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Why punishment and negative methods don't work..
Some, if not many owners almost instinctively use punishment and
negative means to "train" their dogs in the belief that
this will help to encourage the dog to follow commands, behave better
or resolve behavioural problems. However, this is actually not true.
Quite a number of scientific studies now show that dogs trained
with punishment exhibit an increased number of behaviour problems
(Hiby, Rooney and Bradshaw 2004). Any form of negative training
method (ie that intended to stop a behaviour by using a negative
consequence if that behaviour is expressed) does not work well as
a training method and should be avoided if a happy, well-balanced,
well-behaved dog free from aggressive behaviour problem behaviouris
is the goal. "Punishment" is defined as anything that
is intended to makes a behaviour less likely to be repeated but
the more abusive punishment methods - pinning down, electric collars,
smacking or "tapping", growling, threatening, throttling
etc - are the most likely to cause damage.
Below is a summary of the main reasons why negative methods are
not an effective or safe way to train dogs or solve behavioural
problems.
1. Due to absence of language skills and the slightly different
way that a dog's mind learns and forms associations, dogs often
do not make correct association between deed and punishment and
are likely to be confused as to why their owner has become "aggressive"
- even if the reason for the punishment seems obvious to the owner.
Worse still, dogs very often form a negative association with the
wrong thing and thus may feel an increased fear (and therefore,
potentially, aggression) towards that thing in future.
2. Most aggression is now known to have its roots in fear. Using
methods that instil fear or anxiety, or inflict pain often result
in some form of aggressive behaviour from the dog through fear.
Aggression may or may not be directed to the source of the punishment,
and is often directed to something the dog has learned to associate
with the punishment, like the presence of another dog or a child,
rather than with their "misdeed".
3. Using punishment or negative means almost always has negative
impact on owner-dog relationship and the bond of trust. Sometimes
this can be repaired by reversing these methods, but sometimes it
cannot.
4. Human timing is usually not good enough - punishment usually
arrives after dog has stopped exhibiting the behaviour.
5. Punishing a dog for exhibiting a behaviour does nothing to address
its cause. If timing IS correct, it may occasionally cause a behaviour
to be temporarily suppressed but, if the root cause has not been
addressed, problems usually re-emerge - sometimes in another (often
more serious) form.
6. Punishing or reprimanding a dog does nothing to show him what
behaviour you DO want.
7. Dogs are not capable of complex emotions such as guilt. Owners
that believe their dog "knows he has done wrong" are anthropomorphising
heavily. A dog's apparent "guilty" look is merely a manifestation
of the dog's anxiety in response to the owner's aggressive body
language (or even a learned pattern that aggression often follows
a certain behaviour), and an attempt to appease and prevent further
aggression. A recent scientific study* showed
that dogs are most likely to be assessed by the owners as looking
"guilty" when the owner believed that they had committed
the "crime" but when, in fact, they had not.
8. A dog that is always being "nagged" or scolded may
simply learn to tune this out and will probably not try to please
the owner.
9. Even when expertly administered (which it almost never is) punishment
makes dogs unwilling to try behaviours - the behaviour that was
the intended target may get temporarily suppressed, but so do many
other behaviours (because the dog was upset by the unpleasant consequence
and wants, at all costs, to avoid it in future). This makes training
much harder in future as fewer behaviours are offered in any situation.
10. If a dog learns that he cannot trust his own owner, he is much
more likely to be suspicious and afraid of other people.
11. Using punishing behaviour is rewarding to the punisher and punishers
are likely to escalate punishments over time - leading to ever increasing
chance of behaviour problems developing.
12. Punishing a dog for growling (which is a warning of further
aggression if the warning is not heeded) or for showing other warning
signs often leads to dogs skipping the warning step and going straight
to overt aggression.
13. If the wrong behaviour is met by a negative response the dog
will feel anxious (because, by nature, most dogs want to please).
If this is done habitually, he may become frightened to try anything
for fear of getting it wrong. In contrast, dogs that are trained
using reward-based methods really want to get it right to earn a
reward and will try hard to do so.
14. Dogs, like people learn and remember best when they are relaxed,
confident and in the mood to learn. A dog that is anxious and confused
is not a good pupil.
15. Dogs, wolves and people belong to different species. Although
we may think we are emulating the behaviour of the pack leader,
we do not "speak wolf" and trying to speak a language
we don't understand is very dangerous and our "words"
can easily be misunderstood by the dog. There are far more effective
ways of showing your dog that you are in control, and to be respected
than "dominating" them.
16. A recent study has shown that play that involves a lot of reprimands
and discipline increase a dog's blood cortisol levels (a hormone
that rises as a result of increased stress), while play based on
more "affiliative" behaviour (cooperative, praising) actually
decreases it.
Whether a dog is showing aggression, or simply not obeying his
owner, there are much safer and more effective ways of dealing with
problems than using punishment.
Example: hitting or shouting at a dog for attacking or lunging
aggressively at another dog. Normally, the owner's aggression arrives
after the dog has finished lunging at the other dog (because, while
the aggression is actually being displayed, most owners are - quite
rightly - preoccupied with ending the incident). Although the lesson
the owner is trying to teach seems obvious to them, the most likely
lesson the dog will learn is that the presence of another dog results
in his owner getting aggressive. As the original cause of the dog's
aggression (most commonly fear-related in the first place) has not
been addressed, the dog now has even greater motivation to fear
other dogs and try to keep them away, meaning that aggression is
likely to increase, rather than decrease. Moreover, the dog now
also trusts his owner less, as he will not understand why his owner
suddenly became "aggressive" instead of protecting him
from a perceived threat. As the punishment is not having the desired
effect, the owner starts punishing more and more harshly in an attempt
to "teach the dog a lesson", "show him who's boss"
or simply to try and stop the behaviour.
*References
Emily J. Blackwell, Caroline Twells, Anne Seawright, Rachel A.
Casey. The relationship between training methods and the occurrence
of behavior problems, as reported by owners, in a population of
domestic dogs Department of Clinical Veterinary Science, University
of Bristol, United Kingdom.
Hiby E.F. Rooney N.J. And Bradshaw J.W.S (2004) Dog training methods:
their use, effectiveness and interaction with behaviour and welfare:
Animal welfare 13, 63-69
Meghan E. Herron, Frances S. Shofer, Ilana R. Reisner. Survey of
the use and outcome of confrontational and non-confrontational training
methods in client-owned dogs showing undesired behaviors Department
of Clinical Studies, School of Veterinary Medicine, University of
Pennsylvania.
Horowitz, Alexandra (2009) "Disambiguating the "guilty look":
Salient prompts to a familiar dog behaviour".Behavioural Processes,
Volume 81, Issue 3, Pages 447-452.
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