How do you try to stop the bad behavior, then? What do you find that works? I don't personally like physical punishment but if it is done tactfully I don't see the harm. I do understand like I said that kids at a young age can't rationalize and sometimes you have to use what actually works.

With the conditioning and Pavlov, yes you could get them to understand it. The thing is I think most people don't follow through exactly the same every time the dog goes outside to follow up with a cookie. It takes doing it repeatedly numerous times before it triggers that automatic response... I'm lazy and I give out cookies whenever I feel like it.