What I watched in PetSmart yesterday evening was not the training the corporate office believes is going on
I witnessed a trainer grabbing a dog, pulling it almost off its feet and holding it by the neck while she starred aggressively into it face. Can somebody help me. i am not sure where this fits into the corporate message as stated below, straight from the PetSmart website
PetSmart Corporate website July 201
Positive Reinforcement
There are quite a few different methods that people use to train dogs. Some techniques that trainers use are based on methods developed before modern science helped us understand how dogs learn best. PetSmart’s training is based on the scientific principles of operant conditioning, which concentrates highly on positive reinforcement. In the simplest terms, positive reinforcement means rewarding the dog for doing the behaviors you want in order to get him to do those behaviors more often. By linking visual cues to motivating rewards, your dog learns that good things come to him when he responds to you. Not only is it is scientifically proven to be the most effective way to train, but is also the most humane and fun for both you and your pet.
One myth about reward-based training is that it amounts to nothing more than a “bribe.” The reward is not used as a bribe. It’s used as a tool to shape behavior in the form of being able to communicate, “Yes! That’s exactly what I wanted you to do… thanks!” Think of it as providing your dog with a paycheck after his work has been completed. Learning should not be painful or harmful, and many of the “old-school” training techniques were based on using pain or the fear of pain to get dogs to respond. Clearly, this is not how we train at PetSmart.
All of our classes help you understand the “why” of what they are doing to train their dogs. This knowledge enables you to teach your dog to consistently perform on cue those behaviors he has been taught. And with this information, you can build a stronger bond through better communication and lifelong learning.