Puppetmaster? What do you guys mean by that? lol.

Glad to see that you aren't against what are termed aversives like rattle bottles, you're not such a R+ evangelist as your posts seemed to imnply - sometimes posting on threads is like that. To actually put forward a statement ssaying that "any dog can be trained by positive methods" though is an argument that people with a philosophical bent could argue over for ever. How do you know that ANY dog can?
im talking about training things such as; sit down, leave recall etc... ALL dogs have a motivator, though some are harder to find than others, lurchers for example arent always into treats and some dont even like toys, but you could train them to enjoy a toy, and for a lurcher type i would probably use something fluffy on a string, this works really well with recalls. You can also use free shaping, spot the desired behaviour when the dog just does it and reward with whatever the dog likes most!
Define positive and negative?
Positive: dog gets to do something he enjoys; treat/toy/fuss/food/leaving house etc...
Negative; removing thing dog enjoys, withholding reward, startling the dog, basically something the dog does NOT enjoy.
Is ignoring a behaviour a form of punishment?
Yes as the dog WANTS your attention, so therefore you are removing his motivator
Would sound aversion be as severe for a very hearing sensitive dog as say a prong collar to a dog with a lower pain threshhold such as a fighting breed? And so it goes on...
hmm tricky one that, i have a VERY sound sensitive collie, so sound aversion is an absolute no no, with her, it causes unnecessary stress, therefore i would NOT use sound aversion on a very sensitive dog.
Just because a dog has a higher threshold for pain, does not mean you should take him to that point, just so he can "obey" you.
But would it be equal to each dog, possibly not, some dogs will endure pain to get what they want, others back straight off it. Either way i wouldnt use either

I use e collars mostly, but the training still involves reward. Basically each time the dog does the right behaviour it is rewarded.

The method I use with e collar uses the e collar sensation as negative reinforcement. This is simialr to pressure and release training with horses. The stim is pressure, stopping is the release.

Training behaviours

For each of the position type behaviours (come,heel,sit,down ect) I start with the dog on lead, I give the command and use the stim (working level) and guide the dog into the position. So move the dog towards me for recall/heel or manouver the dog into the sit/down. When the dog steps towards or begins to down for example I stop the stim, praise and give a food reward (toys too).
I then repeat. Once the behaviour is going well I refine it into what I want, e;g proper heel ect.

I'm basically shaping with pos and neg reinforcement.

For stationary commands I will add the word stay to the position, move away a little then come back and reward. If the dog breaks I will stim, repeat the comamnd and guide the dog into the behaviour. Just build up distance gradually.

Leave is basically ''leave'' stim pull dog away from food ect.

How long to teach, most dogs get stuff very quickly e;g session or two, they may require enforcement and reminders for longer, especially when distraction proofing. I always reward successful behaviours with food/praise/toys or premack.

I do this with my own and clients dogs, I make no distinction.

I often come across dogs who already know a command but choose to ignore it when distracted/insufficently motivated. In these cases I will simply enforce the command as above.

I hope thats not to long

Adam

Seeing as I can't start threads on e collars I will ask a question on here.

For the past 10 or 20 years reward based methods have taken off, both in this country and abroad.
Many of the big organisations only advocate reward based and the doggy press is full of it.

Why then are sales of e collars going up 30% year on year?

Why are prong collars becoming increasingly popular?

If reward based is so good and you don't need anything else how come averisve seems to be the new thing?

Adam