I'm pretty familiar with Ed and Michael Ellis traning system and i think it is the best. Just watched Michaels lecture and in it Michael explains the circunstances under which a dog must receive a correction, like when they have more drive do chase an animal than to work for a piece of food or a toy.

However, i would also get to know how a strictly positive trainer would adress this problem.

I'm not a 'strictly' positive trainer, but am a 'predominantly' positive one with lots of 'positive-only' friends. I know some very effective trainers that work this way.

They tend to handle behaviours they don't like by ignoring them, then upping the fun-quotient/value of reinforcement on the behaviours that they DO like. The idea here is that the behaviours that get the attention will be the most likely to be repeated, the ones that don't will eventually disappear. Teaching behaviours that disallow what you don't like is also a helpful little trick if the taught behaviour is strong enough. If the dog is heeling and watching you, it can't be lunging at rabbits at the same time. Using no corrections necessitates that distractions are added VERY slowly.

For example, if my dog were more interested in squirrels than in obedience (which he is) they would say he's not ready for that level of distraction, and gradually desensitize him to the presence of squirrels (or try to, anyway).

I think it can work quite nicely with many dogs this way. As someone who has a dog with an intense prey drive though, I realize that it's not realistic to say no dog ever needs a correction. From a realistic perspective, I know my dog is ALWAYS going to be into squirrels, that there is not likely to ever be a time when he's not distracted by them unless he faces some sort of consequence for fixating on them.

Still, I believe in training for the behaviour that you DO want as the first option, always, with corrections as a last resort.

I correct self rewarding behaviors and ignore the rest while rewarding the behaviors I do want. I treat it like Ed's example of curing fence fighting in the Dominant/Aggressive Dogs DVD. I would say that a slow approach to distractions with marker training is a must. But, there are times when you have to react to the situation that presents itself and then back up to work on the issue.

 Quote: scott garrett

I would say that a slow approach to distractions with marker training is a must.

One of those "We need to get this up in lights" things.

Distractions including venue.