There are many training and behavioural organisations that have subscribed to the LIMA principle.
LIMA stands for Least Intrusive Minimally Aversive.
While this has proved popular with many groups, including quite a few organisations claiming to be positive only or force-free, I felt that it was a principle that I couldn’t subscribe to as it misses out a key, fundamental part of effective dog training. What it doesn’t include is anything positive. I consider myself a reward-based trainer in that with ALL of the dogs that I work with, I focus on making sure that there are rewards for good behaviour, and that the dog understands how to create opportunities to be rewarded. But LIMA doesn’t mention that aspect at all – only that you will try to keep negative consequences to a minimum.
So I created PRAMA, which stands for Positive Reinforcement and Minimally Aversive. This emphasises that positive reinforcement cannot be disregarded or overlooked, and that using a combination of both rewarding correct behaviour and of creating negative consequences for incorrect behaviour is the best way to learn. This is why although we may be the only species that rewards good behaviour, every species including us understands that there are negative consequences to making the wrong choice, which in turn help you to make the right choices. Being aware of this, why would I make training any more complicated than it needs to be? Instead, I base my training theory on the ones already used by both human and dogs.
So in my training, a dog will receive effective, valuable rewards for doing as I want it to, and non-physical or abusive negative consequences for not doing as I want it to. And I find that both the owners that I work with, and their dogs get it very quickly, with results that owners describe as amazingly quick and very effective, often after wasting months or even years with positive only or force-free training that never really achieved the desired results.
