Hitting, spanking, slapping, and beating a dog is sometimes used as a form of dog discipline or dog punishment.
After all, biting a dog’s ear worked for Cuba Gooding Jr. in the movie Snow Dogs. Will such pain based dog discipline techniques work for us too? To answer this question, we must consider how dogs learn.
Dogs learn through conditioning; they repeat behaviors that get them good results and stop behaviors that get them bad results. Based on this, there are two schools of thought for stopping problem dog behaviors – reward obedience training and aversive obedience training.
Hitting, Spanking, Slapping, and Beating a Dog
Hitting, spanking, slapping, and beating a dog are all aversive techniques. Pain is delivered to sensitive areas of the dog, such as his ear or muzzle when he performs a bad behavior.
The argument for this type of dog discipline is that the pain will discourage a dog from repeating bad behaviors, because every time he does it, something bad (i.e. pain) happens to him.
A big problem with aversive training, however, is that it is too personal, and there is no good way to redirect the punishment.
Our dog knows that the pain originates from us, and is not a natural result of his actions.
As a consequence, our dog may end up learning the wrong lessons, including:
- Hitting, slapping, and biting is a fun game that my owner plays with me. Let me try playing it with him, and with others. A dog may arrive at this conclusion when the hit/slap/spank is not delivered with enough force. Too much force, however, may result in fear aggression.
- A person’s hand or face coming toward me is a bad thing. I should run away from people, or bite the hand or face that is a threat to me.
- My owner or a person coming toward me means pain. I should stay away from people, or keep them away by growling and biting.
If we do not deliver the pain consistently, with good timing, and with the proper force, our dog may get confused as to why he is getting disciplined. He may become fearful and stressed because he is unsure how he can stop the pain from recurring.
Hitting, spanking, slapping, and beating a dog may lead to even more behavioral issues, including fear aggression as well as submissive urination.
For these reasons, using physical techniques to discipline a dog is not very good dog kung fu.
If Not Hitting, Spanking, Slapping, and Beating, Then What?!
If hitting, spanking, slapping, and beating a dog does not work, then how can we discipline our dogs and teach them right from wrong?
How can we get our dogs to behave and not engage in destructive behaviors?
The answer lies in the other school of dog discipline, namely reward techniques.
Contrary to common belief, reward based dog discipline does not just involve giving food to our dog. Rather, it allows us to gain pack leadership through the control of resources.
We may not realize this, but we already control all of our dog’s resources. For example, we decide when he gets to walk, when he gets to eat, what and how much he gets to eat, when he gets to play, what toys he gets to play with, when he has to go to sleep, what he can chew on, and much more. All we need to do is teach our dog this fact -
He is NOT in control, WE are.
For example, if my dog jumps on me and bites my hand during feeding time, I tell him that this behavior is unacceptable by using a no-mark (say No or Ack-ack). Then I ignore him, and he does not get his food until he has calmed down.
If he continues with his bad behavior, I say Time-out and remove him to a time-out area. This teaches him that if he cannot behave around people, then he does not get to be with people.
We respond to all other bad behaviors in a similar way – by restricting our dog’s access to his most desired resources, and only giving him rewards when he has earned them through good behavior.
Different dog behavioral issues will involve different tactics, but the overall strategy is one of resource control, and proper management.
Does Hitting, Slapping, Spanking, and Beating a Dog Work?
It may, but it is not the most effective type of dog discipline.
There are many difficulties and risks that may cause our dog’s behavior to degrade, rather than improve. Using it to stop one problem behavior, may inadvertently cause five other bad dog behaviors to crop up.
In contrast, reward based dog discipline is safer because there is little danger of our dog becoming fearful, aggressive, or stressed. We are not delivering any pain to him, but simply withholding the rewards that he has failed to earn.
Reward based discipline encourages our dog to figure out how he can get in our good books, because that is the quickest way to get what he wants most. On the other hand, aversive dog discipline encourages a dog to avoid us because there may be pain involved.
