Spanking, beating, and hitting 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.
Therefore, will such pain based 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
- They 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.
Is It Bad to Beat or Hit a Dog?
Spanking, beating, and hitting 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 undesirable actions. Every time our dog does something bad, he gets an unpleasant result (pain), which will hopefully dampen his resolve to perform the same behavior.
However, the problem with aversive training, is that it is risky, 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 pain 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 with good timing, with the proper force, and in exactly the right circumstance, our dog may get confused as to why he is getting punished. He may become fearful and stressed, because he is unsure how he can stop the pain from recurring.
As a result, spanking, beating, and hitting a dog may lead to even more behavioral issues, including fear aggression as well as submissive urination.
For these reasons, using physical techniques to punish a dog, is not very good dog kung fu.
If Not Beating or Hitting a Dog, Then What?!
If beating or hitting a dog does not work, then how can we teach our dogs 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 based techniques. Some positive based authors that I like include Patricia McConnell, Karen Pryor, and Suzanne Clothier. Contrary to what some may say, reward based methods does not just involve “giving food to our dog”. Rather, it allows us to gain pack leadership through the proper 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. Then I ignore him, and he does not get his food, until he has calmed down. In this way, he learns that –
- Waiting calmly for his food in a down position = Get food quickly,
- Jumping and biting = Food preparation stops.
If he continues with his bad behavior, I say Time-out, and I 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.
But Dogs Hit, Bite, and Physically Correct Each Other …
A common argument used to justify physical corrections, is that our dogs do that to each other, therefore, it must be natural and right.
It is true that dogs will sometimes hit and bite each other as a warning, or to correct behavior. Dogs also hit and bite during play. They are able to do this, because they have very good control of the placement and force of their bites.
However, dogs are not humans and *we* are not dogs. We do not have the same physical strengths or control as our dog. We do not have sharp teeth or claws, we cannot run very fast, and our jaws are not very strong.
This is why it is a very bad idea to physically challenge stray or loose dogs. Logic dictates that we do not wrestle, hit, or physically engage with unknown dogs, that may be aggressive. Similarly, we should not slap, beat, or hit our own dog either. Rather than do a bad job at pretending to be a dog, we should play to our human strengths.
As a human,
- We can open and close doors.
- We can drive to the store and buy food, toys, and other good stuff.
- We can open sealed bags, cans, bottles, and more.
- We can reason, build, and develop long-term plans.
In essence, our human abilities give us control of *all* the things that our dog needs or desires. This makes us into natural leaders, because by controlling the pack’s resources, we control the pack.
Finally, when a dog physically corrects another dog, the other dog may decide to fight back.
A puppy may allow an adult dog to correct him initially, but when he grows up, he may learn to respond in-kind with aggression. For this reason and more, I do not allow my dogs to physically correct or bully each other. As pack leader, I set the rules, and I enforce them through the control of resources. If there are any conflicts, my dogs will alert me. I will then do my best to resolve the conflict in a fair and consistent way, which does not involve any hitting, biting, or puncture wounds.
Just because a dog may sometimes hit and bite other dogs, does not mean that hitting and biting is good, effective, or even particularly humane. The assumption or assertion that physical punishment is better because our dogs do it, is a logical fallacy. In fact, there are many things that dogs do to each other and to other animals, that we need to manage, redirect, and retrain. This includes –
- A dog’s drive to hunt neighborhood cats,
- A dog’s instinct to guard resources (with aggression if necessary),
- A dog’s inclination to bully a weaker dog,
- A dog’s impulse to fight-back, and more.
Does Beating or Hitting a Dog Work?
Pain based techniques may stop problem behaviors in the short term, 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 addition, the effect of beating or hitting a dog may degrade over time, as our dog gets habituated to the pain.
In contrast, reward based methods are 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.
- Aversive dog discipline, on the other hand, encourages a dog to avoid us because there may be pain involved.
Ultimately, resource based training allows us to forge a stronger bond with our dog, and makes him into a responsible canine, who works for what he wants.
The greatness of a nation and its moral progress can be judged by the way its animals are treated.
