Why use aversive in reactive dog training?

If you don't believe in using any aversive, what is your end game?

If your reactive dog is trying to attack other dogs and or trying to bite you, how do you expect this to stop?

If you know a proper correction will stop this behaviour, why don't you do it?

How much longer do you want to wait? What is your end game?

Reacting the way an intense dog does is a form of severe suffering - both emotional and mental - that the dog feels very helpless in controlling. It is the kind of suffering that they cannot overcome on their own no matter how hard they try.

Would you rather wait and see? Would you like to keep trying the same method (eg treat redirection) - one which you have been trying for a long time without any success?

Why would anyone rather see a dog suffer needlessly for a very long time when they know there is a solution that can stop it much quicker?

What is the end game? A dog who is imprisoned in a small world with an owner who can never fully enjoy the dog's companionship?

When you know you can stop the reactivity with an aversive but you choose not to do it because you feel bad about it - what is more important to you? Your own feelings? Or the dog's quality of life?

In many of these intense cases, the dogs are stuck in a loop. It's like they are imprisoned by a bad addiction. They will just keep repeating the same behaviour because they cannot help it. They do not know any way out.

We can reset and give the dog a chance to start anew when we correct - and stop - this loop from continuing. That is what a properly applied aversive can do. And that's what a dog in this kind of situation needs.

A correction happens in a couple seconds. It is a part of the journey but it is not the destination.

If we get stuck during this journey because we don't want to correct, our dogs can never get to the finish line, and we are not doing what is best for our dogs.

Your dog is counting on you. Keep moving forward, apply corrections as needed, so you can both enjoy the ultimate victory at the finish line as soon as possible. That is the end game we should all be aiming for.