Why you shouldn’t hit a dog

Unfortunately, until now, many owners are sure that without beating, raising and training a dog is simply unthinkable. This is one of the most tenacious and dangerous myths, and we will get rid of its influence completely very soon. Nevertheless, more and more people (and this is good news) are inclined to believe that dogs should not be beaten. Why is it impossible to beat a dog and how, in this case, to achieve the desired behavior from it?

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Why can’t you beat a dog, even “it doesn’t hurt”? 

There are many reasons why you shouldn’t hit a dog.

Firstly, to beat a living creature, whose life and well-being entirely depends on a person, is simply cruel.

Secondly, the dog behaves “badly” because either it was taught such behavior, albeit without realizing it (and most often it was the person who beats it), or it was created by nature for such behavior (that is, it behaves – what a surprise! – like a dog) or was bred by a person (if we are talking about breed characteristics that the owner did not take into account when purchasing a puppy), or its basic needs were not satisfied (which is also a “merit” of a person). So it’s just not fair to beat her for it.

Thirdly, hitting a dog is completely ineffective. And I would like to dwell on this in more detail.

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Why do people beat dogs and does it bring the desired result?

There are four reasons why people hit dogs:

1. A man who beats a dog gets an emotional release. He came home after a hard day’s work, and even received a reprimand from his superiors, and at home – another puddle or gnawed shoes. He beat the dog – it seemed to feel better. The problem is that such a scenario is a reinforcer for a person, which means that he will hit the dog again and again. Will it teach the dog how to behave? Very doubtful. But to be afraid of the owner and not to trust him will teach.
2. Man tries to stop undesirable dog behavior with whipping. For example, a dog tried to steal a piece of sausage from the table – the man hit it, the dog dropped the sausage and ran away. The dog barks – the man beat her, she fell silent. Has the effect been achieved? It looks like the behavior has stopped. But in reality, no. The fact is that hitting does not affect the dog’s motivation in any wayand her need remains unsatisfied. This means that the dog will look for other ways – and not the fact that you will like them more. Perhaps the dog will no longer steal from the table in the presence of the owner – but what will stop her from doing this when he turns away or is in another room? If a dog barks from overexcitation, the beating will not make him calmer, which means he will either bark again and again, or the overexcitation will result in other behavioral problems. Besides, beating a person does not teach a dog alternative behaviorthat the need can be satisfied in an acceptable way. 
3. The owner does not know that it is possible to interact with the dog in a different way. To be honest, in our age of information capabilities, this is perceived as a mocking “excuse”, nothing more. Here is the time to remember the saying “Who wants – looks for opportunities, who does not want – reasons.” And now there are more than enough opportunities.
4. The owner just likes to beat the dog. Alas, this is not so rare – an attempt to convince oneself of one’s own significance and omnipotence, harming another living being, or satisfying sadistic inclinations. But there is nothing to comment here. The only acceptable way to deal with this is through normal, working laws to protect animals, identify such individuals and ban the keeping of dogs. In the post-Soviet space, at the moment, this, unfortunately, is a utopia.

Finally, beating dogs is simply dangerous. According to the results of the study, at least 25% of dogs immediately respond to the aggression of the owner with aggression. Other dogs initially show submission signals that most owners simply do not notice, which means that the dog has no choice but to defend itself, and as a result we get a dog that is dangerous to the owner and others. In some dogs, such methods form learned helplessness, which sometimes suits the owners, but in this case, the dog constantly experiences distress, which affects its health and well-being.

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Is there an alternative? What to do if you can not beat the dog?

Dog beating is a legacy of the cruel methods of education that were common (and declared as the only possible ones) in the beginning and middle of the last century. These methods were a direct consequence of treating dogs as war machines, which must demonstrate unquestioning obedience and a complete lack of initiative from the category of “Step left, step right – execution on the spot.” And also a consequence of an extremely low level of understanding of the psychology of the dog and the characteristics of its behavior.

However, dog behavior is now being studied from all angles, and over the past couple of decades we have learned more about “best friends” than in previous millennia. So there are more and more alternatives to cruel training methods, and hitting a dog is completely optional. Brushing them off is just stupid and dishonest to pets.

No one argues with the fact that it is important to teach the dog the rules. But it’s worth doing it wisely. Consistency and consistency, predictability and diversity in the right proportions, as well as providing for the basic needs of a four-legged friend are extremely important.

There is a huge variety of methods for both dog training and behavior modification that are cruelty-free and based on positive reinforcement.

Learn yourself and teach the dog, and in this case, communication with her for many years will bring you joy, not overshadowed by senseless cruelty.

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