~~ [Mahatma Gandhi]
Hi I got a Siberian husky puppy a week ago he made 7 weeks today and these past 2 or 3 days he’s been very aggressive biting people and growling when we play with him or pick him up I beat him when he does it but it doesn’t seem to change anything what should I do ?
Hi I have a 5 yr Australian Shepherd and Chow mix. Meaning I have a very stubborn dog-son! When he was younger my husband would discipline him by spanking him for chewing up items in the house. That corrected it. We normally walk him in the yard to potty on his leash. Lately, I’ve tried to ween him off of his leash and allow him to walk independently and potty on his own. In doing that some days he goes and does what he needs to do and comes back. But we have had several occasions that he takes off running through the neighborhood. When he returns he gets a spanking for running away. Today, I just had that happen and when I spanked him he growled and me and showed all his teeth as if he were going to attack me. What can I do now to correct this behavior, as spanking him doesn’t seem to be effective anymore? Thanks!
yikes! dont do that again! You cannot trust your dog to walk on his or her own. Without running into a squirrel and chasing it, or having something else small and fuzzy catch its eye. If you dont want your dig to run off, keep it leashed and take it for walks. Easy enough. Your dog got used to going out on its own, but doesnt know the difference between in front of the house, or around the neighborhood. So you have to take that choice away from it. And I definitely wouldnt spank your dog again, under any circumstances, especially if hes baring his teeth. There are other ways, like the article says, to make your dog do what you want it to do, and refrain it from doing the opposite. Hope this helped you, good luck.
By spanking your dog when he comes back in telling him it’s not good to come because I will get spanked when I return. You can’t hit your dog for something he has already done, it confuses him and he thinks he’s being disciplined for coming home
Hey so I have a very special case and I would love some help, I adopted a dog about 7 months ago, she was already about 1 year old and apparently she grew up on the street since she didn’t understand even the most basic commands like “come” or even “no”. In the begining she was very shy and loving, but I think we spoiled her and now she thinks she can do whatever she wants. Potty training her was a little bit hard and took a lot of patience and she didn’t stop peeing inside until my sister spanked her right when she was about to pee. She is very smart and she learns tricks and commands easily, but she won’t do ANYTHING unless you show her you have a treat. Lately I’ve been taking her to the park, but when I take her leash off so she can play fetch she runs away like there’s no tomorrow, the other day she ran away and when I finally catched her I spanked her and put her leash back on. Then I went back to a big open area in an attempt to play with her again and naive me took her leash off again and she RAN even faster and further away than before. It took me like 20 minutes to catch her, when I did I just took her home and left her outside for a while, but I know I made the greatest mistake, because when I catched her the first time and I spanked her I made her understand that she shouldnt be catched, and the second time I catched her I punished her too late and it probably did way more bad than good. I tought since spanking her had worked when potty training her it would finally put an end to her running away problem, but it didnt work. Also I’ve tried teaching her a lot of stuff, but she only does it inside and if there’s a treat involved. She knows stay and come perfectly, and i’ve even practiced it with her outside, but lately she runs away in the middle of the training. It’s really frustrating because I know she is smart and she knows the commands she needs to know, but when she’s outside she forgets I even exist and she does what she pleases, when she runs away from me she even teases me. I wish I’d never tries to train her by hitting her because it has made damage, but positive training doesn’t work on her since she’s so clever, and she knows she prefers running away and have fun than a single treat. Any suggestions on what i should do with her? greetings from Mexico
I have a 9 month old puppy, shes i lab & blue heeler mix. She was a little hellion at first. We are having issues with her chewing on things she is not supposed to, such as toilet paper, paper towels, stuffing out her animals, chewed a hole in our mattress, getting in the trash, chewing on socks, underwear anything she knows she not supposed to do. We finally got her potty trained took forever. We spank her when she does wrong, we started to smack her on the nose and she is now starting to snap at us when we punish her, or show her teeth before we even go to punish her. Its my boyfriend & i. My boyfriend works out of state so he is not home as much as i am, she didn’t listen to me at all at first, but since he has been gone she is finally starting to listen to me, but now since hes home, she does not want to listen to him, she is now barking & snapping at him. Can you please help me out??
