What’s your method?

Hello everyone! For this long overdue post, I decided to talk more about methods of dog training, specifically the idea of the four quadrants. As I’ve mentioned before there are different types of training. Most people are familiar with the concept of positive reinforcement. This, along with the other three quadrants, can be used for pretty much any kind of teaching or training. But it’s not as simple as it sounds at first. I know, it’s a bit confusing. So let’s start with the four basic quadrants of dog training and what each individual section means. First, there are the words positive, negative, reinforcement, and punishment. In this sense positive and negative don’t necessarily mean good and bad. Here we say that positive simply means to add something, and negative means to remove something. Reinforcement is something done in response to a positive, and punishment is something done in response to a negative.

Let me explain this a bit. A good example of positive reinforcement would be giving your dog a treat (positive) for sitting when you tell them to (reinforcement). An example of negative reinforcement would be ignoring your dog and taking away the attention you’re giving them (negative) when they jump on you (reinforcement). An example of positive punishment would be using your squirt bottle (positive) when your dog barks loudly (punishment). And an example of negative punishment would be removing your dog from the park (negative) when they try to attack another dog (punishment). It does get complicated and there is some overlap. But remember, not everything works every time for every situation or every dog. This is why it is important to remember that every training plan needs to be individualized for those involved.

To summarize, my training method is a lot like my identity. There's a fluid spectrum and it's different depending on the day and the situation. But hey, let's talk!