In positive education, the question of punishment often comes up. How do you punish your dog if it has done something wrong?
First of all, let’s clarify a small point before going deeper into this subject:
There is no point in hitting your dog, yelling at it, shaking it, or even putting an electric collar on it or anything like that.
Of course it’s an easy solution and it relieves our nerves to go through these solutions when Titou has eaten the couch or your roasted chicken on the table, but it’s better to look for the cause before taking it out on the dog who has done nothing more than a simple natural behavior (and yes!).
Should we let everything go and let the dog become a tyrant who does what he wants in your house? Not at all and we will see how.
HOW TO PUNISH YOUR DOG IN POSITIVE EDUCATION?
TO BE MASTER OF YOUR EMOTIONS WITH YOUR DOG
First of all, it is necessary to have a good self-control with your dog, even when faced with a mistake. Most of the time, the behavior that bothers us (because it is not a problem for the dog) has already been done for a while and punishing afterwards is ABSOLUTELY useless. Your dog will only learn that when you come home, you will get upset and this can make the dog anxious afterwards when you are present with him. So take a deep breath and calmly clean up the little mess.
It will be necessary to seek upstream the “why” the dog makes such and such behavior. This can be varied and completely different depending on the individual: boredom, destruction, barking, pulling on the leash, never returning to the recall, etc. Once you have found the cause, you can work on it so that it will be a distant memory. Don’t hesitate to call on a professional dog behaviorist who will have the necessary skills to help you unblock the situation and who will be able to guide you without you making any mistakes.
To arrange his environment and to ANTICIPATE is essential so that Titou does not seek at all costs the stupid thing to do. You can limit access to certain rooms in your home with baby gates, put a puppy pen in place when you’re away to avoid potential accidents with your furniture, put in sight breakers if he barks at the slightest passer-by in the street, put in a lanyard if he hasn’t learned to recall, etc. There are solutions to everything when you manage to take the necessary distance from the situation.
MEET YOUR DOG’S NEEDS
When you get a pet dog, you are committing to be responsible for an individual who did not choose the life he was going to lead. You commit yourself to respect his needs. We commit ourselves to take the time to be present for him so that he can be fulfilled in his life.
HOW TO PUNISH YOUR DOG IN POSITIVE EDUCATION ?
Having a dog means taking him out every day. (Okay, if it rains like crazy and you don’t go out once, there is no problem and it can happen to anyone). But a dog is taken out daily. In liberty or on a lead if the educational bases are not present, but it is necessary that it can exercise physically regularly.
Having a dog is also a financial investment to be taken into account in order to offer him a good food and something to chew healthily every day (and also to foresee the potential veterinary inconveniences).
Having a dog means offering him a social activity with balanced canine encounters.
Having a dog means offering him moments of interaction with you such as petting and/or playing.
Having a dog is becoming responsible. Just like having a child. We have to help it evolve in its life on the right path while guaranteeing its safety and well-being.
The dog is not born with our human codes and even if their behaviors do not always suit us, it is up to us to understand why they react like this in order to orient them towards acts more adapted to our society.
REVIEW YOUR VISION OF THE DOG
It is also important to rethink your view of the dog. It is an animal that will not destroy your garden or jump on guests to annoy you.
HOW TO PUNISH YOUR DOG IN POSITIVE EDUCATION ?
If dogs were as manipulative as we are led to believe, they would surely do much worse than digging a hole in our driveway. A dog remains above all a dog, with its natural instincts and its needs to be fulfilled on a daily basis.
Dogs must constantly adapt to us and our human needs, so I think it would be interesting to show a little tolerance towards them and who they are.
(You wouldn’t leave a jar of candy in front of your kids while you’re away and hope they don’t touch it, would you? The logic for the dog is exactly the same).
We already ask a HUGE amount of them to adapt to our society and lifestyle. It is essential that we are properly informed about the dog’s needs and verify that they are being met before we get annoyed about undesirable behaviors that may be present because these famous needs are not being met. It is up to us to be patient and understanding with our dogs.
The goal is to succeed in analyzing to better understand and create your complicity on solid bases.
And to conclude, I will say that we must respect our dogs, because they show a very great adaptability for us.
