I'm a crossover trainer. I can't remember if I've already mentioned that. It means that years ago a was a "traditional trainer" and used praise and corrections to train my dogs. Then I got Buddy, a reactive rescue dog, and I started down the path of clicker training, and completely dropped corrections from my training toolbox.
For an agility dog, this makes perfect sense. I want my dogs to run as fast as they can, take direction from me and follow those directions instantly, confidently, and joyfully. Clicker training is all about creating a dog who is fast and 100% accurate, confident, and joyful.
Positive punishment has no place in agility training. Period. Even mild corrections erode speed and confidence, and harsh punishment will make the dog shut down and quit.
Or will it??? I know of some high-drive dogs, mainly herding breeds, who will work in spite of what is done to them. But I also know of dozens and dozens of dogs who will never be at an agility trial again because "they don't like agility." They may or may not like agility, but the punishment (yes, even mild corrections!) made them slow, sniffy, or run away from the handler.
Sometimes, a dog stresses "high." Have you seen those dogs who get the "zoomies" at a trial? These dogs run away from the handler, and they often look like they are having a great time running wild around the ring. But these dogs are just as stressed as the ones who shut down. They don't understand their job, they don't understand their handler's angry tone of voice, they don't understand the game, so they run. These dogs frequently get harsher and harsher punishment in training, until the owner gives up and quits the sport (or starts over with another dog).
Are my dogs perfect? No. They make mistakes on course. Do they try as hard as they can to do what they've been taught? Yes! Absolutely! And most importantly, they trust that whatever happens on course or in training, they will not have any kind of corrections.
Susan Garrett has a blog post on this subject: http://susangarrettdogagility.com/2010/04/punishment-pros-and-cons/
My favorite line from Susan's post is: "The more punishment you use in your training the more anxiety you create for the dog. You won’t always know where or when but it will express itself somewhere else in the dog’s behaviour or performance."
