Well done for being an intelligent and caring owner.
You can use toys or play instead of treats as a reward. I do with Daisy. And a friend trained her GSP to competition standard Working Trials using a toy mouse!
When teaching Daisy a new thing I use the ballie as a reward. For example - when teaching her to walk backwards on command - she does a step back, I throw the ball. Next time I want 2 steps. and so on.
Because we interact so much like this she is really focussed on me most of time and extremely responsive.
It is lovely watching your dog develop into a happy and biddable friend. Good luck with the training.

I am sorry, but that is rubbish. There might be owners (trainers even) who think they benefit from training with aversives, but there are no dogs that benefit from it. Sadly, what your statement shows is that you do not understand how to properly train a dog using reward based training!

or spell.
or punctuate.

I understand how to train a dog with reward based methods, I just don't think its the best approach for all situations.
If it was I'd use it.
Dogs benifit from aversives by having a better quality of life/or continued life.
They also benifit by having a better relationship with their owners and not having fear issues ect.

Adam

Rubbish

so what situations are you not able to use it in?

i cannot imagine how you think using pain can cure fear
all you are doing is giving the dog something even bigger to fear

all the dogs my dog has been attacked by have been dogs trained by punishments

sorry, pupil came and i hit send before i was ready
just wanted to explain about the dogs attacking

a few dogs in the area mia has issues with
all similar to her, nervous and mouthy at things they dont like
i have been working on positivly training mia to be happy and calm around these dogs
their owners have been punishing their dogs for being mouthy

the result
most of the time mia is calm and happy, if something is too much for her she gives clear warning signals so we can back her off

the other dogs are silent
they have been punished for showing they are not happy in a situation
they are still not happy
but the owners were happy thinking they had fixed their dogs
then, out of the blue, no warning, fast and silent mia was attacked from behind, multiple bites up her back chest and legs and a tooth knocked out
punishment trained dogs have no way to tell their owner they are not happy in a situation so if they are pushed to far they are dangerous

It improves relationships because it builds trust ad shows the dog the owner is someone they are safe with.

With fear issues you stop the stim when the dog approachs or remains near the thing it fears. This associates the ''bad thing '' with negative reinforcment and changes the dogs association from bad/avoid to comfort/seek out.

This vid is a good example of both

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=neC4uS8vhig

Adam

But for the removal of the 'stim' (or shock as it really is, lets not pretend) you have to apply it in the first place - you are applying positive punishment, punishing the dog for showing fear

Yes you will use positive punishment when the dog experiences the stim. You won't punish the dog for showing fear just for being away from you/were you want him.
This is no different than not giving the dog a reward when he's away from you or not calm about the thing he's being counter conditioned to. I don't have a problem with useing aversives like this to improve the dogs life.

Btw you will also use negative punishment when not giving treats.

I think people are caught up in this idea that the positive reward/negative punishment approach is nicer for the dog.
If the dog is sufficently motivated by the treats ect to work for them it is just as intense for the dog as aversives. In fact for a highly motivated (food or toy orientated dog) it may be more intense as the dog wants to get the treat more than avoid the stim.

Btw have you watched the vid?

Adam