glenmar
Posted : 8/8/2006 6:16:19 AM
If the pup is peeing on the white carpet, it is the OWNER who deserves a whack with the newspaper for not watching the pup close enough. They don't KNOW that WE want them to potty outside until we teach them that, and the foreign language analogy is a good one. Eventually that sort of behavior *might* teach the pup not to pee in front of you, but that causes OTHER problems, such as when you are out for a walk or traveling and the pup refuses to go because you are watching, but they are not able to relate cause (I peed on the carpet) and effect (she screams and hits me) to a logical conclusion (so I'd better not pee on the carpet).
Yes, dogs are highly intelligent animals and they DO understand a lot of words IN TIME. I never try to "hide" medication in my dogs food. Heck, they can smell it before I even open the bottle, so we have a little routine of giving cheese and "this is JUST cheese" "now this one has the pill in it.....remember Dr. Pam said you NEED this pill to feel better". Same with my leaving the house. If I have a few quick errands to run I tell them that I'm going to the store.....if I have a LOT of errands to run I tell them that I have to go the LOTS of stores and if I'm going to be gone for much of the day, I tell them I'm going to see Grandma because to them, that's a LONG time for me to be gone. I give them something that they can relate to, NOT my entire itinerary.
My tone of voice can be a much more lethel weapon than my hand and I have to be very careful HOW I let my disappointment show because a word can really damage their little physces. I can make a 90 pound dog wither by saying "I'm disappointed in you".
Dogs do not have the deductive reasoning skills that humans have. If we humanize them, we do them a disservice.
And, for the record, I don't believe in a light spanking for children either. My first husband was abusive, verbally and physically. He came from a history of abuse. These things are cycular and I was determined that MY sons would not grow up to hit a woman or anyone else. My youngest son could not hold still and running away in stores or on the street was part of his lack of impulse control. Rather than punish him for a combination of MY failure as a mom and his whacky genetics, I managed the situation by putting him in a harness. Yep, I got lots of dirty looks, lots of hateful comments, but it was much easier to hold his "leash" than to try to cling onto a squirmy little hand AND by having the decision removed from him, he was much calmer in public places. He could still roam a little bit and that satisfied his need to see and touch everything, but I knew that I'd be able to find him if I happened to blink or stop to look at the price on something. His sperm donors solution was to beat him for not obeying, but, much like a dog, he could not process cause and effect behavior at that age and all he got out of that was a sore rump and the feeling that the man was just mean and irrational. This child, much more so than his older brother who DID have some deductive reasoning skills, needed very clear (and simple) and consistent guidelines and a very clear understanding of my expectations in each and every circumstance.
Now, maybe, having raised this particular child to adulthood I'm more able to understand the thought process of my dogs because, just like a dog, this child literally had NO idea what everyone was upset about 2 seconds after he did whatever it was he did to upset us.
I will relate yet again the story of the foster who came back to us. He left my home housetrained, yet that's all I kept hearing from this woman....he pees all over the house. He had issues with a certain type of flooring and he had a fear of stairs. Now my dogs went out from the lower level into their fenced yard.....here's a dog that doesn't want to be WITH the other dogs, is afraid of them all of a sudden, and sure didn't want to do the stairs. He was with his other "family" for two months and came back in the dead of winter. MY failure to get something set up for him quickly enough on the main level so he could go out without braving the stairs or the other dogs led him to have ONE accident in my home. I gently said "eh eh, did you forget that we go OUTSIDE to go POTTY?" Got him outside, told him to go potty and praised him when he finished there. He's never made another mistake in the house. I've no doubt that screaming, yelling and "bad dog" was what he heard in the other house, yet that ONE gentle reminder (and my setting something up for him immediately) was all it took for him to understand that we go potty outside. And in fact, he's the most vocal about needing to go outside if I'm busy and fail to notice his subtle requests...HE will come get me and demand that I let him outside to go potty. That is not an accident.
This boy came back, after just two months, timid, hand shy, skittish and really fearful of everything. I don't have to peek in the windows of that family to know that they used corporal punishment with him. I can tell from his behavior.
You're going to do whatever it is that you want to do regardless of what any of us tells you, but I'm here to tell you, having housetrained LITTERS of pups, that hitting is not the way to go.