Ultimately, reward training allows us to forge a stronger bond with our dog, and makes him into a responsible canine, who works for what he wants.
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Hi. I have a blue healer mix. And lately he’s been very aggressive towards my other animals and he really doesn’t like my boyfriend because he will randomly snap at him. Idk wat to do?? I wud never hit him but how do I get him to stop????
I do desensitization exercises with my dogs to teach them to be more comfortable around people and other dogs.
People desensitization exercises.
Dog-to-dog desensitization exercises.
However, dog training is very context dependent. In cases of aggression, it is usually best to consult with a professional trainer who can visit with the dog, observe his body language, environment, and routine, before coming up with a plan for retraining.
http://www.apdt.com/petowners/choose/
Hello. i have a 2 yr old pit that a friend gave me. and she has been chewing all our furniture andpeeing and pooping on the floor for a yr we smack her but put hot sauce on our furniture and she goes outside for least 4 – 5 hours a day and plays out her energy . Idk Wat else to do
Here are some things that helped me potty train my dog.
Supervision and consistency were both very important while potty training my dog. I set up a consistent routine for my dog, so that his potty routine also becomes more consistent. I make sure to always take him out when he wakes up, and after any rigorous activity. Other times, I supervise him well so that if I see any potty signals, e.g. going to corners, circling, I can take him out right away and reward him very well for doing the right thing.
Hi.
I need help…i have a 4 month old pit bull retriever mix..she constantly bites and her previous owner played rough with her..so she thinks its ok to bite and rough house..shes a good dog..but I want to know what I can do stop her from bitting me..
Thankyou
Here are some things that I do with my dogs to control their biting behavior-
http://shibashake.com/dog/puppy-biting-how-to-stop-puppy-biting#timeout
http://shibashake.com/dog/puppy-biting-tips-solutions
I also do bite inhibition training with them, so that they learn to control the force of their bites.
Hello,it was nice to see a picture of your husky pop up when i logged into your site,I need help with something and would love to hear back from you.I have a two and a half year old Siberian Husky named Chi,we had an incident where one of the feral cats in our street was in our backyard and was confronted by our Dog,my partner and i went out to try to save the cat and our dog got hold of it as was intent on killing it,my partner was trying to restrain my dog and he was bitten by her several times,i would say because of the nature of the situation and also he was hurting her in an attempt to free the cat,he is saying that she should be put down and that she is a risk to my Children,she protects the Children and anyone that belongs to our Family,she has in the past 2 months also caught 2 possums that have entered our garden,she is being territorial from what i can see,the feral cats,many of them jump our fence and come and eat her food,scratch her and threaten her,i have had animals all my life and i think this is what you can expect from a Dog,anything that comes into our garden would be very lucky to get back out again,please give me your opinion,i also was bitten several times by the cat in an attempt to save it,but it ended tragically. . .Kind Regards Katrina.
Hello Katrina,
Siberian Huskies usually have high prey drive.
Dogs chase prey based on instinct. Some dog breeds have higher prey drive than others, and some dogs within a breed may also have higher or lower prey drive.
A bit more on Siberian Huskies and cats.
Both my Sibes have high prey drive. They also like digging for earth critters in our backyard, so we have a relatively large area where they can dig. We trained them not to dig in the landscaped area. We also trained them to “Leave-It” and to “Drop” objects willingly. If something unusual is happening in the backyard, I can usually hear it, and then the key is to interrupt my dogs early, before they totally switch over to instinct.
When a dog is already in a highly excited state, and we try to physically restrain him, he may redirect that energy onto us. This is why people get bitten when they try to stop a dog fight. Here is a bit more on redirected aggression and other types of dog aggression.
Here is a UPenn study with the following results -
i have a 5month old belgian malinois,she playfully bites my hand when i try to pet her, fix her collar and when my hand gets too close to her face. how do i make her stop??
