Listen to this “trainer” from Miracle K9 first of all. That dogs don’t have a moral compass. And I’m going to show you – not tell you – where this came from. Cause it wasn’t B.F Skinner.
If you aren’t aware of Miracle K9, they are a balanced training company that heavily utilizes the treats, e-collars and prongs etc. They employ the quadrants of dog training and you will hear David Tirpak talk about the individual quadrants. Positive and Negative Reinforcement, Positive and Negative Punishment. Where did the quadrants actually come from? Konrad Most of course – in his book “Training Dogs”. Konrad is the father of Schutzhund – which became IPO in 2004 then IGP in 2019.
You can read this book on your own – there is a PDF here for you to download. This is the very book that is the basis for what you know as “dog training” – that should never have invaded the behavioural ring. It’s a book centered around the tracking, obedience and protection dog sports.
https://roberthynesdogtraining.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/trainingdogs.pdf
First of all, what is part of Konrad’s “system” of dog training? This is what is being pushed on you.
This system avoids the mistake of endowing dogs with human understanding and morals; a mistake which renders any real partnership between man and dog so difficult. By the methods described no demand exceeding its powers of comprehension are made on the dog. The animal is thus spared much suffering
and the man much disappointment and annoyance; while the enjoyment of both pupil and trainer is facilitated and increased.
In the introduction of the book – you will read this. The dog is not a moral thing according to Konrad.
I therefore set about the task of reading all the literature dealing
with the subject that I could obtain, and came to realize that the method I had followed differed from others in that it was based on a form of training whichtreated the dog, not as an intelligent human pupil imbued with a sense of duty, but as an animal, beyond good or evil, living in a world without moral values
and learning not by logical thinking but solely through the faculty of memory.
On page 27, you will find the following – we should train a dog with no morals at all?
It is extremely important for us to be quite clear on this point. If our approach to
training is based on moral ideas regarding punishment, reward, obedience, duty,
etc., we are bound to handle the dog in the wrong way.
On page 87, you will find this. Konrads definition of the dog. Anyone that see the dog this way – it’s not going to end well for the dog. Now think long and hard about all those balanced trainers out there using the crank and yank and shocking dogs? This is how they define the dog.
Dogs cannot speak or understand language. They are unable to form ideas and, therefore, have no conception of orders, obedience, duty, guilt, blame and punishment, praise and reward. They have nothing to do with any kind of morality, or with good and evil.
Oh, and by the way – Konrad lays out rules for beating your dog literally into submission.
The animal is thereby challenged to repeat his resistance in order that the trainer may have an opportunity to settle the question of precedence of authority in the only way he can. For example, in the exceptional case in which the dog snarls at the trainer and a heavy cut with the switch does not stop him, a beating must follow. Such treatment will in such a case stimulate the submissive instinct, without weakening the pack impulse—loyalty and readiness to come to heel. Such weakening will only occur if, as already repeatedly stated, punishment is applied in conjunction with coming to heel.
The switch should be employed until the animal submits and his will to resist, and the exasperation that accompanies it, is replaced by fear. So long as the dog does not submit, but continues to resist, a flexible switch should be used, if necessary, on the head and jaws, but not on the top of the nose. It may also be used on the neck, ears, legs and tail, but not on the sexual parts or on the lower regions of the belly and chest. Apart from such exceptional cases heavy cuts should only be applied to the powerful muscles on the fore- and hindquarters and on the back.1
You’ve heard of trainers talking about the “soft” dog? What do you think happens to the really tough dogs?
Certain tough types of dog will refuse to give in despite the most energetic counter-action by the trainer. Such animals are unsuitable for training as working dogs.
What you know as “dog training” needs to stop. People need to step back and ask themselves is this the “MORAL” thing to do to a sentient animal.
If you haven’t figured it out yet – quadrants based trainers don’t see the dog as sentient.