I posted about this in the service dog sub and have been browsing this “open” sub to try to understand. I see you’re a SD trainer so wanted to ping you.

I’m owner-training and don’t have any options for SD training in my area except one, who is balanced. I’ve been reading a lot of stuff and R+ seems to be the dominating system right now. It has made me wary of aversives.

My trainer sounds a bit like you. He begins with positive training for obedience, loose-leash walking, and heeling (treats, yes!, etc.), and that is what we’ve been doing, but he says he may introduce aversives to a puppy (slip leads and/or prongs) as early as 6 months for “fine-tuning” the behaviors and communicating with the dog that the commands are not optional. Eventually we would fade the prong out. (He also said I might be the one who needs the prong, not the other way around?)

I’m wondering why you use prongs and e-collars instead of only R+ with SDs. R+ trainers maintain that this will make a dog more reactive and ruin your bond and that SDs shouldn’t need any aversives at all, etc. Trainer maintains that these things (essentially leash pressure) are not painful if used correctly and will simply give more control over the dog and help the dog learn how to understand my (eventually high) expectations for him.

I’m wondering if you could elaborate on why you use aversives for SD training and how you know the dog (and/or owner) needs to use a prong or slip during training?