For decades, centuries even, the most common way to train a dog was to punish the dog when it did something wrong. This is known as negative training. Often, a choke chain would be used. If the dog did something wrong, such as jumping up on someone or chasing a squirrel, the dog’s trainer would swiftly yank on the chain. The choke chain would then squeeze the dog’s throat in an uncomfortable way. Dogs learned that they would be choked if they chased squirrels, so they stopped chasing them. Usually.

Question

For decades, centuries even, the most common way to train a dog was to punish the dog when it did something wrong. This is known as negative training. Often, a choke chain would be used. If the dog did something wrong, such as jumping up on someone or chasing a squirrel, the dog’s trainer would swiftly yank on the chain. The choke chain would then squeeze the dog’s throat in an uncomfortable way. Dogs learned that they would be choked if they chased squirrels, so they stopped chasing them. Usually.
      Over the past 20 years, there has been a growing movement of positive dog training. In this method, the dog is taught to do the correct thing rather than being taught not to do the incorrect thing. For example, in positive dog training, the dog is not punished for chasing squirrels. Instead, the dog is rewarded, often with a treat, for staying still by the trainer when squirrels are nearby. After a dog has been rewarded enough times for doing something correctly, eventually it continues to do the correct thing even without a reward. Sometimes, the reward is changed to kind words and rubs rather than treats.
      There are several benefits to positive dog training. First of all, the person training the dog never has to hurt the dog. Usually, if a person owns a dog, he or she loves dogs and doesn’t really like hurting them. Secondly, the dog never has a reason to fear the owner. Fear is what causes dogs to bite people, sometimes for no reason. They are just trying to protect themselves from whatever they fear. If a dog does not fear a person, it has no reason to bite. Overall, this method of training creates a respectful relationship between pet and owner. Rather than one being dominant over the other, both dog and owner are working together. This type of bond can be deeper and more meaningful than any bond built upon hurting and pain.
1
The central idea of the first paragraph is that
 A. 
training dogs with punishment has long been common.
 B. 
dogs should be punished when they do something wrong.
 C. 
a choke chain is often used in negative dog training.
 D. 
dogs get punished for chasing squirrels or jumping.

GPT-4o mini · Answer

The central idea of the first paragraph is that

A. training dogs with punishment has long been common.

This option captures the overall theme of the paragraph, which discusses the traditional approach of using negative reinforcement, including the use of choke chains, to train dogs.