No matter what your dog has done there is no need for physical or verbal abuse (we all get irritated at times but it isn’t good on any level to shout at our dogs). Any behaviour displayed by the dog has a feeling, a reason and a need. The best way to alter undesirable behaviour is to fulfil that need.
The sad truth is a lot of the time what an owner may perceive as disobedience is in fact the dogs attempt to relax the situation. The dog ends up being punished for trying to be kind.
Let’s give an example; Jim has learned in a traditional dog training class that he needs to sound strict and dominant so that Larry the Labrador will understand who is in charge.
Larry finds Jim’s voice to be threatening, so he perhaps licks his own nose, yawns and turn away.
Because of this Jim gets angry for real, because he perceives Larry as being stubborn and disobedient. Jim punishes Larry for this behaviour.
Unfortunately what Larry was doing was displaying calming signals in an attempt to relax and calm Jim down, Larry was using his own language, but Jim didn’t even try to understand the situation being explained by Larry’s calming signals.
Larry was punished for a simple miscommunication.
This is a typical example of something that happens on an everyday basis with many dog owners.
As humans bringing a dog into our lives we need to learn to strive to understand the needs of our dogs and to understand the language of dogs (Calming signals).
This is one of the secrets of having a good bond and a happy life together.