Compulsion vs. Purely Positive

The arguments between these two camps has raged over the years; however most of us trainers find that both have really good points and that most dogs need a blend of the two. Dusty was a good boy; you just show him what you wanted and he did it. It was quite a shock to my system when I got Shiloh: you showed him what you wanted and he uttered a few doggie expletives and would throw temper tantrums. For Shiloh in the training years needed far more compulsion - the positive would come later. Blitz adored working and like Dusty you just showed him what you wanted and he would give 110% to make sure he did it. Moto doesn't really like to work and is very soft. Compulsion in his building block training would have been disastrous. It's been a struggle since the beginning building drive with this boy but I have to say he is coming along quite nicely lately.
After a long Obedience fanatical discussion with friend Laurie I decided to take her suggestion of kicking it up a notch WRT his heeling. It's not very exciting heeling and he is a bit laggy. My observation over these few weeks is he is being lazy about it. I looked at his earlier match video and he was lovely there. I still want his happy attitude but he needs to know staying in position is important. Out came the microprong. We did a series of very short set-ups as if we were getting ready to heel in the ring. A quick pop and when Moto popped into attention we released. We did this several times, alternating with sits (he's developing the famed "collie sit" which is a slow sit), or moving quickly into the fast. It didn't take much and I was amazed with some lovely work. The whole session didn't last more than 5 minutes. We then did some fun stuff (the touch, a touch to finish left or right) some go-outs, turns and sits, drops, all lightning fast. It was good! He'll wear the microprong for the next couple of sessions (at our lesson and at this Sunday's fun match) so that he understands staying in position is important wherever we go. He's a quick learner and I don't expect much more than a few small corrections to get the message across. Short story long, this is a PP dog for the most part, but needs the occasional compulsion to keep him on his game. Our next show is at the end of May, where hopefully he will get his RN title. Depending on how that goes,we may experiment with a Wildcard Novice class in June. It's at a lovely trial in Ballwin, MO. I'm loving that he is coming into his own!