Tense up, no. But I know many people do when faced with a situation where they know their dog will react aggressively. Some folks can't help themselves and need to work very hard at staying calm themselves.

Even without the tension, I'd be hard pressed to think of any type of correction that would be appropriate under the circumstances that are described in the article.

I know what you are saying, and I get frustrated with narrow-minded info too, but what I got from this specific article was that it focused more on dealing with growling/aggressive dogs, and less about what a correction actually is. I think that for the subject matter described, the approach is reasonable.

That one works. I guess I'm interested in what the CAT program is selling, just not enough to pay $50 for a copy of a disc. The sad truth of things is that most pet owners are completely unable to train a dog and I would say about half of those lack the knowledge to admit they don't know what they're doing. So for these people (the readers of this paper) this is probably an appropriate article to the knowledge level of the average dog owner. I would rather training be over positive than jerking the dog around, but that's just me.

There are many paths to dog training to the same end result. Some are just more easily tread than others.

I know I say it a lot, but, you just have to learn to read the dog. Every dog as an individual personality, not just a type of dog as a whole (IE GSD, Lab).

I have worked with some American Bulldogs that have a massive amount of drive, very willful and stubborn. That if you tried to just use 100% positive training the dog would look at you like a fool and run all over you. But, the trick is, is that if you laid a hard correction on them from a snap collar, or pincher, they would turn around and light you up. The dog ended up being a great dog, just had to find what work for him the most. That ended up being food and markers, until we were sure the dog had it and then if the dog didn't do what we asked, small corrections from a snap collar.
I have worked with Labs and Beagles that if you even put a snap collar on them one time and corrected them, it would be weeks before they preformed again. These dogs preformed great from all positive prays, food and marker training.

As a trainer, you have to be able to see these warning sings early.
The problem is, is that most people do not notice there is a problem until the problem erupts and someone is hurt, or a cop is at your house. These problems start long before that, sometimes years.
There are tons of tools and training ideas out there that is used to train dogs. As a majority they all work. They all just don't work on every dog.

Dogs just are not one of toughs things that only have one way from A to B.

Just my opinions.
David.

Thanks everyone, I really do appreciate your feedback & opinions - great thoughts & info! For the record - I am all for positive methods and not a compulsion-by-default trainer. I also fully understand why & how to read a dog's entire body in these situations (otherwise I'd have been chewed up long ago.. ).

I think this article initially just hit me with a snapshot of that moment in time, offering what read to me as a potentially permissive alternative for the average reader. The picture painted (surrounding the bite) was a human that was not in control, and had no understanding of how to read or handle a dog, yet it focused (dare I say blamed) a poorly executed technique for the end result. We don't know much at all about the handler, the trainer, etc.

I fully understand and respect that band-aiding the symptom is not curing the larger problem, I was just hoping for a little more balance there, a little more objectivity by the author. I always feel like these articles are trying to persuade people to a narrow set of tools, rather than offer some good facts. She tells us why her approach is better but doesn't review the potential consequences of bad timing in her offered approach... or, consistently rewarding the entirely wrong state of mind? Which is not hard for the average dog owner to do.

Hope I'm making sense, again this is all purely in the interest of a good discussion. Thanks!

 Quote: Dave Ferguson

<snip> I have worked with some American Bulldogs that have a massive amount of drive, very willful and stubborn. That if you tried to just use 100% positive training the dog would look at you like a fool and run all over you. But, the trick is, is that if you laid a hard correction on them from a snap collar, or pincher, they would turn around and light you up. The dog ended up being a great dog, just had to find what work for him the most. That ended up being food and markers, until we were sure the dog had it and then if the dog didn't do what we asked, small corrections from a snap collar.

David I think you just did a much better job than me of summing up my experience & feelings on the above mentioned article. Very well said, thank you!

 Quote: Dave Ferguson

I know I say it a lot, but, you just have to learn to read the dog.

BINGO!!! We have a winner! Dogs give so much body language to express their discomfort (especially in fear aggression situations) that it is unacceptable to wait until a snarl happens to intervene. If my dog actually growls in any situation, that's a clear sign to me that I need to pull my head out! So, to me, that article misses the mark entirely.

But on the correction subject, I do think this is a dog-specific topic (you have to know what level and type of correction to give - negative punishment, positive punishment). Personally, I do my best to keep things positive, but once a dog *knows* what they should be doing (ie we've done multiple repetitions, under different distractions, multiple days, etc) and they refuse a command, they get corrected.