Same with Max...

Think i will give this one a miss, he does indeed sound like a wannabe dog botherer!

Personally i dont view treats as bribes, lets face it the reason we go to work is the pay. yes we might love the job and the people but if they suddenly decided to stop paying us most would go elsewhere. treats are my dogs wages

Oh dear.

I did a bit of training with him a few years ago and he did use positive methods and treats at the time. Maybe he has changed his way of working

Perhaps a different perspective is confusing you?

Hi and welcome to the forum

As many assumptions have been made, perhaps you could tell us what sort of methods you use.

You've probably gathered - if you've had a look around - that the general consensus here is for positive, pain-free training rather than compulsion.

What's the slant on the new TV show (other than training ) or aren't you allowed to say.

There aOperant conditioning does not have to be food based, most dogs do not learn to misbehave because they were fed at the wrong time, it is the interaction of you the owner that shapes the behaviour of your dog, so to change the behaviour of the dog, you change your interaction. I do not use compulsion, I never lay a hand on a dog except to stroke and praise. I know it is a very different approach, it is also one that produces amazing results. The difficult part is I am training people and dogs and the dogs adapt to different thinking quicker.

I appreciate all of your comments and I too stay away from followers of a certain Mexican. My approach is to develop a deep relationship with your dog. I have never met a dog who does not like the reward of calm and relaxed contact from their owner. A relationship requires understanding beyond the mere feeding of your dog, my own view is food treats should be reserved for teaching your dog unnatural things like obedience, lets face it walking to heel whilst looking up at your face is a very unnatural thing for a dog to do. To teach a dog how to behave is much closer to home than you might think and our dogs need guidance as they try to navigate their way through living with us, we are, after all, a very confusing species to live with. If you accept a base platform that a dogs behaviour is shaped by how the people around it react to that behaviour, you can teach a dog how to behave by using your interaction to reward the behaviour you want and this can extend to walking on a slack lead, not necessarily to heel, and coming back to you. With my own dogs, I have four German shepherds, My dogs walk on a slack lead, they do not bother other dogs, people or wildlife and they came back when called. Is that not a good definition of a well behaved dog? This I have achieved with only my interaction as a tool, no corrections, no telling off and I have never used the word NO.
It takes patience from the owner because you are learning a new skill. This training has come from a clear understanding of what is a conditioned and unconditioned response, and how an unconditioned response can become a conditioned additional response. I am sure you have all used operant conditioning, if you use clicker training you should understand about the timing of reward for correct position, again mainly used in training obedience. However I believe the best reward for your dog for being well behaved is your attention, your fuss. If you treat, the reward is over too quickly so you have to treat repeatedly. With your attention you can make the reward last as long as you want to and neither of you gain weight. My training also focusses on getting to know your dog and spotting the build up of the focus that comes before the dog decides to react. It is no good merely reacting to the dog after the dog has decided what to do, the dog has arrived at that conclusion without involving you. Bring correct communication into the decision making process earlier when the dog is calmer and you actually prevent the wrong, as far as we are concerned, decision being made. When you consider yourself as the greatest source of attention, the biggest correction you can give to a dog for making a mistake is the removal of the source of attention. When the dog willingly changes their behaviour, the dog earns your attention. Is this or is this not pure operant conditioning and therefore entirely positive?
Please feel free to ask any questions you may have.

Or you could just ask me directly. I am happy to answer any questions you have.

Operant conditioning is not and never has been "entirely positive".