Functional Obedience - Wrong
How can we change our dogs behaviour or course of action without physically stepping in ourselves nor punishing (making the behaviour disappear) them? Use the signal "Wrong".
"Wrong" is similar to "No", it tells our dog that that what they are doing at that time is not correct and that they should change what they are doing. A fundamental difference is that "Wrong" does not involve an application of punishment on your behalf, like "No" does. Recall that punishment is a term that is used to describe an affect on a behaviour or course of action that prevents it from happening again.
Sounds abstract, let us look at a dog that can "Heel" but is struggling and forging ahead of where they should be. Before you know it they are just about at the end of the lead, you give the signal "Wrong" and they correct themselves back into the "Heel' position by slowing down.
From here you give the signal "Good" and our dog knows they are doing well again. Let us look at another example, if you are trying to teach your pup a new trick - which we all like to do - would you use the signal "No"? No you would not, your dog does not yet know what they are to do, so why punish their behaviour? Simply use the signal "Wrong" and your dog will know that they need to try something else as what they are doing is incorrect. "Wrong" shall never be coupled with a punishment on your behalf. That is paired with "No". This allows our pups and dogs the freedom to experiment and learn to problem solve, without negative impact to their motivation. That means that we have happy pups that are ready to play with us and learn new things (behaviours).
