THE PET TEACHER
In-YOUR-Home Dog Training
248-232-3655
Positive Reinforcement Training
Real Training for Really Great Results
There are three basic methods of training: Positive Reinforcement, Compulsive, and
Balanced.

Positive Reinforcement has become the preferred methodology and the method used by
The Pet Teacher.  It is also being used for corporate training and in schools to teach our
children.  Positive Reinforcement puts the focus on what the end result we desire rather
than what we don’t want to happen.  Science has proven that we (humans) tend to
gravitate toward what we focus on, so Positive Reinforcement helps us to keep that
concentration so we can teach our dogs (and kids, spouses, co-workers) the wanted
behaviors, and also to help extinguish the unwanted behaviors.  There are a number of
motivational techniques that Positive Reinforcement trainers use, combined with the aid
of environmental consequences.  Real Positive Reinforcement trainers are committed to
using gentle motivational methods rather than force and old-fashioned coercion.  These
trainers do not use choke chains, prong collars, shock collars, water sprayers, rolled-up
papers, strangleholds, nose holds, alpha rolls and other submission forcing, hanging, scruff
shakes, dunking, pinching, lip pulls, leash pops, bags of chains to throw, yelling, hissing,
growling and hitting.  These trainers DO use marker-based training with verbal
techniques or clickers along with rewards such as food, praise and/or play.  The
techniques are gentle, yet highly effective, based on working with the dog’s natural
skills. The dog is shown the wanted behavior and then rewarded for achieving it.  Positive
reinforcement methodology gives you the know-how to work with your dog’s natural
instincts using an assortment of tools and techniques stressing your role of leadership,
yet never putting you or your dog in any physical harm or conflict, yet quickly productive
and pleasant to train.

Compulsion training uses coercion and force-based methods as the first line of training.  
The focus is on correcting the dog for performing an unwanted behavior and suppressing
it.  These trainers use choke chains, bags of chains to throw, hissing or growling,
submissive forcing, and shock collars which they also call e-collars or e-clickers.  

Balanced training combines coercion techniques with praise and an occasional food
reward.  This training methodology uses choke chains, bags of chains to throw, hissing or
growling, submissive postures, and shock collars and when the dog stops the unwanted
behavior receives praise.  Food is used generally only to reward success in high fear
situations.
Even bees are being trained with positive reinforcement!  Read on!

Scientists say trained bees can sniff bombs
Tue Nov 28, 6:40 AM ET

PHOENIX (Reuters) - Scientists at a U.S. weapons laboratory say they have trained bees to
sniff out explosives in a project they say could have far-reaching applications for U.S.
homeland security and the Iraq war.

Researchers at the Los Alamos National Laboratory in New Mexico said they trained
honeybees to stick out their proboscis -- the tube they use to feed on nectar -- when they
smell explosives in anything from cars and roadside bombs to belts similar to those used by
suicide bombers.

Researchers in the program, dubbed the Stealthy Insect Sensor Project, published their
findings on Monday.

By exposing the insects to the odor of explosives followed by a sugar water reward,
researchers said they trained bees to recognize substances ranging from dynamite and C-4
plastic explosives to the Howitzer propellant grains used in improvised explosive devices in
Iraq.

"When bees detect the presence of explosives, they simply stick their proboscis out,"
research scientist Tim Haarmann told Reuters in a telephone interview. "You don't have to
be an expert in animal behavior to understand it as there is no ambiguity."

The findings followed 18 months of research at the U.S. Energy Department's Los Alamos
facility, the nation's leading nuclear weapons laboratory.

"We are very excited at the success of our research as it could have far-reaching
implications for both defense and homeland security," Haarmann said.

While scientists have trained wasps to respond to the trace of explosives, Haarmann said
research with bees appeared to show more promise.

Haarmann said the bees could be carried in hand-held detectors the size of a shoe box, and
could be used to sniff out explosives in airports, roadside security checks, or even placed in
robot bomb disposal equipment.

He said the next step would be to manufacture the bee boxes and train security guards in
their use.

"It would be great to start saving some lives with this," he said.
"No human being has
the right to say (to
an animal), you must
or I'll hurt you."

-- Monty Roberts
The Horse Whisperer