The 12 Pitfalls of Positive Punishment and why it doesn't work

Positive Punishment is the presentation of a bad consequence when a behavior is performed. Example: You ask your dog to sit, he continues to sniff the ground, you jerk up on his leash to get him to sit. We do not utilize this type of learning and here is why:

12 Pitfalls of Positive Punishment

1. You can cause physical pain/damage to your dog.
2. It is difficult to gauge the appropriate intensity.
3. The dog can develop a "punishment callous".
4. The behavior may return when punishment stops.
5. It is difficult to have perfect timing.
6. It is difficult to be perfectly consistent.
7. It can suppress desired behaviors; inhibit offered behaviors.
8. It doesn't teach the dog what to do.
9. The suppressive effect of the punisher is limited to the presence of the discriminative stimuli.
10. It is rewarding to the punisher.
11. It can damage the dog's confidence, trust in the trainer, relationship between dog and human.
12. Violence begets violence.

—Pat Miller, CPDT and author of "The Power of Positive Dog Training"

The APDT advocates dog-friendly training, which it defines as:

"Dog-friendly training is training that utilizes primarily positive reinforcement; secondarily negative punishment, and only occasionally, rarely, and/or as a last resort includes positive punishment and/or negative reinforcement."

When there are dog-friendly ways to resolve behavior problems that don't risk the pitfalls of positive punishment (and there almost always are), we prefer to use them.

Please refer to the APDT Missions and Ethics to read the pledge we took when we joined the APDT.

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