As I wrote about recently, in an article titled What Is Control and Why It Matters, I believe there is enormous confusion about the concept of choice and control in animal training. Although the terms are popular and have become an integral part of the conversation in recent years, many trainers still struggle to fully understand or accept them.
Advocates of choice-based training argue that animals should be allowed to opt out of behaviors if they are uncomfortable. The goal is to provide them with agency and control over their lives. Professional working trainers are frequently at odds with the idea, claiming that it’s fine for pet dog trainers to allow their dogs to opt out of a behavior, but it is not realistic for working dogs.
Why Choice Raises Concerns in Working Dog Programs
I am a frequent consultant with working dog programs. As trainers began extolling the virtues of giving animals choice, many working dog trainers expressed skepticism, and they were understandably concerned about what that might mean for the integrity and effectiveness of their programs.
Here is a small sampling of the types of concerns I heard:
- A guide dog trainer was seriously worried that this new trend suggested she should allow her dog to pull its blind handler off the sidewalk because the dog had chosen to chase a squirrel that day!
- A veterinarian expressed concern that he had recently started working with trainers who trained his patients in voluntary medical behaviors, and he worried that giving the animals a choice meant they could choose not to participate. Why would an animal choose to participate in a blood sample behavior? He was sure that the idea of giving an animal a choice would be dangerous and put many of his patients at risk!
Incorporating Choice As a Viable Option in Animal Training
As a consultant with many of these programs, I was asked to explain the concept of choice and help them understand how it was possible to be a successful animal trainer while still giving the animal a choice. I understood the fear and uncertainty. However, over the past decade, we have successfully helped numerous working dog programs incorporate choice as a viable option for their working dogs. In most cases, the use of choice helped these programs increase their effectiveness; it was not detrimental at all.
- A positive reinforcement approach to all training tasks.
- The elimination of fear, coercion, and the use of punishment as a way to change or correct behavior.
- A thoughtful and thorough systematic desensitization program:
- The end goal is for the animal to learn to expect the unexpected.
- Use of distractions that the trainer can control to build up the dog’s reliability.
- Gradually tested in real-world environments as the dog gains new skills.
- A pre-work routine that allows the trainer to assess the dog’s readiness for working that day.
- A trusting relationship with the trainer.
You may look at that list and ask, ” Isn’t that just good training?” If so, you’re thinking just like me! However, I have seen too many trainers fail to accomplish all five elements. Although the list above includes fundamentals, trainers often overlook details or fail to execute them effectively, weakening the training program.
Honoring the “No” While Shaping the “Yes”
The main goals are not to focus on choice, but philosophically to always allow the dog to say “no.” As Dr. Susan Friedman suggests, “honor the ‘no’ but shape the ‘yes’.” When training is done with skill and care, the dog should want to perform the requested behavior due to its reinforcement history.
As Dr. Susan Friedman suggests, ‘honor the ‘no’ but shape the ‘yes‘.
In my experience, the pathway to allowing choice lies in desensitization and training for novelty. As animals learn to expect the unexpected, because you introduce novelty so frequently that they grow comfortable with it, they are less likely to lose focus due to distractions. In some cases, when safe, you can even use the distraction as a reinforcer for offering the requested behavior. Using that strategy enables the trainer to get the desired behavior and allows the dog to get what it desires as well. It is a powerful strategy that leads to high levels of success.
Whether that distraction is a rabbit running across the field, a favorite person coming into view, or an errant tennis ball bouncing across the space, the dog can learn to stay on task. Intermittently allowing the dog to chase the rabbit, meet the person, or play with the ball after the dog has performed the trained behavior strengthens the dog’s ability to stay focused.
A Disaster Search and Rescue Case Study
Although many of our readers will assume that positive reinforcement is a given, some working dog programs made the transition to positive reinforcement in most areas, except for error reduction. Trainers believed that you could not teach a dog to resist predatory behavior, such as chasing a bunny, without applying a punisher to eliminate that behavior. However, as these programs transitioned away from punishers and strengthened their desensitization protocols, performance improved. As did trust and the trainer-dog relationship.
From 2023 through 2026, a search-and-rescue unit asked me to help their team improve performance. They retired one of their dogs early from work because he showed little interest in searching and could not find lost victims. The same trainer was experiencing a similar problem with her next dog, who had started out as an excellent search-and-rescue dog but was showing a growing reluctance to work. The group leader reached out to me for help.
As I watched the trainer work with her dog, I noticed their relationship seemed strained. Despite her belief that she was a positive-reinforcement trainer, in practice, she was quite forceful and aversive. She yelled at the dog often, and if working on a leash, corrected the dog by popping the leash. In my opinion, she needed to make two changes: she needed to truly switch to positive reinforcement (eliminate the aversive techniques) and start giving the dog choice by training an “opt-out” behavior.
I don’t usually consider an “opt-out” behavior as necessary for most training. However, in this situation, it provided the trainer with an unmistakable indication that the dog was not in the mood to work that day. In addition to teaching the trainer how to avoid using aversive techniques, I asked her to actually reinforce her dog if he chose to opt out of a behavior, which he indicated by touching a target on the trainer’s belt.
As far as we knew, no one had ever used this unique procedure in search and rescue. When the trainer cued any behavior, the dog had two reinforceable options: he could perform the cued behavior, or he could simply touch the target on the trainer’s belt. Either choice earned reinforcement. The trainer was initially resistant to this procedure, but when her seemingly disinterested dog suddenly showed enthusiasm for searches again, she became a believer in both positive reinforcement and the power of choice.
The results were undeniable. Her dog’s success rate at finding lost victims had dropped to below 20% — he had essentially given up. Over the following three months, he found the victim 100% of the time when deployed. Interestingly, during those three months, the dog opted out just two times. That gave the team the needed information not to deploy the dog that day, and to use another dog instead.
Is Choice in Animal Training Really an Option?
As more experienced trainers are involved in working dog programs, there is usually no need to teach an opt-out behavior. A skilled trainer can read their dog’s body language to determine when a dog is choosing not to perform, and they use their experience to make changes and accommodate the dog’s needs. The results are a beautiful dialogue between dog and trainer. When true choice is honored, dogs rarely refuse work. Instead, they perform their tasks with enthusiasm, precision, and confidence. Choice does not create anarchy—it creates a willing learner.
Choice does not create anarchy—it creates a willing learner.
The concept of choice is complex and nuanced, and cannot be fully explored in a single article. However, I hope I have provided you with some new insights or perspectives on the concept of giving animals a choice. When working dog trainers ask, “Is choice really an option?” I answer with an emphatic, YES! It requires experience and skill, but the extra effort is well worth it.
Happy Training,
Ken
For more information on the topic, see Ken’s presentations, Success Under all Conditions and Data-Based Problem Solving for Trainers, available through KPCT’s Video-On-Demand platform.
