German Shepherd

　　Properly training a dog requires a combination of kindness and authority. Constant leniency will make the dog increasingly unruly, and their sense of hierarchy will slowly change. However, excessive punishment is also undesirable; everything must have a limit. Frequent punishment will make the dog timid and fearful towards the owner, naturally preventing full engagement during training. How to properly balance reward and punishment is a key consideration when training dogs.

　　The basic principle of dog training is to transform the dog's spontaneous unconditioned reflexes into conditioned reflexes that respond to commands. For example, if we tap the dog’s backside, they know this means the owner wants them to sit down—this is an unconditioned reflex. When correcting a dog's bad behavior, this unconditioned reflex can be shaped into a conditioned reflex that obeys commands. For instance, with dogs that like to bark indiscriminately, you can train them to bark only upon hearing specific commands and not otherwise. Another example is reshaping an unconditioned reflex result into a different conditioned reflex result. Some dogs are sensitive to certain sounds and instinctively bark or chase when they hear them. To solve this, you can train the dog to form a conditioned reflex: hearing the sound—looking at the owner—owner giving a treat. This outcome leads the dog to give up chasing or barking and choose a more favorable response.

　　The most effective way to train dogs or other animals is to reinforce desired good behaviors and make them habitual, while replacing bad behaviors with these good ones so that the bad behaviors gradually disappear. Through this method, you will find the dog will actively perform behaviors that can be reinforced, and once these behaviors are reinforced multiple times, their frequency will increase. However, many people prefer to stop bad behaviors through punishment. Scolding and hitting dogs undoubtedly shape them in negative ways. When a dog is hit for a particular behavior, it may not even understand why because dogs have limited memory. Therefore, even if punishment is necessary, it must be timely.

　　Dogs that are hit repeatedly generally show two behavioral tendencies: 1. No-memory type—regardless of being hit, they do it first and worry later. 2. Memory type—not knowing which actions cause punishment and so they do nothing. So does "hitting dogs" really work? Actually, during training, using "negative reinforcement" to prevent certain behaviors is a common and effective method. But most pet owners cannot grasp the correct timing of negative reinforcement, and getting the timing wrong often causes negative effects. How to perform negative reinforcement? It doesn’t necessarily require hitting. Hitting is actually the least effective form of negative reinforcement. Negative reinforcement can be expressed through a stern, low-toned “NO,” or a quick tug on the leash. These brief negative reinforcements serve as consequences of certain behaviors for the dog to remember. Negative reinforcement training is only effective if you precisely stimulate the dog at the moment when the “undesired behavior tendency” appears. Punishing afterward rarely produces a substantial effect. Therefore, if you cannot identify the signs before a behavior occurs or seize the moment to apply negative reinforcement, it is best to give up hitting. Other punishment methods like water sprays can be used instead to educate the dog. (Source: PetsZone)