A Comparison Between Humanistic Psychology and Modern Day Dog Training Practices

A Comparison between Humanistic Psychology and Modern Day Dog Training Practices. 

Many Professional trainers when describing themselves will refer to a specific style or time period in the dog training model.  Some of them are “Old School” trainers, some rely on “Positive Reinforcement” training, and some will even refer to celebrity trainers like Dr. Ian Dunbar, Cesar Millan or Victoria Stillwell who are the most common.  The question really is what is the difference and why has this evolved. 

The purpose of this article is really to make a comparison of Humanistic Psychology and modern day Dog Training practices.  Humanistic Psychology essentially evolved from practitioners of psycho analysis and behavioralism.  Yes we are talking about Freud and Skinner.  The Humanistic approach focused more on an individual and their treatment verses a blanketed diagnosis and treatment.  Humanistic psychologists theorized that people are innately good and that physiological and social problems were because of some deviation from their natural tendency not matter what the reason.  This reinforces the idea that there is no one right method for everyone as to how to treat a problem but more of a most appropriate treatment method for each individual.  It can be argued that with the addition of humanistic psychology the science focused less on right and wrong but looking for a holistic approach to better the individual. 

How is this similar to Modern Day dog training?

What is commonly called “Positive Reinforcement” training in Professional Dog Training circles resembles Humanistic Psychology more than Behavioral Psychology.  Behavioral Psychology can be thought to be a more pure science than many other schools of Psychology.  I like to compare Behavioral psychology to math, there is usually an absolute right and wrong answer, the answers are not very subjective where as Humanistic Psychology as well as future schools of thought gave more room for variable outcomes and variable causes.  For instance. If we look at a simple problem like a dog chasing kids a behavioral approach would start by reducing access, the modify the behavior in a controlled setting and end with introducing a rewarding alternative behavior.  A humanistic approach would ask questions like what kind of dog is doing the chasing (herding breed?), how long has this been going on, what is the dogs mental state while chasing, how old are the children and what is the frequency of the behavior.  All of these questions can lead to different reasons why the behavior started and will lead to being able to allow the dog to make different choices in the end.  They may use several techniques from medical interference to several conditioning methods.  

In conclusion a closer study for professional trainers to psychological methods specifically humanism could benefit clients and encourage more creative methods of behavior problem solving and it is clear there is no blanketed right or wrong approach to behavior problem solving just a most appropriate method.