Family dog owners are realizing that good dogs rarely happen through osmosis. The responsibilities imparted through dog ownership require the dog to be a good family member they can enjoy and be proud of. The heart of the debate is centered around the various methods, theories and equipment. New technologies and advances in behavioral science offer a staggering number of adaptations and choices. Trainers struggle with when, where and to what degree they can implement new learning with the knowledge and methods they currently possess.
Individual trainers come up with their own mix of methods, theories and opinions.
These issues and opinions have polarized much of the dog training community. The result is forming a divide between trainers and leaving little common ground on which to stand. The more traditional trainers maintain that a dog cannot totally understand the reward based system without occasionally using a correction for unacceptable behavior at some time during training. Positive motivation and the use of rewards have been implemented to varying degrees with the vast majority of all trainers. While virtually all trainers agree that rewards are important and the first choice in behavior modification, traditional trainers will not shrink from carefully using a mixture of methods to achieve dependable results.