Let your dog make the choice

Recently, I was told a story by someone that their 5 month old puppy was going to a class and barking through the entire class.  The instructor told the owner the dog has to decide when it is safe and then she will stop barking and not to correct the dog.  So….what if the dog ENJOYS the barking?  Will she stop?  Dogs are not capable of making human socially acceptable decisions. Constant barking is not an acceptable behavior. We have to provide guidance for them to be comfortable.

What concerns me is if the dog never feels safe because there is no leader to help her feel safe?  What if the dog is really screaming for her owner to help keep her safe and the owner does nothing?

In the real world, dogs get information about what is good behavior and what is not, even from their fellow dogs.  If a dog decides to chase a skunk, he gets sprayed in the face – a natural consequence.  If he decides to jump on the counter, he could bite a knife – another natural consequence.  If a dog decides to bite another dog, the other dog will retaliate. Natural Consequence.  When we avoid providing meaningful, fair consequences are we actually being fair and humane to a dog?  Are we really providing a learning experience that he understands that has been programmed into him by nature?

Not giving the dog all the information to make the correct decision is like going to the election polls knowing about only one candidate.  Can you truly make an informed and critical decision that way?  No, we can’t.  We must know both sides of the issues to make good decisions.  Dogs need the same thing.  In fact, ALL animals must have consequences to survive among their species, AND they need positive reinforcement to continue doing the behaviors that are productive!  You cannot omit one in favor of the other.  They work in concert with each other.

The issue, as I see it is that people have somehow come to the conclusion that all consequence is bad.  They are afraid to even raise their voice with a dog.  Dogs raise their voices with other dogs all the time.  They show their teeth, snarl, and posture (intimidate) among a plethora of other behaviors to show that certain behaviors of another dog are not appropriate.  

The lack of consequences will not contribute to learning.  In the same breath, it is important to not use more consequence than is necessary to encourage change.  I think that it has become very difficult for humans to discern what the difference is between brutality or cruelty; and informed, fair and effective consequence when it comes to our dogs.  And what that has done for our dogs is make them more uncomfortable, more fearful, more reactive, more aggressive than dogs have been in years gone by.   

We have been led to believe that somehow that no consequences are better for dogs.  I contend that no consequence for bad behavior actually increases stress and stress related behaviors for dogs. AND, it increases OUR stress and reduces the tools we might need to help our dog become a good citizen!  Dogs that disrespect their owners can be as https://aeon.co/essays/why-keeping-a-pet-is-fundamentally-unethicalabusive to the owner, as it might be to use all punishment based training for the dog!

Use the Three “F’s”- Fair, friendly and firm.  Be directive and use effective consequences in concert with lots of positive reinforcement for the great things our dogs do!

Caption:  Even puppies are aware of consequences to their behaviors.  It’s not all positive reinforcement.