Most people want an independent dog – but yet, end up creating a dog that is fully dependent in every way. The dog needs to make choices – real choice beyond listen to me or I’ll punish you in some way.
When you look at your dog, what do you see? An brainless automaton that can’t think for itself? An animal that needs to be operantly conditioned (trained) to fit into every aspect of your life?
Or do you see a sentient creature that’s fully capable of thought, choice, and understanding?
How many real choices does your dog get in the run of a day?
If you’re using “Positive Reinforcement”, then you are training your dog from a “brainless automaton” position. Ask any positive reinforcement trainer to define what “positive reinforcement” is beyond a treat or one quadrant – and they will have a difficult time – mainly because it’s so fractured.
Positive reinforcement is one quadrant of a 4 quadrant system that doesn’t care about your dogs brain or thought process – it doesn’t care that your dog is sentient. Take the brain away and reward and punish the dog for a choice it didn’t make – that’s what the quadrants dictate. And we wonder why it fails.
A “yes” doesn’t mean much coming from a dog that isn’t allowed say no.