Corrections and Punishing Your Dog

Here is a controversial subject. Much has been learned since our ancestors rolled up newspapers to whack the family dog. In more recent years "all positive dog training" has made it's mark on the dog training scene.

Positive dog training theory is that you can train any desired behavior through rewarding the dog for doing it. (nothing new there) And for any misbehavior, you ignore it and it will eventually stop. If ignoring it doesn't work, interrupt it and redirect it to some other activity. What is new is... purely positive training allows no aversives of any kind be administered to the dog. My pendulum has not swung quite that far, but close, very close.

Why not beat your dog? It seemed to work when the old timers did it. The theory is that you can cause fear and aggression within your dog making him less of a companion. I do remember the family dogs seemed to like to play with us kids, and kinda' steered clear of the adults. As kids we never punished the dogs, that was the old folks territory. As a young adult, I too would punish my dog as I had seen done in my childhood. I soon regretted doing it as the dog's attitude toward me changed. I lost the closeness with him. The dog was cautious around me and seemed more distant. He didn't seem as happy and I had to really show playful signals just to get a little tentative wag from his tail. Times have changed and so have I.

Here is a common scenario: A man comes home and upon walking in is mobbed by his loving dog who has waited for his master for nine and a half hours. After the lavishly happy greeting subsides the man smells something. "What's that smell?" he asks the dog. He knows it's poop. He looks around and sees it there on the carpet by the side door. "Why you little S.O.B.!" He grabs the dog's collar and drags his dog, four legs skidding and digging in, to the scene and stuffs his nose right in it! Then for the next 30 seconds he hits and smacks the dog with uncontrolled rage while the dog yelps in fear and pain! Then the man drags the dog to the side door and kicks the dog outside. He then stands there and proceeds to yell a few more profanities at the dog before slamming the door. He makes the dog stay outside for an extended time. The dog scratches at the door to come back in but is told "No!" repeatedly. When the man finally lets the dog back in, the dog cowers and slips past the man trying to avoid him. "Yea you better stay away, you filthy mutt!" The man says.

Day 2. The man walks in and the dog is standing, somewhat cowering, several feet away. The man's expression upon entering is pensive, wondering if there is any poop like the day before. He is hoping that the dog has learned his lesson. He squints at the fearful dog and interprets his cowering posture as guilt. "Why do you look so guilty? I hope you don't have anything to hide..." He takes a sniff, he senses there is something not right. "Please don't let it be..." he says to himself. He peers around the corner to where the accident happened the day before. And there it is again... POOP! He looks back at the dog with that angry face from the day before. The dog turns and slinks away. "You did it again!" "And you know you did it!" "Look at your guilty ass!" "You spiteful little mutt!" He chases the dog until he is cornered, then the beating begins. This time harder than last. The dog is nearly injured.

Sad isn't it. What the man does not understand is that dogs don't reason the way humans do. If a parent walks in on a human child and finds the child doing his homework but there is a open cookie jar and cookie crumbs all over the child's face. As two humans, it is easy for the parent to establish to the child that they are proud of the child having done their studies but the child was wrong to get into the cookies. The human child can understand through common speech and human reasoning that the parent likes the studying but not the cookie stealing. Not so with a dog. We humans cannot separate out what the dog did wrong for the dog. Even sticking his nose in it does not get the point across. I have even heard it said that the dog might even interpret being shown the mess as where you want the dog to defecate! It is impossible to know exactly what a dog is thinking. So don't even try. All one can do is measure observable behaviors.

