Punishment in Dog Training:
Are you sure you want to use it?

Punishment. What is it? Why do we use it? Does it work? Does it have a place in pet dog training?

To answer the first question we need a definition of punishment and here is mine (as we commonly apply it to dogs and their people): Punishment is a deliberate and unpleasant or painful action that is directed at a dog with the intention of getting the dog to stop an unwanted behavior. In other words for punishment to be effective, it should change the dog’s behavior, permanently! Of course, from a behaviorist’s perspective punishment means something different and might be the perfect consequence for a behavior. But, let’s keep things simple.

As for question two, why do we use it? Well, the short answer is because it feels good to us. It temporarily makes us feel like we are handling a problem or taking charge. Sometimes it even seems to get the job done, at least for a while anyway. Humans in our society are socialized to use and accept a significant amount of punishment and we can be emotional creatures who sometimes lose our tempers. We act out without really thinking about the consequences.

The third question is the big one: does punishment work? Well, my answer is not terribly popular but here it is anyway: NO, for the most part, PUNISHMENT DOESN’T WORK to help us train our pet dogs. I know this is contrary to many dog-training books. Some books have offered owners advice like this over the years: knee the dog in the chest for jumping up, throw loud scary objects at the dog for excessive barking, squirt the dog with a squirt-gun filled with lemon juice or vinegar for any number of problems, squeeze a puppy’s muzzle and yell, “no” at him for mouthing, and one of my favorites because of its dismal rate of effectiveness; use the leash to jerk the dog’s collar to make him stop pulling on walks. Most of the time the dogs keep pulling, keep jumping, continue to bark, and bite, and we just yell louder and jerk harder and the cycle continues. What is often at the heart of the matter is that when we are expecting the punishment to work and it doesn’t, we often get angry. When we act out in anger at our dogs, we damage our relationship with them while, rarely, improving upon on the unwanted behavior we were trying to get rid of. Here is where we went astray:

The theory behind using punishment goes something like this: if a particular behavior is followed by a bad enough consequence, that behavior won’t occur again. Right?? Well, maybe sometimes. But is it the best way to get the behavior you want instead? I don’t think so. Here are some obvious problems as I see them.

1. The Punishment always follows the behavior we don’t like. Even if the dog “Knows” it did the wrong thing, it cannot go back and have a “Do-over”. It is too late to change what has already occurred.
2. For Punishment to have any hope of being effective, the consequence must occur DURING or IMMEDIATELY after the undesirable behavior. This means seconds or instantly. Most people just aren’t that quick. This is the reason; however, that invisible fencing can be so effective. It utilizes consistent and near perfect timing. (For the record, I am not endorsing or criticizing the use of invisible fencing. This is just an example of punishment that often works).
3. If we accept that punishment will stop future unwanted behavior (this is a big stretch here, how many of us have had a speeding ticket only to slow down for a while or just be “more careful” and then resume speeding again?) But, let’s assume it briefly just for simplicity. If we accept this premise then we can assume the dog now understands what we don’t want him to do; BUT we have told him ABSOLUTELY NOTHING about which behavior we would like instead. This is a REALLY important omission! Especially when we could choose instead to reward for behavior we like so that we will get more of it. What if police officers routinely pulled you over and gave you fifty bucks for driving the speed limit? Would your driving behavior be affected?
4. Dogs don’t know right from wrong. They just don’t. Accept it. When your dog looks “guilty”, what you are really seeing is a dog that has learned to read your body language and he senses that you are going to do something he knows he’s not going to like. Since he has no idea that his behavior is wrong, how will punishment help him learn?
5. It can be very difficult for people, even trained professionals, to tell why a dog is behaving in a certain way. Many people confuse fear with stubbornness. If the dog is doing something we don’t like or not doing something we want him to do because he is anxious or fearful, and we punish him harshly, even if he stops the unwanted behavior for the moment, we have probably made his anxiety and fear worse. If we do this repeatedly, we can create new problems, sometimes severe problems. A dog that feels helpless, trapped, or afraid is much more likely to choose aggression as a means of defense. At the very least, we have damaged the dog’s trust in us.
6. Punishment often has many unwanted side effects.

