Dog Training - Using Toilet Water To Stop Bad Behavior
Woke up around 5:00AM the other day and heard a very interesting story on the radio.
A junior high school principal was having a difficult time with the girls in her school.
Every day, the girls in school would go into the bathroom, put on lipstick and then kiss the mirror leaving lip prints behind to get cleaned.
The janitor was getting fed up with it and approached the principal.
The principal politely asked the girls in the school to stop kissing the mirror after applying fresh lipstick.
The next day - lip prints all over the mirror.
Again, the principal politely asked the girls to stop.
More lipstick prints.
Then the janitor came up with a brilliant idea.
The principal called the girls into the bathroom and explained how difficult it was for the janitor to clean the mirror everyday with the lip prints all over it.
To show them how hard the janitor worked at getting them off the mirror, the principal asked the janitor to clean the mirror for them to see.
The janitor took his squeegee and plunked it into the toilet.
He then took the toilet water soaked squeegee and washed the mirror.
No more lipstick prints on the mirror.
Listening to that story made me think of dog training.
You see, when it comes to dog training there are some trainers who preach that never, under any circumstances, are we to use any form of negative to train.
Believe me, I am ALL about positive training and am EXTREMELY cautious when it comes to using any type of negative during a training session.
BUT...
...
there is no denying that done correctly, negative consequences for certain behaviors can greatly speed up the process just as the story above illustrates.
I understand why trainers have developed such strong feelings against using any type of negative.
Anyone who started training dogs before the 90's has seen first-hand the brutal methods that were used on a lot of poor dogs.
A lot of dogs suffered greatly all in the name of "training.
" Negative training can be effective but it has to be treated very carefully.
I always teach that when you want to make a behavior stronger you have to reward the behavior.
When you want to stop a behavior you have to apply a negative consequence or manage the behavior.
The negative consequence does not have to harm the dog and it should not be associated with the trainer.
A junior high school principal was having a difficult time with the girls in her school.
Every day, the girls in school would go into the bathroom, put on lipstick and then kiss the mirror leaving lip prints behind to get cleaned.
The janitor was getting fed up with it and approached the principal.
The principal politely asked the girls in the school to stop kissing the mirror after applying fresh lipstick.
The next day - lip prints all over the mirror.
Again, the principal politely asked the girls to stop.
More lipstick prints.
Then the janitor came up with a brilliant idea.
The principal called the girls into the bathroom and explained how difficult it was for the janitor to clean the mirror everyday with the lip prints all over it.
To show them how hard the janitor worked at getting them off the mirror, the principal asked the janitor to clean the mirror for them to see.
The janitor took his squeegee and plunked it into the toilet.
He then took the toilet water soaked squeegee and washed the mirror.
No more lipstick prints on the mirror.
Listening to that story made me think of dog training.
You see, when it comes to dog training there are some trainers who preach that never, under any circumstances, are we to use any form of negative to train.
Believe me, I am ALL about positive training and am EXTREMELY cautious when it comes to using any type of negative during a training session.
BUT...
...
there is no denying that done correctly, negative consequences for certain behaviors can greatly speed up the process just as the story above illustrates.
I understand why trainers have developed such strong feelings against using any type of negative.
Anyone who started training dogs before the 90's has seen first-hand the brutal methods that were used on a lot of poor dogs.
A lot of dogs suffered greatly all in the name of "training.
" Negative training can be effective but it has to be treated very carefully.
I always teach that when you want to make a behavior stronger you have to reward the behavior.
When you want to stop a behavior you have to apply a negative consequence or manage the behavior.
The negative consequence does not have to harm the dog and it should not be associated with the trainer.
Source...