I brought home a Doberman puppy about 6 months ago, and its reminded me of the importance of Errorless Compliance Training. You see, this is the third Doberman I’ve had, and anyone whose had one of these dogs knows they are the most lovable, sweetest dogs you could own, and so incredibly smart! And so the first two I had were so ridiculously easy to train (the last one was a certified service dog for autistic children) that I forgot what its like to have to train a dog! Well this puppy has brought me back to reality. It does take some time. In essence what I use is catching the dog doing it right, or forcing her to do it right, and then lavishing praise. In essence, what I am doing is what psychologists call Errorless Compliance Training. Its working with my 8 month old puppy, and it has been shown to be a useful approach in dealing with difficult children. In fact, it has been shown to be effective in over 80% of children. I recommend it to many parents who have children with oppositional behavior.
Errorless compliance training for parents is a success-based, non-coercive intervention for children with severe oppositional behavior. It involves hierarchical introduction of more demanding parental requests at a gradual pace designed to reduce non-compliance and to prevent the need for constraining consequences (e.g., time-out).
Errorless compliance training is based on the premise that confrontational parent-child interactions in this population may (1) exacerbate the child’s oppositional behavior, (2) increase the probability of parental violence, and (3) increase emotional problems the child may have (e.g., depression, anxiety, poor self-esteem). An individualized set of requests needs to be developed for each child (or puppy).
Requests are categorized into a hierarchy, from requests to which child compliance is highly probable (level 1) to requests to which compliance is unlikely (level 4). In sessions conducted in the home by the parent, children are exposed to a high proportion of level 1 requests (e.g., turn on the television; give me five). These requests present frequent opportunities for parents to reinforce compliance. Requests to which compliance is less likely are gradually introduced over the next several weeks. Eventually, level 4 requests are introduced (e.g., put away your toy; brush your teeth. Because noncompliance and oppositional behavior occur infrequently with this approach, a constraining consequence is typically unnecessary.
