Be careful when using punishment as a form of behavior modification.  It suppresses problem behavior temporarily, but actually might worsen the underlying cause.

OK so I am a positive reinforcement dog trainer and I do believe in reward based training but you can not train a dog without punishment! So Why would I pick this as the quote of the day? Well simple talk of punishment has become so Taboo that every one thinks punishment is bad… Well, physical punishment or abuse is definitely wrong and should not be used. However the definition of punishment is anything added to or taken away for a situation that decreases the frequency of a behavior… So does that mean that we should never use a time out, ignore our dogs when they are doing something we don’t like or withhold something they enjoy until they have earned it?
Look folks punishment depends on a couple of things and the big one is whose perspective we are looking from… What we feel is not a punishment might just be from the dogs perspective! So my goal in this short little essay is to get you to realize the word punishment all by itself is not a dirty word it is how some use it that is bad. 

Let me leave you with this… Most modern research shows that adult dogs have the intelligence level of a two year old child. So would you ever rip a dirty diaper off a two year old and rub their nose in it and say “Bad Child”??? Just something to think about as always I would love your thoughts….
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