Hidden Punishment

[SheltieChe]

Something I have been working on, seems benign, yes
affects our training- for sure. Every time you leave your dog in the middle of the training to get that toy or turn away to get more treats or stop because someone asked you question.... is a punishment for the dog. Easy to do when not prepared for session
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature...&v=tOGe_Fmf0tg

[dmeyer123]

Great info. Something to definitely be aware of. Thanks.

[corbinam]

I'm not sure that I agree with this. Certainly something to think about, and I'm far from a dog training expert, but I still am not sure how I feel about this.

I do agree that after a sequence or asking your dog for something that you should reward or interact in some way. One thing that I had to teach myself was that if I made a mistake and had to "reset", that it wasn't fair for me to ignore the dog because that's not rewarding (and I guess if punishment is defined as lack of reward, then it was a punishment). So I started tugging with the dog as I reset myself, or spoke with the trainer.

But if I play/interact/reward my dog, and then stop asking them to do anything, then the game is automatically on hold, is it not? If I'm just standing there giving zero cues, then my dog should know the game is on hold.

If I'm holding a cookie in my hand, is it always meant for my dog? Should they be "working" the whole time I'm holding it? No. Unless I'm cuing my dog (verbal, motion towards them, eye contact), then I think they should be able to relax or interact with their environment without feeling like it's punishment.

But again--these are just musings as I've just never thought much about it before.

[SheltieChe]

Originally Posted by corbinam

I'm not sure that I agree with this. Certainly something to think about, and I'm far from a dog training expert, but I still am not sure how I feel about this.



But if I play/interact/reward my dog, and then stop asking them to do anything, then the game is automatically on hold, is it not? If I'm just standing there giving zero cues, then my dog should know the game is on hold.

If I'm holding a cookie in my hand, is it always meant for my dog? Should they be "working" the whole time I'm holding it? No. Unless I'm cuing my dog (verbal, motion towards them, eye contact), then I think they should be able to relax or interact with their environment without feeling like it's punishment.

ah, but HOW do they know? How do they know that game is on hold because you are talking to teacher and you are not punishing them by taking away your attention? And if next time you are holding cookie in your hand HOW would they know that they should not go to interact with environment?