NEVER â€" under any circumstances â€" hit, kick, slap, swat or spank your dog! This serves no purpose whatsoever, other than to vent your own anger. It will, however, destroy your dog's trust in you as well as other people. Dogs who are hit and spanked become anxious, fearful and hand-shy (distrusting and scared of human hands reaching out to pet them). They can also become aggressive.
Trust and Respect vs. Fear
The foundation of good dog training is trust and respect (not to mention lots of love!). If your dog trusts and respects you, it will be much easier for him to accept and learn the training with a clear mind. Hitting a dog ultimately teaches him to fear you â€" how can you teach a dog who is scared of your hand or your voice, or is wary of coming close to you?
Making Bad Behavior Worse
In some cases, hitting or spanking a dog as punishment can make their behavior worse! While you might be saying "NEVER AGAIN" with a swat or a slap, your dog might be learning "never again in your presence"! Your dog will very quickly learn to wait till you aren't around to jump up on the counter and steal food, or he might urinate in a hidden area while you aren't looking. Once your dog learns this type of behavior, it is VERY hard to untrain him! That's right, "untrain" â€" once your dog starts doing things behind your back because he doesn't want to get hit by doing them in your presence, you can be sure that you've successfully trained him to do so. It's much harder to untrain a learned behavior than to train a new behavior!
Creating a Fearful or Aggressive Dog
Perhaps the saddest result of a dog who is physically struck on a regular basis is that dog becoming fearful or aggressive. One dog might become ultra-submissive, cowering in the presence of people and completely distrustful of them, while another dog might show his distrust through snapping, growling, even biting. This isn't how dogs are meant to live.
Never hit your dog - he'll love you for it!
Daniel Collinsworth More dog training articles can be found here: Dog Training Basics