Here I some things that I do with my dogs to stop biting-
http://thedoginc.com/stop-puppy-biting
http://shibashake.com/dog/puppy-biting-how-to-stop-puppy-biting#timeout
I have a 2 year old beagle that I inherited from my parents. He chews everything, eats cat poo out of my kittens litter box and if the cabinet door where the trash is kept is left open her gets in the trash. My kids love him, so I really want to train him so they can keep him. Any hints?
Some things that help with my dogs -
1. I follow the Nothing in Life is Free program. This motivates them to follow house rules and do work for me because it is the best way to getting food and everything else that they want.
2. I walk them every day (1 hour or more) and redirect their energy into positive and structured activities. The more energy they spend on structured activity, the less energy they have to come up with their own unstructured activities.
3. I set up a fixed schedule and a consistent set of rules. In this way, my dogs know exactly what I expect from them, and what they can expect from me in return.
4. I dog-proof my house. Beagles and other scent hounds are bred to seek out smelly things like thrown away food and cat poop. What works best with my dogs is to set them up for success and remove all these tempting ‘treats’ until I know they are well trained.
Here is a bit more on-
How I trained my puppy.
How dogs learn.
Hi there,
I have a 7 year old female golden retriever who is a fantastic dog, except when she gets on my couch! We made the mistake by allowing them on the couch but we recently moved and purchased a new couch and are now trying to keep her off the couch. She is a very smart dog which puzzles me as to why she keeps doing something we NOW don’t want her to do. We know this is a confusing time for her with the move and new rules but she knows she is not supposed to be on the couch. When we leave she gets on it, when we are sleeping she gets on it. I know she is on it because I see her hair and feel the warm spot where she was laying. It’s even getting to the point where she will hear my alarm going off and get off the couch because she knows I am getting up. I don’t know what to do. I am getting so so angry about this. She has her own dog bed and she does lay on it but she prefers the couch. I am not a believer in spanking or hitting an animal but she is getting me so frustrated I find myself wanting to. She absolutely hates lemons so i thought maybe squirting lemon juice in her mouth would be some form of pubishment…..i dont know.
Any advice you can give would be so much appreciated!!!
Thank you!!!!
Yeah, my Husky puppy Lara also likes sleeping on the couch. I think it is because we spend a lot of time on the couch, and it smells a lot like us.
With my Husky Shania, the key to couch training is supervision and consistency. I have to be there every time she tries to get on the couch. I no-mark and then body-block her away. If she gets on the couch, I carry her down right away. Then, I tell her what to do instead, e.g. do a Down by the foot of the couch. If she does this, I reward her very well for it, with attention, food, and a scratch session.
In this way, she never gets rewarded for being on the couch, but she *does* get rewarded very well for lying down next to the couch. During Shania’s training, if I am not able to supervise, I put her in an enclosure so that she cannot get onto the couch on her own.
Dogs are very clever and they are very good at observing us. They will quickly figure out, for example, that they can get on the couch when we are not around or are too busy to supervise. Once they get on the couch, they get rewarded by being able to sleep on a nice surface that smells like their people. This will encourage them to keep repeating the behavior.
With my dogs, I find that the best way to stop an undesirable behavior is through consistency –
1) make sure they never get rewarded for the bad behavior,
2) tell them what to do instead, and then
3) reward them really well for the good behavior.
This will motivate them to repeat the “good” behavior instead of the undesirable one.
I had a male Beagle and I tried the rub nose in pee or poop with spank and he still didnt learn. I hated like heck to do that to him but nothing seem to work with regard to going in the house. He was good about going to crate when bedtime but could not learn that he should go out to do his business. and he chewed up all kinda stuff, I whipped him for chewing up some computer cords and other things that pissed me off. Tried spankin him for that and same result. finally I just gave up and kept him outside. I am seeking proven methods fo r house training a dog without negative reenforcement. I hate spanking but dont know proven method for trainng other than spank. (thats how I saw my dad do it) I wanna do it differently for my next dog. I’m looking at a boxer mix at the local shelter. beautiful brindle female.
