What Tigger has taught me about Positive Punishment training

So what has Tigger taught me about dominance/fear/punishment based training and how does that help me in the horse world??

First things first he taught me I can't control everything or dominant all animals. Most dogs (or horses)  will give in to your requests and won't fight back if you get physical. Unfortunately that is why us humans have gotten so good at punishment based training. It is reinforcing to us. We jerk, hit, or threaten and it scares the dog or animal enough for them to give in to us.

Well not in my world...I live with a 120lb dog that has brain damage. So what does that mean, it means he has no off button. He does not have the self restraint to stop... He will bite me, more than that he could and would seriously attack me if he felt threaten. How do I know this, well because I have been on the receiving end of his bites twice, and he has come at me with the intend to harm (while muzzled).

So why in the world do we keep him? Because he is a very loving dog, and it is not his fault that he has brain damage. Plus we have learned how to safely live with him! First off we had to let go of any fear based training. He knows his commands of sit and down. We worked with him as a partner and through positive reinforcement gained his trust and respect. We carefully manage his world and try to see any problems that might arise. For example I have taught him to sit and be muzzled (he expresses his opinions, but does it).  See with Tigger there is no option of physically making him do what you want because plan and simple he would hurt us. If I can convince a dog with a brain injury to work with me through positive reinforcement than why not use it on my horses too :)

In so many ways this translates over to horses. They are big and have the potential to hurt you. For the most part since they are prey animals they will give in to pressure easily, but sometimes you get the one that decides to voice their opinion as they should! The downfall with them voicing their opinion is it can hurt you. One kick, buck or rear and you can be seriously injured. The advantage of positive reinforcement training is that you considerably lower the risk of them acting out because you don't put them in the position where they feel like they have to. Does it guarantee your safety,no, but it gives you much better odds if you ask me.

Tigger and I some years back. He was 2 years old here...now he is 7 1/2 :(