Additional Information

Positive punishment can be effective if it’s severe enough. You should only need to use positive punishment one or two times in order to make that behavior go away. There are several problems with this. First, are you willing to deal a severe enough punishment that the dog is unwilling to repeat the crime? Most of us are not; it usually involves fear or pain, and we didn’t get a dog so that we can brutalize him. Second, punishing one behavior “successfully” almost always results in the development of other, even less desirable, behaviors.

But the side effects of positive punishment can be even worse. It is important to understand that it is the perception of the dog, not the perception of the human, which dictates whether something is punishing or not. So you may never actually USE positive punishment, but the dog may perceive something in his environment as being punishing. A dog who is the subject of repeated positive punishment will react in a predictable manner. At first, the dog becomes anxious. You may see signs of this anxiety by looking more closely at him. Are his ears moving around a lot, as if to constantly check the direction from which sounds are coming? Is he doing a lot of nose licking and yawning?