He is wanting to get rid of her if she bites him. She is a good sweet loving dog, i just want to fix this before it gets bad.
You and your boyfriend should INMEDIATELY stop hitting the dog and start clicker training her asap (not balanced training). Find a clicker trainer in your area and/or learn the basics and do it yourself. I teach my dog with treats, never hit him, never take away his food/toys for no reason, and he has never shown me nor other person or dog any signs of aggression. I used to hit my previous dogs to correct them and I’m deeply sorry for having caused them unnecessary pain. Nothing can undo the harm I caused them.
Good news is for your specific problem it looks like you simply need to work on your recall and positive conditioning with the leash (e.g. teach him leash = food). But you better make sure with a professional clicker trainer.
I have a 9 month puppy that has separation anxiety from me and if I leave the house or room without him, he whines and tears up things like the furniture I’m planning on going to college and I can’t if he has separation anxiety from me is there anything that I can do to help him get use to me leaving so he doesn’t tear up the furniture? I hate punishing him for him and locking him up in the dog carrier, but when I punish him I don’t do it hard to cause him to yelp constantly because it breaks my heart when my mom’s boyfriend does it, I only do it hard enough to get his attention and have him realize that I’m not happy with his behavior and what he did. So is there anything I can do help him he’s half pit bull and half cairn terrier
I also have a young puppy who is a lab pitbull mix. She used to have separation anxiety, but over time she got used to not seeing me. What you need to do is make sure you ignore him!!!! If he starts to whine, don’t go back to her and pet her. This will teach him that he will get what he wants if he does this. You can start by leaving him alone for a while, and if he keeps crying, stay away. When he stops crying, wait a few minutes and come back to him and give him praise. This should work.
We rescued a 6 year old dog who has really bad separation anxiety as well. I suggest crate training him, it helps a lot! Instead of having him feel like his crate is a penalty box, let him feel that his crate is a safe place! maybe buy an extra bed, or stuff a bunch of blankets and his favorite toys in there and feed him his meals in his crate. This will make it easier for him to adapt to it. When we leave the house now, we throw a treat in there or just say House and our dog would go in there. we shut the crate and leave. she would bark maybe the first 2 or 3 minutes, but they will give up after awhile (Especially if they are used to their crates)
Hi i have a pitbul boerboel mix breed dog she is 7months old i got her when she was 3months old. But i found out at the same time i got her that she is to scared i don’t really know whats the problem i suspect the previous owner hit her. Her tail is always between her legs. She knows her name but sometimes she wont come to me when i call her she behaves scared. I don’t know what to do or how to get her to stop this please help
I have a 1.5 year old american eskimo, and he’s SUPER territorial… he’s very aggressive towards my older sister at home, and will run up to her and bare his teeth and bark. I’ve tried to positive reinforcement, but he seems to not be getting it. He will tolerate her until he sees her doing something he doesn’t like. I don’t think hitting him is the answer…Although, my sister does not radiate positive energy towards him, in fact, she clearly dislikes him and he can feel it. Wondering what I can do to fix this? because it’s a little dangerous for her at home with him on a daily basis…. please help!
Is it only your sister? If so I would question why it is only her? What is it about her that makes your dog feel he has to be alpha?
My german sherpherd dog is biting me. I could not controll him. what can I do? and how to train him?
Good morning, my 10 month old Westie can get very aggressive and bite. I can be holding her and loving her on my lap, but if I try to kiss her she will snarl and show her teeth. When I decide to put her down because of this behavior, she gets extremely aggressive and tries to bite me. I may no and she runs into the back of her crate. It I put my hand in the crate she gets vicious. How can I correct this unpleasant behavior. I am presently sending her for behavioral classes, but she is very loving around other people. Please help me. Thank you.