For example, Joe’s dog runs off. He calls her, even though he has not taught her to come when called. She keeps running – away from Joe. He gets mad. Finally when she’s had enough fun, she comes back to Joe. He yells at her, maybe he even grabs her roughly and drags her into the garage, where he gets right in her face and screams something silly like, “that’ll teach to run away from me”. What does Joe have now? A dog that has not learned one thing about not running away from Joe, after all, that was the fun part. But he sure has messed up any chance of teaching her a fast reliable come-when called. Because, now his dog doesn’t trust him very much. The last thing she did was COME, and, even though it wasn’t what he meant to do, that was what he “Punished” her for! So now she wonders if her person is crazy. She already knows he is unpredictable, and is very likely somewhat afraid of him.

Or another example: Your brand new 8-week-old puppy came home with you yesterday. You are a very good owner so you have taken her outside to eliminate every two hours, after meals, naps, and playtime. Each time she did her business outside you praised her and gave her a treat. But your daughter is getting married and you have had a lot of phone calls to make so she has had a couple of “accidents” in the house when you weren’t watching her very well. You had read a book about raising puppies and did just what it instructed. You yelled, “no” while pointing out the mess to her, then grabbed your baby puppy by the scruff and carried her outside to the “right” spot. You are convinced that this will teach her to do her business outside, right? Obviously, you have effectively communicated where NOT to do it. Haven’t you??? Well, probably not. First of all, the reward history for eliminating in the appropriate place is far too brief. It is also inconsistent, because she rewarded herself with the relief of an empty bladder when she peed on your carpet. Relief is a very powerful reward. Have you even been a long car trip and couldn’t find an open bathroom? Secondly, this puppy just met you AND she is a baby, so she has imperfect control over her bladder and bowels. However she has learned something very important in the one day she has lived with you: She has already learned that you come charging across the room screaming for no apparent reason. How do think this influences your puppy’s feelings about you? All she knows is that sometimes you are dangerous. Thirdly, while you know that you were trying to teach the puppy not to pee in the house, what she probably learned was: Don’t Go When That Big Scary Person Is Around. Way too dangerous! Now she may hold her urine until her bladder is very full, and then empty it as soon as you are not looking, no matter where she happens to be. So you have actually thwarted the very housetraining lesson you intended to teach her.

To answer question number four, “Does Punishment have a place in pet dog training?” I say, almost never. I suppose if a person has exceptionally good timing, catches the dog in the wrong the very first time he tries a “bad” behavior, and the punishment meets the following criteria an argument could made for its use. So before you punish your dog ask yourself this: “Will the punishment get rid of the unwanted behavior – for good?” Because that is the true meaning of punishment: For a punishing act to be legitimately defined as punishment, it must STOP THE UNWANTED BEHAVIOR. This just doesn’t happen most of the time. Did the screaming, yelling, and cuffing the dog about the head and shoulders after he stole your sandwich off the counter teach him not to EAT??? No, it just taught him to be more careful about WHEN he eats! Most of what we call punishment is cruel and unpredictable and really scary from the dog’s perspective. And the sad part is it almost never has the intended result. For the record, before everyone sends me a bunch of mail, I do believe in teaching puppies what “NO” means. But that is another article.

Training is about TRUST, RELATIONSHIP, and MOTIVATION. They are the foundation for all that you will build. Don’t skimp on them. It is your job to teach your dog to trust you. It is your job to find out what motivates him and use it to help him learn the rules you want him to live by. They are your rules after all. It is your job to build the relationship you want to have with your dog. It is possible to have a relationship without trust. Just ask an abused wife or child. But is that the relationship you want to have with your dog? Just remember the Golden Rule and you should be fine: Do Unto Others………includes your Best Friend Too.

© 2004 Teri S. Hamrick