From the dog's point of view (and this is only one theory based on the dog's response to the punishment) here is what the dog's thought process might be: I was wondering if my pack leader on whom my life depends will ever come back. I have been worried sick to the point my stomach felt pain. All at once he returned! Thank god! I was so happy to see him and at first he was happy to see me too. But something I did suddenly made him very angry! I can't be sure what I did that was so wrong. I jumped up and down and licked his face, barked a few times but I always do that. I thought he liked that. But for what ever reason he suddenly gave me this terrifying look and choked my neck as he drug my body all around. then he rubbed my nose in some poop, then he attacked me and beat me, then he expelled me from the pack to be alone and vulnerable. I felt unprotected and afraid for my life. I wanted to get back to our territory but the door would not open as before. Finally the door opened and my pack leader did not seem to want me but I came back to our pack's territory anyway being sure to avoid my pack leader. The next day I was alone in our territory as happens a lot. I never like being alone but this time I was not sure I was looking forward to my leader's return. When he finally arrived, he didn't seem happy, I stayed away and did nothing like I did the time before. I didn't run to him or jump up and lick his face or bark or anything. It didn't work, he beat me harder than the last time. Those hands the humans have really hurt! He beat me and gave me frightening looks of hatred. His growls and barks were most fierce. among other things, he did that poop smear thing to me again. Then he pushed me out of our territory. I can't trust my leader, he is unpredictable and dangerous. You never know when he will become aggressive. Out of the blue, it seems like he will just come after me. Later that night, one of the little ones approached me with a hand up and I almost bit him to keep him from beating me. Maybe this is where I am supposed to find a new pack. I wish I knew what I did or what I can do to make it better.

Now fear and aggression enters the dog's life. Make room at the shelter, if the poor dog in the above story has enough survival instinct, someone's gettin' bit. And its all just a big misunderstanding.

You see how wrong we might be. We can't be sure how another species interprets our actions. The best thing the man could do when he first found the poop is to clean it up with an enzyme cleaner and reward the dog for pooping outside next time it happens.

You see, dogs only seem to relate punishment and reward with what is happening now this minute. If you catch the dog in the act of pooping, I mean mid log pooping, and you corrected him at that instant, you will probably succeed in getting the dog to understand that you hate seeing him poop there. The keys words there are seeing and there. You can't even be sure that the dog will understand that you want him to poop outside, he might think you just hate seeing it. So next time he'll be sure to do it when you are not looking, like in another room. Or he might think that you don't like it in that spot but any where else would be OK. It is far more effective to catch the dog doing something right and reward him. When is the last time you really rewarded the dog for going where he is supposed to? And what kind of reward are we talking here? A nice treat or just "attaboy... let's go..." Or even worse, "Finally dammit!" actually showing some displeasure.

Punishment is a phenomenon found among plants and animals, so you can call it natural. Plants are not known for cognitive ability but they have thorns and poisons that do punish other beings. We know them as defenses, they evolved over time. Plants also have rewards like nectar to advance their reproductive cause albeit on an unconscious level. Alpha male and female wolves use punishment and reward to maintain pack order. So is it ever OK? I'd say so but with some rules. Only when in the act of the crime and only lightly and briefly.

If you watch a wolf give an aversive to another pack member, it is very brief and normally stops when the lesser wolf submits. In the example above the man kept on beating the dog long after the point of submission. There is very little if any real biting going on in the wolf pack. Most of the pack's behavior is posturing and thereby avoids physical punishments. Also the wolves only give punishment in real time. not for something that happened hours ago. The man in the above story was punishing the dog for something that happened too long ago for the dog to put it together as we would. Lastly, the wolves' punishments happen around the neck area.

So what would a good correction look like? During the act of the "crime", anything from ignoring the dog thereby denying him the attention he craves, to a stern look, a sharp "No", and in extreme cases, a quick fingertip poke using two or three fingers as if they were "teeth" to the dogs neck with just enough force that you would need to tip a glass of water over. Or if on leash, a light jerk and release. All simultaneously lasting about half a second.

The positive purists might disagree but there are some behaviors that dogs do that give them gratification but really get under our skin. Like marking territory in the house. When a dog lifts his leg and pees on the couch, he is doing something he wants to do. Its self rewarding. So ignoring the dog during this behavior will not stop it. It requires at least a sharp "No!" and interruption.

Pulling on the leash is another hard to ignore behavior. Here you can use treats to keep the dog beside you, but light leash corrections greatly speed the process of training to walk with a loose leash. To me its like the child's game of hot and cold. Directing someone by telling them they are getting warmer as they near a target and colder as they start to go the wrong direction is probably a little quicker than just using the word warmer alone. With dogs doubly so. As long as your corrections are a communication and not a punishment. If it were punishment the game is no longer fun and nor dog or human would want to play. When it comes to training you want your dog to play!