STUDY SUGGESTS POSITIVE METHODS MORE EFFECTIVE

A recent study[1] published by the Universities Federation for Animal Welfare found that reward-based methods were significantly more successful for training certain tasks, and for no task was punishment-based training most effective. Dogs trained using only reward-based methods were reported significantly more obedient than those trained by other means, identifying reward-based methods to be the most effective overall training method.

Another noteworthy finding was the link between punishment-based techniques and problem behaviors, suggesting that punishment may result in the dog experiencing anxiety or conflict, a leading cause in behaviors such as aggression, separation anxiety and phobias.

[1] Hibey, E.F., Rooney, N.J. and Bradshaw, J.W.S. (2004), Dog training methods: their use, effectiveness and interaction with behaviour and welfare, Animal Welfare , 13:1, 63-69