Sounds like you have a strong willed furry pack leader in your house. I’d adopt it out and get an animal you can safely allow to run the show.
hello i have a 2 year old husky i got of a lady about a month ago we had him desexed cause he was trying to mount my other dog Rufus a 2 and a half year old border collie and was fighting if not getting what he wants its been 6 weeks since hes been desexed and hes not mounting but playing roughly and some times lashing out when Rufus or my other dog fluffy 12 yr pure Maltese that eats his food or their food and weave been keeping him tie up and letting him of 2 hours a day and walk him at night and i don`t like keeping him tied up i want him running around but i don`t want my other dogs getting hurt ,the lady we got him of did socialize or train him properly so he gets very excitable around other dogs and when we go on walks and were thinking of getting him a muzzle so he can run around with the other dogs whats your opinion on him and the thank you and i love your dogs there soo adorable
I have a 7 month old shihtzu who I’ve technically helped raised since birth. I never thought I’d be able to convince my husband to get a puppy but I still was really attached to one of the puppies my uncle’s dog had. We had a really great bond up until he turned 4 months old (when my husband agreed to keep him). We brought him home and he loved me so much, he followed me everywhere and clinged on to my every word. I taught him basic commands and some tricks like play dead and raise the roof. He’s a really smart dog and catches onto things quickly, like potty training. Anyway, a month of having him he started to ignore my commands after a few minutes and would bark constantly. I tried to do only positive raining with him but it didn’t work on getting him NOT to do things. I read somewhere to smack them on the nose when they do something bad because they feel pain and won’t want to do that action again. It appeared to work. He responded well, stopped doing those things and was a better dog. I was doing positive and aversive training on him. Then, one day, he snapped back and I smacked him on the nose to which he snapped again, so I spanked him on the butt and he stopped. Then, he started to growl when I spanked him and tried to bite. I realized if he’s responding this way it must not be working like I thought. I also believe he doesn’t trust me anymore. He use to be so happy to see me and wag his tail and follow me everywhere, nothing could distract him from waiting for me when I left a room. Now, he doesn’t wag his tail, he sits and stares at me instead of following me, when I leave a room he doesn’t even acknowledge me. He’s also been ignoring me when I call his name, I see his ears move but he doesn’t look towards me at all. Then at the dog park, oh boy, he doesn’t listen at all, I don’t exist there. He runs off with other people and dogs and doesn’t come when called or do tricks. I’m glad he likes all types of people and dogs (tried to socialize him while he was found so he wouldn’t be a mean dog to strangers and other dogs). He loves my husband SO much and every one else who enters the house. My husband doesn’t do any discipline to him, he leaves that to me because I wanted the dog. I do everything for him, I feed him, take him on walks, to the dog park, give him treats and teach him tricks. My husband literally does nothing with him but pet him sometimes. Is there any way I could get back the bond I had with my dog? I’ve started only doing positive training and trying to only have positive interactions with him. I’ve been doing this for a week and he doesn’t seem to act any differently. Well, he’ll follow me out of a room but not back into a room and he’s been coming to me when I say come here (I’ve been giving him a treat when he’s successfully came over to me). So, I feel like there’s some progress but he still seems wary of me and I’m afraid we won’t have the bond we use to have. Thank you for any help you can give me,
G
This is precisely why people need to stop using aversive training techniques. It’s such a shame that your dog no longer trusts you because it sounds like you were doing a great job of training and socializing him before you started hitting him for misbehavior.
Keep up with the positive reinforcement, give him lots of happy-sounding praise when he gets something right, keep your tone of voice when you give commands very light and sweet (not forceful or angry), make training sessions a game, don’t get discouraged or disappointed when he gets something wrong (he needs to make mistakes in order to learn just like we do), keep training him with positive methods – it helps build up trust and build a positive association with you.
Don’t beat yourself up about it – you took bad (outdated) training advice which is unfortunate but you didn’t deliberately set out to harm your dog. We all make mistakes.
It’s good news that he never bites anyone else or at times other than when he’s being hit / punished – it means it’s just a response to the hitting, not unprovoked aggression (which would be a lot harder, if not impossible to fix).
Your dog doesn’t understand why he was being hit so he probably thinks you are unpredictably violent and has decided to ignore you as a method of avoiding punishment – you need to reassure him that you aren’t violent and that the hitting has stopped. It may take quite some time of using purely positive methods, but I think if you persevere you will get there!
Good luck 🙂