PUNISHMENT IN TRAINING

When it comes to training, and looking for a good trainer, one of the first things people ask is “How do you deal with unwanted behaviors?”  This is, in my opinion, a very important question to ask.  Many trainers say they use only rewards.  Some trainers concentrate on building positive relationships and teaching appropriate behaviors to counter unwanted ones.  There are trainers who will use the animal’s natural punishment systems, and those that use force and tools such as choke, pinch, or shock collars.

All of this can sound either great, or daunting, depending on what you’re hoping to hear; but what we really need to know is… DOES IT WORK? 

Regardless of the training methods, I believe that training is benefited most by feedback that tells the trainee what they got right AND what they got wrong.  Communication is imperative to training any animal to do anything.  They have to know what it is they are being asked to do, or not do.  That said, HOW you communicate the right and wrong behaviors can turn the training session into a nightmare, or into a great game.  Both reinforcements (strengthening a current behavior), and punishments (stopping a current behavior), can be used to build, or break a relationship. 

In the interest of length, this article is only going to discuss punishment.

Punishment is an action taken with the intent of decreasing the probability that a particular behavior will occur again in the future.  This is generally an unpleasant experience.  Punishment does not teach what to do, what is acceptable, or how to do it.

There are two types of punishment: Positive and Negative.  These aren’t good and bad punishment.  They are adding and subtracting; like positive and negative numbers in math.

POSITIVE PUNISHMENT: the presentation of an aversive event.  In other words the trainee gets ‘it’ wrong so the trainer applies/presents an aversive such as an electric shock, a spanking, physical pain, a dirty look, yelling, name calling, shame, blame, etc.  This is the type of punishment that is most likely to cause physical, and/or emotional harm, and damage the trainer/trainee relationship. 

Positive punishment is the most common training method used worldwide by humans.  It is used so often in fact, that most of us are unaware that we experience it from several times a day, to multiple times in a single conversation.

It is the most familiar training method there is, and therefore most people feel that they are in better control when they punish than when they reward.  Most all humans, everywhere in the world are raised with lots of positive punishment.  It’s in every part of our experience: health, parenting, relationships, work, religion, politics, and often even our perception of the universe. 

Most peoples’ first response is to use positive punishment, and they are trained to look for something to punish rather than something to reward. 

For example: When I’m at the dog park, I often see owners watching a group of dogs, not interfering, waiting to see if they will fight.  If the dogs do get into it, each owner reaches in and grabs their dog, and punishes them.  This may be simple like yelling, “No!  Bad dog!” It may also be a swat, a shake, pinning them to the ground, putting them on leash, or even hauling them out of the park; depending on the severity of the fight, and the owner’s fear level. 

I almost never see (unless they are one of my clients) people watching their dogs play with other dogs, and encouraging and rewarding them for being friendly, gentle, and the like.  I don’t see humans interfere with the dogs as they are playing, such as calling their dog back to them, rewarding them, and then sending them to play again.  Which is a wonderful way to get more reliable recalls, and to ensure that your dog finds you more rewarding than other dogs.

Positive punishment may seem to get the results that the trainer is looking for (stopping the fight, at least for the moment.), but it always causes some degree of harm to the trainee, and always results in damage to the trainer/trainee relationship. 

If you use positive punishment you will be well practiced (practice makes perfect), at punishing yourself, your spouse, children, animals, etc., which results in the following:

Ø You are well practiced at being in a state of upset and end up spending far more time in this frame of mind than you would like.

Ø Your spouse, children, friends and animals learn that you aren’t always to be trusted, and will sometimes, even unpredictably, hurt them emotionally or physically.

Ø Positive punishment is not fun for you, or your trainee, and you both tend to get exasperated, and frustrated with training. 

Ø You get stuck putting in a great deal more time, and effort to get the desired results than you would if using a more rewarding training method.

Ø Your trainee learns to do what is necessary to avoid the punishment while having little to no motivation for putting forth his/her best effort.

