I don't understand what is meant by "balanced" training. Scientifically, operant conditioning is how all mammals learn. This excludes yanking on a collar.
By 'balanced' I meant, not Koehler but also not relying entirely on positive. Balanced to me is like, 99.9% positive, and 0.1% corrections for proofing purposes only. Which isn't really (literally) balanced at all, lol. I really believe that positive reinforcement is the best way to train behaviors, but I also believe there's a point where, for some dogs, it's useful to use the other three parts of OC, including positive punishment. Not all of the time, not for every dog, and certainly NEVER during the learning phase.
If a dog has been taught to sit in a room with no distractions at all, and has been rewarded for responding correctly 10,000 times, but doesn't respond on the 10,001st time, it's not irrational to me to give a verbal or light leash correction. Because, and maybe I'm not thinking through this all the way, it doesn't make sense to me that a dog hasn't learned something after 10,000 repetitions, in a room with zero distractions.
Like I said, my personal preference is corrections during proofing ONLY. They're not "yanking the dog's head off" corrections, they're very light - more attention-getters than anything. Like a tap on the shoulder. "Nope, not that, try something else" or "Hey, would you please do what I just told you to, instead of staring off in the distance? I know that's really interesting, but if you do it, something even MORE interesting will happen." I never correct and end the behavior there. It's always, "Nope, not that." and when the dog does what I wanted, there's an immediate "YES!!!!!!" I've never, ever had a problem with motivation or a dog shutting down/getting aggro on me. If I did, I sure as heck would back off corrections for that dog immediately.
To me, it really depends on the dog, on the behavior, on the response. Using corrections in the (very) limited way that I do is a preference, that not everyone shares (nor do I expect them to). I've done a lot of reading, a lot of hands-on research, and a lot of talking to every trainer I can get my hands on from as many disciplines as possible. It works for my dog, with no ill effects to her or to our relationship, which is the most important thing to me.