I am still not clear as to why it is wrong to make a correction as a stand alone action once the behavior starts. Mudpuppy distinguishes between Management and Training and I see this action as Managing.
Well, I can tell you why
I will not use corrections, and most especially not with aggressive dogs. I can't speak on behalf of others (it's another one of those things where I'm dropping the labels, so instead of referring to a group, I refer to what I do [
]).
1. There is a 99% chance (yes, this a non-statistic statistic made by me, the point being that there is a VERY high probability of this occurring) that if your dog is truly in limbic mode (and this refers to any emotionally-based reaction - fear, anger, etc), your dog will not even notice the correction. Therefore, your dog will not learn from the correction, and since "corrections" are meant to change behaviour, you are not "correcting" anything. And corrections that don't "correct" becomes manhandling, nothing more.
2. A correction, even well-timed, can make situations much worse, not in the learning sense, but in the physiological sense. A quick jerk on the collar, yelling, forcing the dog to do something when it is reacting, can all aid sufficiently in the production of adrenaline (epinepherine). The more adrenaline that is going on in that dog, the less control it has, the less able it will be to listen to you at that point. Also, the more stress you add to a situation, the more glucocorticoids that will be released into the blood stream. Glucocorticoids are also known as the "stress hormones", and they stay in the body and just generally cause other problems and make problems worse.
This reason alone is one of the main reasons that e-collars should never, ever, ever be used with aggressive dogs (of course I don't feel that any dog should be submitted to electrick shock in the name of learning, but let's keep to aggression). It is not uncommon for an aggressive dog to amp up its aggression when electrocuted with a shock. Because electricity is associated with stimulation in general, and really puts everything on edge, and causes so many neurotransmitters and hormones to be released (among other things, when used medicinally), that the stimulation can enhance the aggression.
3. If, for example, the dog is growling at somebody (a human or other dog), and you correct the behaviour. What have you sufficiently punished? The growling. You have bandaged up the symptom, rather than addressing the underlying problem, which of course is the dog's discomfort in the situation that is ongoing.
By correcting the growling you have not at all solved the problem, and in a lot of cases you have made this worse. Why? Because very soon the dog stops growling, but is still uncomfortable, the problem is still there. Eventually they will be pushed to the limit and eventually bite. So you have effectively created a dog that will bite "without warning", so to speak. Dogs that will inevitably stop giving off signals of discomfort because they have been corrected for displaying normal dog behaviour, and simply do what gets the message across - biting. This is the classic case of the inevitable dog that bites without warning phenomenon.
I will absolutely, under no circumstances, punish a growl. This is the dogs only communication that they are uncomfortable before doing what they have left - biting. I will always take a growl as communication, and go from there.
4. If, perchance, you are one of the lucky ones who has a dog that is just developing some sort of aggression, this is actually the worst place to apply corrections (punishments), because this is the situation where the dog WILL learn from it's environment, and can very easily associate your corrections with the stimulus directly, and make the problem worse.
So if your dog is alert barking at the boy next door because he's fearful of the boy, and you correct it, it is SO easy for that dog to learn to associate the boy with the correction. The same goes for being afraid of bikes, or skateboarders, or children, or all of those things that dogs can aggress towards.
Most dog aggression cases occur entirely due to learned outcomes. If you talk to people who work with teaching dogs and dog behaviour (aka "dog trainers"), you will quickly find a very, very high number of aggression cases that develop
because of the use of corrections when a dog is uncomfortable. In fact, a lot of aggression is inadvertantly caused directly by Dogparents in this way. Dogs that are handled on choke collars and prong collars are infamous for this developing.
The happy-go-lucky Labrador is on a walk and desperately wants to go visit that man on the bench! WHAM, goes a collar pop, while dog is anxiously trying to get to the man. The dog starts, a little confused, but continues walking on, showing calming signals and a bit anxious. You continue your walk, and you come across another man walking by. The Labrador exuberantly tries to visit on the way by, WHAM, goes another collar pop, while the dog is looking towards the man. It's very easy for this dog to soon make the assocation (even though it's not the association you intend to make) that "these men cause pain to happen in my neck.". Hence troubles with men appear.
These are just some of the reasons why I will not use corrections in working with aggressive dogs. In terms of management vs. teaching, I don't think anybody can call a correction management, because the term "correction" is meant to "correct" a behaviour, in other words change a behaviour in some way.
Management is not about changing behaviour. Management is about preventing the behaviour to begin with, being proactive, keeping the dog away from the aggression-illiciting stimulus UNTIL you can work on the behaviour (or, realistically, underlying emotion first) directly. That's why it's called Management, as you are managing the dog, not teaching it.