and have your dog sniff it out.
For dogs with great ears, find a noisy toy, and hide with it somewhere in the house, making noise with it till your dog finds you. This is also great for use as a recall game!
Get creative and make your dog work, don't just stick to throwing and pulling toys.
There's also organised activities that could really help a very high energy dog - check out things like agility training (you don't have to join a group and compete - just set up some simple obstacles in the garden and give it a go!) or flyball.
Food
In the wild, animals spend the majority of their time searching for food. Now, just because most dogs can't (and don't have to) hunt for themselves doesn't mean that we should just be plopping it all on a plate in front of them.
Working and searching for food can be a brilliant way to occupy your dog for long periods - especially when he is by himself. Look for toys you can stuff with food ('Kong' are the oft recommended brand), treat balls that you fill with biscuits to be dispensed when the dog rolls it around, and use part of your dog's daily food allowance as rewards in training.
You can also hide some of his food around the house, or get him to work for it some other way- even if its as simple as having him tip over a plastic cup or cardboard box to get at some.
Training
This can be anything, from simple obedience and manners, to complex tricks or competition training. For a dog who is usually bored all day, a couple of 10 minute sessions (even if its just learning to 'sit' or 'high five') can provide some much needed mental stimulation.
In short - an occupied dog, can't bark!
Barking and separation anxiety:
This is such a big issue I feel it warrants its own article to explain the many techniques which can ease it, but here's a brief description for those who's animals (not just dogs!) may be sufferers:
Separation anxiety is fear and stress in the animal, brought about by the owner (or sometimes another animal) leaving. If your dog only barks excessively when you aren't around, then he may be suffering from separation anxiety. The barking may be paired with chewing, urination, defecation, howling, whining, trying to escape (scratching at or attempting to dig under doors), or may be the only sign anything is wrong. The first signs of anxiety (whining, drooling, pacing, being unusually clingy) will often begin as soon as the dog sees you are preparing to leave.
Although it may be tempting to use a device like a shock or spray collar to curb this sort of barking because it can do the work for you while you are out, it must be remembered that this is a fear issue - Attempting to curb the barking by punishment, and with methods that cause further discomfort can be seriously detrimental to the health and wellbeing of the dog.
The more humane and effective approach would be to work on desensitising the dog to your departure and to the signs you are about to leave and to help him feel more comfortable on his own (I will go into more detail on how to achieve this in a later article on the subject).
Barking and fear/aggression:
If the excessive barking is directed at one particular trigger (people walking past the fence or the neighbour's cats for example) then it may be caused by fearful or aggressive feelings. Using unpleasant punishments to try and curb the behaviour could serve to deepen these feelings (where previously it was a case of "passers by are scary and barking makes them leave" it could easily become "passers by are scary AND a source of pain"). It could even serve to make a seriously fearful dog skip barking altogether and go straight to attacking - barking used to make the things the dog feared go away, but now it hurts to bark at them so the only thing he can do is get them before they get him!
What you need to do here is find the trigger of his barking, and either carefully and slowly desensitise him to it or use counterconditioning to make it a source of pleasure, rather than fear, in his eyes. This will not only stop the annoying barking, but also cure him of his anxieties and make him a more comfortable and easier to handle animal.
Barking and guarding:
Sometimes guard dog types get a little out of hand - if your dog is happily alerting you to everyone who comes near your door by barking from the moment they enter his sight to the moment they leave it then the solution isn't to punish him for doing what comes naturally - it's to teach him what is allowed.
One good solution for those whose dogs are natural home protectors is to teach a little control (this also works for issues such as barking at the doorbell or barking when a car arrives).
This involves teaching two cues - 'speak' and 'quiet (/'enough'/'thank you').
You first teach your dog to bark on cue, then reward them for stopping on cue. Using this method you can teach your dog either just to stop when you say, or to automatically stop after one bark. That way they still get to alert you of possibly unwanted visitors, but you dictate how much alerting you actually need!
You could also teach an alternative method of alerting you, like coming to find you, though with naturally bark prone dogs this may take longer, and will be more complex for the inexperienced trainer.
2) Recall/Heeling/Offleash training.
I know there are people who opt to use a collar device of some sort to train their dogs to have good recall or to stay near them/at heel while off leash. They say that the ability to 'correct' the dog from a distance allows the dog greater freedom than a dog who can't be trusted off leash. And that's true - a dog with bad recall, or who doesn't pay attention to you off leash can't be trusted to romp around in the park or the woods and he suffers as a result. But I disagree that punishment is the best or only way to train great recall.
In fact, I think a recall based on positive reinforcement methods is always preferable because I know the dog is coming back and paying attention to me because he wants to - not because its painful or unpleasant to stray. It also makes being on a walk an entirely positive experience for all involved and never backfires the way that pain inducing training can (using harsh punishment on walks can make dogs associate locations, rather than the 'bad' behaviour, with the pain, causing them to become stressed when walked in places they have previously been shocked).
