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A new definition of punishment. 'Punishment’
to a positive-only trainer is strictly defined in the
scientific sense as anything, which will diminish
the likelihood of the behaviour (which preceded the
punishment) from recurring. This covers a
wide range of actions on the part of the dog
trainer, some of which he may be barely aware
of.
Punishment does not
necessarily mean pain or violence.
In scientific terms punishing
actions can can be anything
from a ‘hostile stare’ or menacing body posture, to a gruff
verbal warning ‘aaargh’ or ‘no’, to physical
restraint (holding the dog by the collar), or a
squirt of water, all the way up to what most people
would describe as punishment such as a physical
scruff shake or slap.
Changing behaviour with science.
To better understand how a clicker trainer can
change an animal’s behaviour without resorting to
any of the above, you need to understand the
scientific principles behind two main learning
processes which are important to all successful
animal training methods. These two processes are
Operant Conditioning
(click here), and Classical
Conditioning
(click here)
Next - who uses clicker training? |
