How to Punish Your Dog With Positive Results

The word "punishment" conjures up a lot of negative connotations in people's minds. When punishing a dog on a puppy, the traditional methods involve a lot of negative circumstances: slapping the dog's muzzle, sharp leash corrections, alpha rolls, and so on. This is not the way to punish a dog for incorrect behavior -- this is a form of frustration, not direction. In the canine world, punishment doesn't have to be harsh, but it does have to get the point across.

Difficulty: Moderately Easy

Instructions

1. Designate a time-out zone. This can be a pen, a gated-off hallway, a tether... anywhere that is confined, secure and not fun or interesting to your dog in any form.
   
   Whenever your dog acts up, you can say, "Ah ah!" or "time out!" and place them in the time-out zone. Ignore them for a minimum of five minutes. Make it clear to everyone in the household that the time-out zone means "no petting, no talking, no eye contact, no attention", as all of these things can be reinforcing to the dog.
   
   You can let them out once they're quiet and calm.

2. Punishment when using positive reinforcement is called negative punishment. It sounds horrible, but there is a positive punishment, which involves physically reprimanding the dog. To some dogs, positive punishment can be counter intuitive, because the dog is getting exactly what it wants...attention! (Which is why it's called positive punishment; attention is a positive experience for a social creature like a dog.)
   
   For example: You come home from work and your dog jumps all over you, ecstatic that his master is home, but in the process he pegs you in the crotch or scratches up your arms. Ouch! So you yell at him or knee him in the chest. He stops for a moment, but then does it again, because he's getting attention, even if the attention is painful.
   
   There are better and more effective methods you can use. You could ignore the dog either by turning your back or taking him to the time-out zone, which is negative punishment, because it's taking away (negating) what he wants most of all ... your attention.
   
   Alternately, you can reward him for sitting upon your arrival by keeping a couple of treats in your pocket every day after work and giving him the "sit" command as soon as you come in the door, but be careful not to get too excited when he sits, as it could rile him up again! Treat him calmly and ignore any rambunctious behavior.

3. If the situation is dire or ignoring him simply won't work, redirection also works well. Redirecting is, for example, telling your dog to sit when you come home, instead of bouncing off the walls. Redirection can be in the form of a distracting command, behavior, or reward; anything to snap him out of whatever mode he's in. However, if your dog is already in the middle of a behavior, redirection is not always effective, in which case you could ignore or send him to the time-out zone.

Tips & Warnings

• Teach yourself to ignore bad behaviors, if possible; if not possible, redirect or put them in the time-out zone. Never take out frustration on your dog, as it can reinforce bad behaviors or create new ones.
• Keep treats on hand just in case your dog performs a behavior you like!
• A common misconception is that dogs feel spite (destroying things when you're gone) and guilt (sulking when you come home). There are easy explanations for this - a dog who is destructive when alone is simply stressed from being separate from his "pack" and a dog who appears guilty is just trying to appease you (if you're angry).
• Never alpha roll your dog. Alpha rolling is forceably placing your dog on its back or side; a dominant dog, however, will never "force" a subordinate dog into submission. The less dominant dog will always willingly submit. An alpha roll can be dangerous to you and the dog.
• Not only is shoving a dog's face in its own feces or urine cruel and unusual, but it's also not very sanitary. The only things dogs learn from this is that humans are highly unpredictable!

Resources

• www.canine-einstein.org

[eletendre]

on 9/21/2009 Excellent article on a confusing subject for many dog owners. Article provided great suggestions on dealing with common behavior problems. I especially like your advice in the warning section on alpha rollovers.

[mattsaboy]

on 9/16/2009 Great article and very informative. 5 stars and a recommendation.

[ladyofthelake]

on 9/7/2009 I will give the time out a try. Thanks! Rec. and 5*