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Negative Reinforcement Shouldn't Have a Bad Rap
I was trapped. Like a deer in the headlights, I didn’t know what to do.
It was many years ago. I was new to Colorado and was interviewing for a position as behaviorist at a veterinary hospital. I had all the right credentials and references. It was down to the interview and I was doing fine. Then came the question – do you use negative reinforcement, the veterinarian asked? In retrospect, I should have answered, “if you mean do bad things happen to the dog when he doesn’t do what I tell him to do, then no, I don’t use negative reinforcement. If you mean do I sometimes remove stimulus when a desired behavior is executed, than yes, I do use negative reinforcement. That’s what I should have said. I had a split second to think and didn’t want to insult the vet by insinuating that she didn’t know what negative reinforcement was. So, I went with the old stand-by, the truth. Yes, I said, I do use negative reinforcement. How often, she asked? As often as necessary, whenever it is called for, I replied.
And that was the end of the interview. Unfortunately, the vet, like most people, equated negative reinforcement with punishment. And, in not wanting to insult her, instead of asking her what, exactly, she meant, I just answered her question.
I guess I should have insulted her.
There is nothing wrong, bad, or necessarily unpleasant about negative reinforcement. The problem is that most people, including the vet in the interview, equate the word “negative” with the word “bad”. Instead, the word “negative” when used as in “negative reinforcement” is used to mean “less than” or “minus”. When using negative reinforcement to train a dog, you are removing a stimulus when a behavior is performed properly. You are not doing bad things or punishing the dog. Punishment and negative reinforcement have nothing to do with each other.
Example: A gentle leader head halter uses negative reinforcement to train the dog not to pull on the leash. When the dog pulls while wearing a head halter, the head halter design pulls the dog’s head around so that he is walking forward while looking backward. This is awkward, so the dog stops pulling. When the dog stops pulling, the head halter stops pulling his head around. This is negative reinforcement, the stimulus stopping when the desired behavior is achieved. See? Not so bad.
There are many methods used to train dogs. Different doggie personalities do better with some methods than with others. What’s right for your dog? To learn more, join me at my presentation, “The Evolution of Dog Training” at the Main Library, 300 Peterson Street, Fort Collins on Tuesday, September 22nd. At 7:00 pm. It is free and open to the public. Come with notebooks but please leave your dogs safely at home.
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