What is an aversive?
An aversive is something unpleasant that is applied to a behaviour that we deem unacceptable.
An example would be spraying water in a dogs face for barking. Aversives can be categorised at low, mild, strong.
At Dog Training Ireland we do not incorporate the use of aversives in our training. Why? Because other behaviours will present and these will be worse than the one you are trying to get rid of. Plus we are able to deal with behaviours and we understand how to extinguish unwanted behaviours using other methods such as reward removal, prospect of reward removal, time outs, reinforcement of alternative behaviour, behaviour modification through counter conditioning and desensitisation.
It is important that you are aware of whether you use aversives or not. The following are examples of mild aversives:
- Making hissing or Ssshhh’ing sound at your dog or hissing into the dogs face or ear
- Jerking or popping the collar to bring your dog to a sit or close in position (on or off lead)
- Popping the collar during training on lead. You will notice this in training class. The dog is sitting there minding his own business and his collar is constantly being moved up and down by the lead.
- Choke on lead to train lead work. Can happen with slip leads.
- Spraying water at your dog for unwanted behaviour (mild to strong aversive)
- Pinching the dog (strong aversive)
I think the main one that people use and are not aware of is the collar popping. This is when the dog handler constantly pops or jerks the collar. It is highly annoying and if you do it enough the dog will want to leave you or you will notice the dog slightly cringing when the handler goes to grab the collar. Even though the handler is not doing it in a negative way it becomes a habit and your training and behaviours can deteriorate as a result.
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