Punishment is only effective when the punishment is intense enough to stop the behavior on the first try. If not you will only “stun” the behavior and then you will need to punish harder and harder, escalating way beyond your original intention. This is cruel and can be abusive. The goal of an aversive (punishment) is to quickly and permanently change unwanted behavior, not to have the owner feel better since the dog was punished.
CAN PUNISHMENT DO HARM
- Fearful, defensive, or angry dogs can be made worse. Corrections may frustrate the dog and lead to defensive biting or excessive shyness. In addition, a fearful dog will not learn, via corrections, to not be afraid of the scary person/dog/item, but will also then be afraid of you and your reaction.
- Dogs rarely relate the punishment to the one behavior you were concerned about. They often start to mistrust the owner who punishes and stop coming when called.
- Dogs often “shut down”. They become excessively nervous about the areas or situations in which they have been punished. This will lessen you dog’s response to commands in these situations, which are usually the times you need the commands the most. The dog feels like they can do nothing right so it is safer to do nothing at all.
- Dogs may substitute the behavior for another undesirable behavior. It’s better to teach the dog how they can be right in the first place so you can pick which behavior will be substituted. Example: sit instead of jumping. Punishing jumping can lead to submissive urination, biting, growling, or more jumping.
- Punishment can damage the relationship that you have built with your dog. It causes confusion and reduces trust. The best solution is to gain your dogs respect by consistency, leadership, and good training instead of through intimidation or force.
| INEFFECTIVE PUNSIHMENT CAN DO A MILLION TIMES MORE HARM THAN GIVING A TREAT AT THE WRONG MOMENT. THE RISK OF POORLY APPLIED PUNISHMENT IS GREATER THAN THE POTENTIAL REWARD. |