Dog training prior to WWI was a loose concept that was based on living and working arrangements between the dog and 'master.' They were used for things that were instinctive to them where little training was required to get desired results.
WWI brought in the theory of compulsion dog training. Dogs were used in combat for multiple purposes, dog war casualties were vast. This required more dogs that could be quickly trained to be used in the war. This was the birth of formal dog training. Compulsion training is based on avoiding pain/corrections by doing a desired command. Many of these dog's spirits could not withstand this type of training and their willingness to please was lost. Theses dogs were quickly thought of as broken and untrainable. This resulted in the idea that only the hardest alpha dogs could be trained.
After WWI these trainers were discharged from service. While people were moving into the cities from the farms, many still wanting the company of the family canine. These trainers quickly started to train these new city dwelling dogs with their compulsion training methods. Althought most people were not cruel, society at this time accepted obedience throught punishment; it was a 'hard knock life.'
In 1930 the American Kennel Club officially introduced obedience in the United States. Competition dog training was not far on the heels of this introduction and the accepted method was compulsion training.
When WWII came, vast quantities of dogs were again needed in the war effort. Many of the young men that enlisted were trained in compulsion dog training and after the war there was again an influx of compulsion trainers for the general public. The need for formal dog training was increasing at the same time due to many dogs expressing behaviour issues due to the lack of a job that played well with their natural instincts.
This is not to blame any of the young service men who did this profession and served the United States and Canada with honour. It was simply view of society that using rewards was a bribe. This made the notion of compulsion training easier to accept at the time.
The 1970's brought obedience training to the masses by books and TV. Many of the methods were transitioning away from the harsher/abusive techniques and using less aversive methods, but still correction based training. Many trainers were able to train very obedient, well-adjusted dogs with these less abusive methods.
In the 1980's the term "dominance" reared it's ugly head. This became one of the most misunderstood theory in dog training. The main study this was based on was a 'pack' of not related wolves in captivity. The way these wolves acted has been proven to be different then wild wolf packs for two main reasons. One, every living things will act slightly different in a captive environment then they would in the wild, think of inmates in prison. Two, this pack was built of not related wolves. Wolf packs in the wild are family units, from time to time adopting another lone wolf into their pack that is not related to them. I hesitate to use this word when dog training because of the misinformation available.
In the 1990's we started seeing the operant conditioning research, done in the 1800's, finally being applied to dog training. Pavlov was the famous researcher to conduct this research; most people know his research of ringing a bell to make dogs start drooling. With this training we started seeing the dogs typed as "untrainable" by the compulsion method; were in fact trainable.
Operant training methods have now started to be the primary method of dog training out there. Often die-hard compulsion dog trainers will skew the scientific evidence. See misconceptions of positive training for examples of some of the myths out there.
My go-to training method is positive training techniques that are scientifically proven to work with any behaviour or obedience training. I believe that building a strong relationship built on mutual respect and trust is key to any relationship including those with our canine family members.
WWI brought in the theory of compulsion dog training. Dogs were used in combat for multiple purposes, dog war casualties were vast. This required more dogs that could be quickly trained to be used in the war. This was the birth of formal dog training. Compulsion training is based on avoiding pain/corrections by doing a desired command. Many of these dog's spirits could not withstand this type of training and their willingness to please was lost. Theses dogs were quickly thought of as broken and untrainable. This resulted in the idea that only the hardest alpha dogs could be trained.
After WWI these trainers were discharged from service. While people were moving into the cities from the farms, many still wanting the company of the family canine. These trainers quickly started to train these new city dwelling dogs with their compulsion training methods. Althought most people were not cruel, society at this time accepted obedience throught punishment; it was a 'hard knock life.'
In 1930 the American Kennel Club officially introduced obedience in the United States. Competition dog training was not far on the heels of this introduction and the accepted method was compulsion training.
When WWII came, vast quantities of dogs were again needed in the war effort. Many of the young men that enlisted were trained in compulsion dog training and after the war there was again an influx of compulsion trainers for the general public. The need for formal dog training was increasing at the same time due to many dogs expressing behaviour issues due to the lack of a job that played well with their natural instincts.
This is not to blame any of the young service men who did this profession and served the United States and Canada with honour. It was simply view of society that using rewards was a bribe. This made the notion of compulsion training easier to accept at the time.
The 1970's brought obedience training to the masses by books and TV. Many of the methods were transitioning away from the harsher/abusive techniques and using less aversive methods, but still correction based training. Many trainers were able to train very obedient, well-adjusted dogs with these less abusive methods.
In the 1980's the term "dominance" reared it's ugly head. This became one of the most misunderstood theory in dog training. The main study this was based on was a 'pack' of not related wolves in captivity. The way these wolves acted has been proven to be different then wild wolf packs for two main reasons. One, every living things will act slightly different in a captive environment then they would in the wild, think of inmates in prison. Two, this pack was built of not related wolves. Wolf packs in the wild are family units, from time to time adopting another lone wolf into their pack that is not related to them. I hesitate to use this word when dog training because of the misinformation available.
In the 1990's we started seeing the operant conditioning research, done in the 1800's, finally being applied to dog training. Pavlov was the famous researcher to conduct this research; most people know his research of ringing a bell to make dogs start drooling. With this training we started seeing the dogs typed as "untrainable" by the compulsion method; were in fact trainable.
Operant training methods have now started to be the primary method of dog training out there. Often die-hard compulsion dog trainers will skew the scientific evidence. See misconceptions of positive training for examples of some of the myths out there.
My go-to training method is positive training techniques that are scientifically proven to work with any behaviour or obedience training. I believe that building a strong relationship built on mutual respect and trust is key to any relationship including those with our canine family members.