Since it's such an important issue I will go into training recall fully in a later article, but the basic principles of teaching solid recall is just a matter of:
a) making yourself more interesting and rewarding than the sights, sounds and smells of the outside world,
b) making coming to you a pleasant experience every time and
c) proofing, proofing and proofing again.
3) Counter-surfing/ Keeping Animals off Furniture.
There are various electronic devices designed to keep animals off furniture or counters but, in my opinion these should be avoided - there is alway the risk of even just one shock scaring the animal so much they won't even enter the room where it happened.
There are several painless methods to solve this issue-
1) Close doors or put up baby gates. Problem solved.
2) Don't leave food uncovered on counters or tables - if someone left your favourite snack on a counter, unattended, you would have a hard time resisting right? Now imagine you only had the cognitive power of a dog or cat. Put the delicious steak under a bowl or in the fridge if you can't watch it. Teaching the 'leave it' cue for when you are around can also be helpful.
3) Teach your dog that it gets rewards for being on the floor, and train an 'off' command so you can tell it to get down when you need to. When you aren't there to supervise, keep the dog separate from the furniture you don't wish him to sit on.
4) If you don't want your cat going on your furniture, you can try training it with rewards just like a dog - it can be done! But it's really not realistic to expect cats not to do what they want - if you want entirely fur and scratch free furniture then the only realistic answer is not to get a cat (or any loose pet really - try hamsters).
5) As with any training, consistency is key - no animal is going to understand that he's allowed on the furniture whenever he wants, just not when he's muddy! Or that one person allows him up and another doesn't. Either he's allowed or he isn't. If he is allowed then a good solid knowledge of the 'off' command is a good idea- that's not inconsistent because it isn't punishment for being up there, it's actually a chance for a reward for getting down when asked.
6) I really group this with number 5 but: don't inadvertently reward the animal for stealing things off counters or jumping on furniture - you'd be amazed how many dogs are confused by getting a laugh, a pat on the head and a joking 'you naughty thing!' for stealing something small and inconsequential like a cookie, and then get massively told off for nabbing something more 'important'. If it's not allowed, it's never allowed!
4) Containment.
The last issue shock devices are often used for is to keep a dog contained, either by manually shocking when it leaves a boundary without permission, or by the use of an automated 'invisible fence' system which is set up around the garden, and which administers a shock to the dog via a collar device in order to keep it inside the boundaries.
These are not only unpleasant for dogs - they are dangerous. An electronic containment system of any kind is NOT a suitable substitute for a real fence and yet many people use them that way. The issue here is, not only are you causing unnecessary pain (boundaries can be taught just as effectively with no discomfort to the dog, see this brilliant series of tutorials by Kikopup on youtube:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oNE_WJ1nMu4&list=PL756D0A827EF9134C ) it is also highly ineffective - once dogs get used to the shock, they may simply ignore it, especially if they are focused on next doors cat across the road, or another passing dog! This can lead them to become trapped OUTSIDE the boundary, because once they are calm and ready to return they now get shocked for trying to get back into your garden!
It can also seriously traumatise more sensitive dogs, leading to fear of the garden in general or fear of leaving it even when given permission.
Dogs, when not supervised (even when trained not to exit a garden without permission) should always be properly contained indoors, in a kennel, or within sturdy fences. If improperly contained dogs are not only at risk of running off, but also at the mercy of people and other animals who can freely enter their garden and may steal, bother or injure them.
Vibrating collars:
The only time an electronic device is really appropriate in my eyes is vibrating collars used in a positive manner. A (gently) vibrating collar can be a great tool to allow a dog time off leash. Especially for deaf dogs, or those with a lot of space to roam, who might not be able to hear you calling - if they can't hear you calling, then they can't be recalled. But with vibration device you can train the dog to expect great rewards from you when it vibrates - this gets them eagerly running back to you as soon as you trigger it.
It should never be used, as some do, as a form of punishment for any dog. Rather, it should have a positive association to avoid issues with the dog simply ignoring the vibration, or becoming fearful of it. And it should be noted that some dogs might find even the lowest vibration on their neck unpleasant, in which case this is not an appropriate device.
A better solution in those dogs (and something useful for any dog, really) is to train them to 'check in' often by rewarding them any time they return to you, even when not called.
So, there's my stance on 'positive punishment' devices. I am well aware that they CAN be used to great effect, but I'm also well aware that there are a myriad of other, less risky, ways to train just about anything you could think to use one of these devices for...so why not try them?
By all means, don't just take my word for it:
Punishment Position Statement - American Veterinary Society of Animal Behaviour (AVSAB):
The Implications of Training Techniques Inducing Pain or Fear - Welfare in Dog Training (linked to in RSPCA article, above): http://www.dogwelfarecampaign.org/implications-of-punishment.php
