How many people agree?

Question

There are many people who say, never hit a dog. OK....here is my thought.....in the dog world, how does the alpha dog say no to the others....with nipping biting, growling, etc. Whats the differance between that, and a thump on the dogs nose for trying to steal a piece of food from your hand, or jumping as a pup, or any other disipline problem you are trying to break them off.....in my mind there is a differance between beating a dog and a thump on the nose.....I am not talking about hitting hard, but just hard enough to get their attention.....just like there is a differance between beating a child and spanking their butt. What are your thoughts? I have wonderful, well behaved dogs, they don't fear people, as many people say will have if you use physical punishment, they don't shy away from hands, as others would say....I have never had any of these problems with any of my dogs.....

Answer 1

Our trainer suggests to us that we address issues the way momma dog does, not as a human thinks is appropriate. The reason for this is that we are conveying our message in a language that a puppy can understand, rather than expecting them to understand ours.

Answer 2

There is a big difference between hitting and abusing. Personally I do not do it, but, I will not argue with someone who does, providing they know what they are doing. I do not do it because # 1, I do not want to ever take the chance of having a dog being hand shy and #2, my dog sport does involve the use of the stick and I do not want a dog that will look at the stick unfavorably. The only reason I would consider raising my hand on my dog, and which has happened on a couple of occasions in the past with some dogs I have had, is in self defense. Other then that, no hitting is preferable to me.

Answer 3

My friend's mom has raised 6 Siberian Husky, which are some of the hardest dogs to train, and she's always given the a smack of the bum for being bad, nothing to hard but just enough to get their attention then you scold them. Honestly if you have a large breed dog most of the time (unless your beating them) they don't even feel any pain from a tap and react more to the tone of your voice than anything. Mom's had a few bitches who act up and try to challenge her (that sounds weird doesn't it?) and she really has to smack them on their bums or they act out too much and then the other dogs won't listen to you anymore. Like your dogs no dog she's ever had has been hand shy, they don't jump on people and they don't bark unless they know they're allowed to.

Answer 4

An answer to your question: In the wild, the alpha dog would clamp down on the scruff of the neck (with his mouth) and shake the dog he's trying to discipline. The submissive dog will know immediately that he pissed off the alpha, and he'll behave better next time. Females also do this to discipline their pups.
Your methods are sound. You know the difference between discipline and abuse, and you seem to understand that your dogs are of a different species. Thumbs up!

Answer 5

I agree! The stupid never-say-no-and-bribe-with-a-treat methods are the reason people are having so much trouble with their dogs. NO discipline at all and then they wonder why the dog is biting, jumping on people, peeing in the house, etc.

The pack leader, or the dam, would punish swiftly and harshly, and then it is done. But most people are completely out of touch with animal behavior these days, including some 'trainers'.

Answer 6

People who give dogs things like time outs for behavior problems end up with dogs who are very much like many children today.
Spoiled rotten and thinking they rule the world.
There is nothing wrong with a physical touch or tap or swat to correct a dog.
Beating one is a different story. That accopmlishes nothing but teaching the dog to fear. They do not learn from fear.
They follow a calm assetive leader who can and will control situstions that arrise when they are with you.

Answer 7

You are right there is a huge difference in giving your dog a thump or beating, but even better why not try using the language natural to your dog? It makes things alot easyer for them to understand, its enough for a puppy to learn how to behave in a proper way let alone learn how to understand unatural things to them like how humans comunicate to them. The dog/wolf world the alpha member will growl and show teeth as a warning then bite the other dog on the scruff of the neck, and pin it to the ground if need be. Lets say your have a 3 month old pup who is in the learning the rules and boundaries in your houshold/family pack.. The young pup is testing your leadership abilities by trying to take "your" food from you. If you are eating at the table, standing up while eating, or on the couch the puppy must learn that your food is not his, if he starts nosing around, beging, hanging around the eating area waiting for something to fall on the floor ask him to leave the room by looking in his eye, pointing to the exit of the room and say in a firm tone "out!" if he does not take your warning, then I would grab his coller or the scruff(skin on the neck behind the scull) and take him out and again say the words "out!" so he makes the conection. Keep repeating this untill the dog stops coming back into the room and waits at least a 1 min. Then ask your dog to come back making sure it is your idea not his. Another thing you can do is if when you are eating and your dog tries to take your food, you can let out low grrr or a firm "no!" when he comes too close to your food but if he tries to take it, I would grab the scruff of the neck the same way a mother dog scolds her puppy using your fingers like teeth, don't grab hard enough to hurt him, but just hard enough to discomfort him (only needs to be qick like makbe 2 seconds). And at the same time firmly say "no!" or a low grrrr. Do this over and over until the dog respects this, he will very quickly understand that when you grrr or say "no"! that you will follow through with a quick scold if he does not listen.

All dogs are a little differen, some would be scared out of their skin if you hit or thumped them, cause it is not natural to them. I have a friend and she has 4 dogs, she uses a thump on the nose as a correction, her dogs are decently well behaved but even though they range from 5 to 11 years old they "still" have to be thumped sometimes and don't respect her 100%. They have not been aggressive but do things like push/shove, beg, Invite themselves onto your lap, try and sneak food from you, pull on the leash, don't always come when you call. Those are all signs of disrespect to your position as alpha.

With patients, correction (at the right time), love (at the right time), lots of exercise and more dog savvy she would have long passed those problems back in puppyhood.

If you are interested in learing more about dogs a realy good book is "Cesar's way" written by Cesar Millan, teaches you how to turn your dog into a great companian. Mostly by teaching you how to become the alpha dog in a way your dog understands, teaches you dog psychology, how to give off a confident energy with your body language that simply causes your dog to love/respect you. Works realy well! I have 3 dogs (all are mutts hehe) I have taken dog obediance classes, read lots of books, and learned from my own experiance.

Answer 8

well it is alright to thump a dog on its nose it's natural to get there attention but using your hands may cause the dog to shy away from human touch but as others they may not but dogs are like humans, they are ALL DIFFERENT not one of them is the same, like no human is the same they may be similar but not the same. so it naturally depends on the dog itself. some you may just want to use a paper to get there attention instead of a hand. but you're not beating the dog or puppy it's natural to punish a pup when it did something wrong but i warn you never thump a dog a minute after it did something wrong because then it won't know what it did so you thump it right after then did something wrong. but no it's not wrong to thump a dog on it's nose if it did something wrong. well hope i helped.

Answer 9

I firmly agree with you.

There are people out there that have a dog(s) and have no knowledge about the animal they have in there care. They have not educated themselves, they apply human behavior to their pets and then wonder why.............................................?

As a trainer, using Behavior Modification I have to understand canine behavior and think in that way as if I was one of them. Me being Head Honcho, of course. Understanding comes to communication. "WoW"!!

I have seen so many questions on this site about , 'Why is my puppy biting me?', 'Is it OK to beat my dog?', 'how do I stop my dog from jumping up on me?'

People are just ignorant and simply do not understand.

Would you treat a horse like a chicken? How about a dog like a human. NO, no, no, no.

I'm glad that people are asking questions, that is healthy and good but just plain common sense answers most.

Answer 10

I don't have a problem with it as long as it isn't too aggressive. A thump or smack on the nose is okay, just not a beating. If you are too mean and aggressive with it, a dog can become a fear biter, where they bite when they are scared.