Two Tails (2)

The last time I competed in Obedience, there were just two competitors. Me and Cooper, and another trainer (uncredentialed), who I’ll call Emily, and her dog, who I’ll call Gin. Cooper was trained using rewards-based methods, and Gin was trained using no food, only a slip chain.  
 
Cooper and Gin competed in the same class, on the same day, at nearly the same time, under the same conditions and were evaluated by the same judge. They both got a near-perfect score, and I would say they were equally well-trained for the tasks being evaluated.  
 
We had to take an elevator to get out of the competition area. We happened to get on the elevator at the same time. It is tough for almost any dog to be trapped in such a confined space so close to a dog they don’t know. Gin was hard-staring at Cooper and low-grumbling. Emily would periodically pop his collar in response. Cooper was a little nervous and was quietly whining about the situation. I would periodically give Cooper a treat to help him stay calm. We were both controlling our dogs and minimizing their behavior, and I think we were equally competent; there was no fight inside that elevator. 
 
Emily left the elevator one floor earlier than I did. As she stepped off the elevator, she turned to me and said, “at least I don’t have to keep feeding my dog.” I said nothing (but couldn’t keep from rolling my eyes and smirking), but I thought to myself, “at least I don’t have to keep hurting my dog.”  
 
Training  a dog isn’t the same as programming a robot – we're never truly done. Any time we are asking a dog to perform a behavior that is not their default or preferred behavior, there will have to be some maintenance of that behavior.  wonder why she couldn’t see that we were doing the same thing – maintaining behavior. She was reminding her dog to behave the “right” way, and I was reminding my dog to behave the “right” way. I used food to remind Cooper, and she used discomfort and pain to remind Gin.  

When I first started, I learned how to train dogs using coercion, pain and fear. I’ve been where Emily is. I feel so much better about myself, my dog, and the situations we find ourselves in now that I use rewards-based training. I’m so much happier this way.