Brad Gillespie - Signaled Punishment

In this episode, Jerry Bradshaw and Brad Gillespie discuss:

• Positive and negative punishment in police dog training.

• Pros, cons, and balancing the use of punishment markers.

• Intentional and unintentional markers.

• The importance of consistency in punishment.

• Marking for clearer communication.

• Biting through the muzzle.

• Changing one variable at a time and reducing the number of variables in training.

Key Takeaways:

• In some cases, marking punishment may be more important than marking with positive reinforcement. Following the punishment marker with the punishment allows the dogs to understand what is happening.

• Be careful about the overuse of those punishment markers. They can oftentimes create a drift where the marker itself becomes the signal for the dog to rectify the behavior, rather than when you give that command.

• You need to be consistent in your timing and ready with the punishment. Dogs are great at recognizing when things are consistent or not.

• Communication is the problem with most issues we have with dogs. Marking punishment is a way that can help us to have clearer communication.

• Train the dog (and the handler) in a way that makes it look and feel real.

"I really think that using a marker can allow us, both on negative reinforcement and on positive punishment, to use much higher levels of stimulation, and the dogs are able to better process what's happening. We have a system, or at least a way of communicating with the dog. And I think that the marker helps them understand that a little bit better on both ends of the spectrum." — Brad Gillespie

Contact Brad:

Website: CanadianPoliceCanine.com

Get Jerry's book Controlled Aggression on Amazon.com

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Train Hard, train smart, be safe.

Show notes by Podcastologist Chelsea Taylor-Sturkie

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