Because of the undesirable side effects such as fears, phobias, lack of confidence, and/or relationship issues, positive punishment doesn’t meet my qualifications for a training method that works. 

Training works when both the trainee and the trainer benefit from the training, without perpetuating the monster/victim cycle.*

Positive punishment can range in severity from a nasty look to a beating severe enough to permanently cripple and/or nearly kill.  Anyone can see the physical damage from a beating, and most everyone is aware that there is emotional damage that accompanies it.  The severities of emotional consequences from positive punishments are often invisible, but the behavioral problems that develop because of them can become all too painfully clear as time progresses. 

Positive punishment is a very effective way to teach your trainee to fear you, and to do as they are told out of that fear. 

Positive punishment does not teach respect, and does not teach the trainee to want to do what you want them to do.  Fear, and respect are not the same things, and you cannot earn respect through fear!

For example:  You are five years old, and your mother tells you to clean your room, and when you say you don’t want to, she swats you.   Swatting you does not teach you to clean your room; although, this experience will cause most children to clean their room as they were told.  Though Mother got the immediate results she was looking for, there are a few key points that must be mentioned.

Ø Mother did not teach you how to clean your room (Which may result in more punishment for not doing it right).

Ø Mother has taught you to be afraid of her (you are working to avoid the spanking, not to clean the room).

Ø Mother has created a negative association with cleaning your room.  This will make cleaning your room in the future a less desirable chore.

For the record: mothers are always doing the best they know how with the tools they have.  Very few mothers want to hurt their children, they don’t enjoy being in a state of upset, and they swat their kids because they don’t know how else to be sure that their child learns what Mother believes are important life lessons. 

NEGATIVE PUNISHMENT: the withdrawal of a positive consequence, or reward.  In other words the trainee gets ‘it’ wrong so the trainer takes away something good such as ending the affection, taking away the treat, stopping the play session, etc.

This can be used in such a way as to damage the trainer/trainee relationship.  If the trainee has no real ability to alter their behavior, such as a child who is grounded for a bad grade (they cannot go back in time and get a better grade), then the trainee is simply at the mercy of the trainer.  If they don’t feel the punishment is just, they will be hurt, angry, etc., and likely blame the trainer for the upset they are experiencing; there is no mutuality in this type of training.

Negative punishment can also be used as a great teaching tool without causing harm to the trainee, or to the trainer/trainee relationship.  If the trainee is mutually in control of the negative punishment then this becomes a positive motivator, and helps build a positive relationship with the trainer. 

For example: The trainee is asked to sit, but instead offers an incorrect behavior, such as barking, or lying down.  The trainer refrains from offering a reward, and informs the trainee that the current behavior is not available for a reward at this time such as simply saying, “that’s not what I asked for.”  Now the trainee knows (provided they have been taught to understand) that the current behavior isn’t going work, no reward will be forthcoming.  This gives them an opportunity to try something else, to try again.  If the trainee then offers the correct behavior (or another desirable behavior), the rewards begin again.  The training becomes mutual, and the game is not only fun for all involved, but it also increases the trainee’s desire to play the game, and learn to listen.

While this type of negative punishment is very effective when used correctly, it is relatively easy to blow this by being angry, using force, and losing your temper (which becomes positive punishment again), or forgetting to let the trainee be mutually in control. 

The point of Negative Punishment is that the trainee loses the reward, until they adopt a behavior that is worth rewarding, and then that behavior is rewarded.  While a reward is removed, this is not a long-term loss, and the trainee is in control, or at least feels that they are in control of when good things start happening again. 

This is the only method of punishment, when used correctly, that doesn’t cause harm, and is very effective for everyone.  This is also the only method of punishment that I use, or teach in my training.

*You can learn more about the monster/victim cycle in my books, “The zombie Handbook: The Science of Fear and Love,” or “Internal Divinity: The Science of You.”