Anger - a strong feeling of displeasure and belligerence aroused by a wrong.
Angry - exhibiting a characteristic or creating a mood associated with anger or danger, as by color, sound, or force.
We’ve all seen it, humans yanking on the neck of a dog. But if you look closely, you will see more than just the dog being yanked on. Following along the leash to the other end is a human who is exhibiting anger. Yanking, tugging or even zapping comes from a humans desire to STOP a behavior.
Stop - a cessation or arrest of movement, action, operation, etc.; end.
There is a lot of terminology that can be used in dog behavior and the attempt to change it. I try to keep it as simple as possible, not using too much terminology that might not be understood by the average k9 guardian. But one term that is common in much of my writings is positive punishment. Let’s have a look at what it means.
Positive - add, relating to or constituting a motion or device that is definite, unyielding, constant, or certain in its action
punishment - a penalty inflicted for an offense, fault, etc. severe handling or treatment.
What positive punishment means is to use or inflict something unpleasant to the dog in attempts to stop a particular behavior. In common aversive trainer lingo, this is called a “correction.” It is not actually a correction, it is a punishment.
But what lies behind that punishment is anger. If you watch people who are “correcting” their dog you will see the core cause of the usage. Anger. Corrections are very commonly used while out on walks; dog is pulling, human doesn’t like it and yanks and yanks and yanks. It truly makes me shudder.
Just the other day a man was walking by us with a lovely brown Labrador. She was very excited by the idea of coming to see us; lunging and yipping as she attempted to visit. The owner very angrily yanked her back and even gave her a smack. This is positive punishment.
Human: You do something I don’t like = punishment.
As this happens more often, the result is a negative association to people and their dog’s walking by. Unless of course it is a bubbly Labrador with a resilient nature and heart; which means the punishment goes on much longer. :(
My early years with dogs consisted of corrections and anger. It was all about control of the dogs; having little to do with education. I had one of the most aggressive aversive teachers when I first started to train. I was a mere 13 years old, at the time there was only one method and I didn’t know any better. I did not grow up with dogs and did not have a k9 role model. Once I found positive reinforcement my whole life changed.
Inflicting pain or suffering on our dogs is NOT okay. If a trainer explains why it should be done, how it should be done “properly” and it doesn’t hurt the dog, run away. It is all about control and these so called trainers have yet to discover the better way, the more humane, scientific and proven method of educating k9s.
Watch out for “training collars” used in their work. Choke chain, slip lead, prong/pinch or e-collar. These are all called “training collars.” These are all collars of punishment. I started to watch a video yesterday to see if a trainer was someone I’d like to follow. It was obvious very quickly that she was not someone I would be following on Instagram. She was trying to explain how to stop puppies from biting as she pushed the puppy’s rear end down in attempts to get them to sit. So much damage can be done by this seemingly simple act.
At a young age I began to baulk at the use of “training collars” in the training class. I protested as one of the assistance tried to fit a slip collar on my dog. She put the fabric choke collar (slip) around his neck right behind his ears at the most vulnerable and tender spot of a dog’s neck. I took it off, stood my ground and said “I’m not” I was very quickly a person of interest in class and was hounded at by the “teacher,” as I proceeded to questions everything that she was preaching.
We need to stop yanking our dogs. The act of yanking becomes second nature and we don’t even know that we are doing it. I often have to work diligently to remove a yanking habit from my clients. As I watch them work, I sometimes video so that they can see what they are doing.
One of the most bewildering things that we humans do to our dogs is yank on them in attempts to stop them from yanking us.