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TO CORRECT OR NOT TO CORRECT! Correction has become a dirty word in modern obedience training! Many trainers now propose a absolutely positive training method for training obedience exercises and this has gone so far that exhibitors are even questioning what type of collar they can use on their dogs in the obedience ring, as they have been told that a traditional chain choke collar is aversive! Let’s take a look at corrections and see how they can be fairly applied to teach your Golden Retriever the proper offered behavior. First we need to understand that correction can mean anything from simply using your hands to place a dog in a sit position to using a shock collar to obtain a desired behavior. In each case, the handler was compelling their dog to perform the required task. Does this mean that the handler does not love their dog? Of course not! But does giving a cookie to your dog for every behavior or to coax them into the desired behavior mean that you love them more? No! Our Golden Retrievers are so adept at giving us their unconditional love and companionship, as well as so much joy in our lives. They possess a wonderful ability to read our emotions, our wants and needs. They do not however, think like we do as humans. Our dogs react on a physical way with each other. They do not understand human emotions. Watch your dogs interacting with each other and you will see how they communicate with each other. As a dog trainer, we need to communicate with them in a language that they can understand. One of the biggest mistakes seen in dog trainers using corrections is that they normally do this with anger at the dog for making the mistake. Our Goldens tend to do one of two behaviors when this happens, they either stress down in their confusion which will often result in shut down mode, or they stress up and become out of control, searching to avoid the anger. Getting angry does not produce the desired result when correcting a dog because they can not understand the emotion, all they know is that they have to do something physical to avoid what they are encountering. Understanding that they are physical by nature, we want to build confidence in our Golden Retrievers when we give them the correction. We need to answer their questions about what is the desired response to our communication. Confidence is built in training by letting them know when they are wrong (without the angry emotion attached to it) and when they are right (with the emotion attached to it). Properly applied corrections are done in an upbeat way, anger free, and used to build a dog’s motivation to offer the correct behavioral task. They should help answer the question the dog has about what behavior the dog is expected to perform. Properly applied corrections, can actually work to build a dog’s drive and love of working. Next month, we will see how corrections and PLAY build drive in the dog! Until then, happy training and trialing!
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