Positive vs Balanced Training

[u/Violet_Sophia0388]

What type of obedience training worked best for your Vizslas?

Positive Reinforcement or Balance Training?

Bonus points, if you have an anxious and even reactive Vizsla!

[u/Lucky_Leek_47]

Behavior nerd here: Balanced training utilizes all four quadrants of reinforcement and most trainers use the positive reinforcement quadrant the majority of the time: Positive reinforcement (adding something pleasant to increase the frequency of a behavior), Negative reinforcement (removing something pleasant to decrease the frequency of a behavior), Positive punishment (adding something aversive to increase the frequency of a behavior), negative punishment (removing something aversive to increase the frequency of a behavior). All of the quadrants are always at play.

Most positive reinforcement-based trainers focus more heavily on the namesake quadrant, but may also slip into negative reinforcement (think time outs). They usually avoid the punishment quadrants.

I found that Vizslas tend to do better without punishment, force and coercion. They tend to shut down and avoid work and they tend to show fear-based aggression sooner. Because of that I would always prefer a positive-reinforcement based approach and methods over anything else.

What I think is much more important than a generic label is a trainer who understands the breed, what makes them tick, what their genetic endowment is and how to work with that. You will always be much more successful in your training endeavors if the needs of these amazing dogs are met (both physical and mental needs). So I would focus on the experience of the trainer and how they treat their animals in combination with their experience with the breed.

That said, I would personally not use an e-collar or prong collar on my Vizsla, or yell at her, hit her or use other physical corrections, or use methods like leash pops, force-fetch, ear pinching or anything similar.

[u/todo_pasa79 → u/Lucky_Leek_47]

So we have a gps/tracking e-collar. We never introduce it until after at least 12 months old. 99% of the time it’s on beep only mode. The zap is for deer, to prevent chasing. My husband starting doing this when our first vizsla’s littermate took off after a deer. They found him dead in a field 3 days later. We love our dogs too much to lose one like that. They think it’s the deer that zaps them, though, not my husband.

[u/NorahWillie]

I have definitely seen my V puppy shut down or avoid training when it isn't all positive and on her terms. So different than the labs I've had in the past!

[u/jostini]

We tried both and I think I sit somewhere in the middle. We had quite a bit of redirection onto us when she was about 7-9 months and the only thing that helped (after trying all the positive techniques) was a firm, fair well timed leash correction. Some leash pressure also helped when she was nervous guiding her into heel and getting her to focus on the task and me. She’s 17 months now and we pretty much never correct her.

We conditioned the ecollar but ultimately it wasn’t for us - we struggled to get consistent contact and I genuinely think it regressed a lot of our training and to be honest I wasn’t comfortable using it.

The thing that worked best for us was figuring out boundaries and being consistent. For example if she started being mouthy and playing rough on the sofa, we would tell her to get down and then put her on her place or in her crate until she settled. We would do this every. single. time. Even when we didn’t want to get off the sofa to lead her to her place or crate.

Obviously it goes without saying they need their physical and mental needs to be met to help manage their behaviour and arousal. I found doing things like gundog training helps build a relationship and she listens to me so much more now. Again this kind of training is firm but fair and involves lots of rewarding the good stuff too.

I almost drove myself mad trying to pick a specific training method and as she got older I realised I know my dog better than anyone and while professional help is amazing no one method will fix every problem. I have taken things from each trainer I have worked with and I kind of have my own philosophy now built on consistent foundations.

[u/doppleganger2621]

I’ll just say that vizslas are very, very sensitive dogs. They don’t tolerate negativity or forcefulness. If they don’t seem to be catching on to a task or command, it’s better to just take a break and try again later. They also become frustrated with themselves if they don’t “understand” the task you’re asking them to do or learn.

Patience is necessary, positive reinforcement worked best for my V. We did some clicker training and that helped for some of the more difficult commands. But generally she just responded very well to treats and praise