While training my dogs, I have observed that timing is extremely important. In particular, we want the reward or punishment to occur as close to the “target behavior” as possible. This is why with potty training, supervision is key. We need to be there while our dog is making his mistake. If we are there, we can interrupt, take him outside, and teach him the behavior that we want.
As you have observed, punishing a dog after the fact will not have the intended effect because the dog does not understand which behavior he is being punished for, and he does not know what he is supposed to do instead.
Here is more on what I do to potty train my dogs.
Here is a bit more on how dogs learn and how I trained my Huskies.
Hi,
My dog is a 2 year old yorkie poo that is OUT OF CONTROL. I will start from the beginning….He bites and rips his hair out, he doesn’t like his own food and will go a whole day without eating, I don’t know why!! And when he doesn’t eat, he throws up this yellow/green YUCKY stuff. He eats up carpet and hair (gross, I know), He’ll eat anything thats not edible really, he has had a weird interest in underwear, socks, clothes in general. He even ate a razor once!!!! He also snaps and bites!!! Just today, I dropped a peice of pizza and he went for it! He got it and when I tried to take it and tell him to get in his bed, he showed me his teeth and snapped at me! He also whins A LOT when put in his crate. He annoys other dogs, by humping them and licking them in their ear holes (weird, I know). All the dogs in the neighborhood hate him. I have had this dog since he was 8 weeks old and I don’t know what to do! My fiance and I have tried to train him since the beginning, but my fiance was taking the aversive training method and I could not do it. I also did not do the reward training. This was my first dog adn I really didn’t know what ot do. My fiance was the only one training him with aversive training. Is it too late? My fiance and I are debating getting rid of him but honestly I LOVE HIM TO DEATH. I want to fix this problem, what can I do?
Also, he is not neutered. Should I try and get this done?
Thanks!!!
It sounds like your dog has a food allergy that makes him itchy, hence chewing on himself and avoiding the food that makes him feel sick. Food allergies cause dogs to be malnourished and have a compromised immune system, but that’s probably why he’s going for non-edibles, because he’s probably hungry. Try switching to science diet. It will take a few weeks to see improvement. As far as the humping, getting him fixed may alter that behavior, but BECAUSE he’s humping, you really ought to get him fixed to prevent forcing someone else to deal with a litter of puppies in the future. Hope this helps.
Re Food and Allergies:
I would consult the vet about this, especially if he is throwing up. Food allergies can also cause itching and scratching.
Re Training and House Rules:
Some things that helped with my dogs for training and following house rules-
1. Consistency.
I found that it was very important that I stay consistent while training them. Everybody uses the same techniques, I set up a fixed and consistent routine, I set up a consistent set of communication commands and signals, and also establish a consistent set of rules. Otherwise, the dog may get confused and may not understand what we want him to do.
2. Timing & Execution.
Timing is also very important in dog training. I make sure to time my reward stimulus so that it is as close as possible to the target behavior. I found that incorrect timing can actually worsen behaviors. This is something that a professional trainer was able to help me with – both timing and proper execution of the training techniques.
3. Calm Energy.
Sephy was a highly excitable and reactive dog. The best way I found to deal with his excited energy, is to be very calm myself. If I get angry, stressed, or frustrated, he would pick up on my energy and become even more reactive. He was able to listen and respond better when I am calm and have a consistent plan of action.
4. Exercise.
Daily walks and obedience training sessions also helped to redirect Sephy’s excited energy into more structured activity. I also make all my dogs work for all of their food and resources. In particular, I follow the Nothing in Life is Free program.
Here is a bit more on what I did for training Sephy-
How to be pack leader to a reactive dog.
Basic dog obedience training.
Creating a structured environment for a puppy.
Here are some of my experiences with food aggression and food guarding.
Re Neutering
Here is an article from the ASPCA about some of the benefits of neutering a dog.
http://www.aspca.org/pet-care/spayneuter/spay-neuter-top-ten.aspx
lol yeah I had a Dalmation that ate GRAVEL! out of the drive way lmao no idea what that was about lol. And he did that for a long time. I was like wth is he eating those gravel for.???!!?!?