PUNISHMENT

There are a variety of reasons humans have punished dogs for their behavior over the years. The belief that many behaviors are a sign of "dominance" or that the dog "knows" he is doing something wrong are the two most common. The reality is, humans punish dogs when they don't know what else to do.

After WWII, the punishment-based military K9 training methods were introduced to the general dog owning public as a way to train dogs for competition obedience. When these dogs exhibited behavior problems, these obedience training methods were simply escalated to address the problem.
Read more about traditional methods. The dogs that responded well to these methods survived, those that didn't were (and many times still are) deemed "untrainable," "stubborn," "stupid," "dominant" and a number of other excuses that blamed the dogs and not the humans at the other end of the leash.

There is now increasing scientific evidence that punishment increases physical stress in dogs and that stress is a major factor in behavior problems. Every day, professional trainers work with dogs who have developed everything from poor performance to serious fear or aggression because of poorly timed and misused or overused punishment.

Sadly, the belief that punishment is still the best option is promoted time and time again by friends, neighbors, veterinary staff, television shows and some trainers. A quick visit to any dog-related internet forum will reveal person after person advising posters to "correct" their dog for everything from owner-directed aggression to fear of water bowls!

WHY IT WON'T WORK FOR YOU

Some dog trainers make it look so easy. A couple of pops on the leash and the dog appears to be cured. However, when the average dog owner attempts punishment it is rarely effective and often creates more problems than it cures. Here's why:

Poor Timing. Punishment must be immediate (within 1 second or less) for it to have any future effect on the dog's behavior. It takes a lot of practice to achieve the timing necessary to change behavior.

CHP Effect. Does your foot ease off the pedal when you see the speed limit sign or when you see the patrol car? Many of the methods recommended for stopping bad behavior, squirt bottles, pennies in a can, leash corrections, etc. all require the presence of the owner. So, the dog learns to associate the punishment with the owner's presence, not the behavior itself.

Dog Has Already Been Rewarded. It doesn't matter how much you squirt your dog or shake a can of pennies in their face, if they just barked at a dog passing by the window and the dog went away, your dog was rewarded for barking. The punishment will now only be associated with your presence, not with the barking.

Inconsistency. If the dog gets away with the behavior even 10% of the time, the dog learns that 1 out of 10 times they can get success with their behavior. This is why management, preventing a dog's opportunity to practice a behavior, and training a more desirable behavior is much more successful for most dog owners than punishment.

You Didn't Tell Me Not To. Your dog can do 100 things wrong just standing next to you on-leash. But he can only do one thing right. If you spend your time punishing all the wrong, it is going to take a lot longer for your dog to learn than if you just show him what is right from the beginning.

Behavior is Mislabeled. Some behaviors that are labeled as disobedience are actually an indication of stress or deferment by the dog, not to mention it is often the result of incomplete training. These behaviors include not making eye contact with the owner, sniffing the ground, not responding to commands, etc. For example, a dog might not make eye contact with the handler as a sign of deference because they feel threatened. Punishing the dog for the behavior will not encourage them to make eye contact!

PUNISHMENT AND BEHAVIORAL FALLOUT

The use of punishment, including aversives like shock collars, prong/pinch collars, alpha rolls, scruff grabs and stringing dogs by their leash is, unfortunately, still being used by some dog trainers. Today, top trainers and behaviorists know that punishment-based methods are ineffective and dangerous in treating aggression because:

Most aggressive behaviors are the result of fear or anxiety in the dog. As in any animal, fear and anxiety causes an increase in adrenaline and cortisol, the hormone linked to stress. Punishing the dog can sabotage the training process by actually increasing adrenaline and cortisol levels, creating a dog that is overstimulated and beyond the ability to learn.

Dogs learn by association. If a dog-reactive dog is routinely delivered an electrical shock or collar correction while looking at another dog, the dog will begin associating another dog with pain, thereby increasing the dog's level of anxiety and reactivity upon seeing another dog.

A recent study (Schalke 2005) showed that dogs that received shocks at random intervals (as an unskilled handler would use for problem behaviors) showed an average 327.78% increase in cortisol levels one hour after entering the room where they had received the shock one month earlier. For comparison, a previous study was referenced which reported an increase in cortisol of 250% in animals exposed to temperatures of -5 degrees celsius (23 degrees Fahrenheit) for an hour.

"Aggressive" behaviors such as growling, barking, or baring teeth are warnings the dog gives in an effort to avoid physical conflict. If a dog is punished for giving warnings, the dog will learn to suppress those warning behaviors and will, instead, go straight to attack mode (this is not to say that these behaviors should be ignored. If your dog is exhibiting these behaviors towards you, family members, visitors or other animals, you should contact a qualified behavior consultant).

CONCLUSION

Statistics show that most puppies will not live to see their second birthday(1). Most owners are unprepared for the challenges of raising a puppy and the barking, digging, chewing and mouthing that are normal puppy behaviors. 95% of the dogs in shelters have never received obedience training (2) and yet it is almost certain that each of these dogs has been unsuccessfully punished for their behavior.

Punishment is an energy-intensive way to train a dog. Early and consistent training can eliminate the need for punishment in the majority of cases. Does it work? In some cases, if administered correctly. But when you can teach your dog using methods that builds your bond and efficiently communicates exactly what you would like your dog to do, where is the need for punishment?

Quotes on Punishment

"If a certain behavior is occurring in the first place, it is, by definition, being reinforced somewhere, somehow....Punishment merely stuns behavior.  It interrupts the flow temporarily by creating emotional upset.  This effect is temporary."

From Culture Clash
by Jean Donaldson

"Because dogs affected with aggression have an anxiety disorder and are using provocative behaviors to get information, physical punishment has no role here. If we follow the argument to its logical conclusion, physical punishment will remove any uncertainty and convince these dogs that the person punishing them is a threat. Accordingly, their aggression worsens. Hitting or beating a dog, kneeing the dog, using "alpha-wolf rolls," "wolf rolls," "dominance downs," "hanging" a dog from a leash and a choke collar until he or she is immobile, and "helicoptering" dogs are all excessively rough, abusive, inhumane treatments that have no place in correcting behavior or in behavior modification. The use of these techniques tells us a lot about human anger, makes the relationship with the pet an adversarial one, and shows a keen lack of understanding about what's been learned about aggression and anxiety."

From: Aggression - Treatment Options
by Karen Overall, MA, VMD, PhD, DACVB, ABS Certified Applied Animal Behaviorist

"...there are longstanding effects of training dogs using shock that affects the dog's overall stress level and how the dog signals and interacts with other dogs and humans, and that the fundamental relationship between handler and dog becomes one in which the dog views the handler in an adversarial way. It is important . to interpret the results of this study [of the effects of shock collars on K9 German Shepherds] in the light of the study's sample: Only 'super-normal' dogs, which are bred for toughness, were used. . Successful police dogs are generally thought to be the most resistant of any dog to any training damage because sensitivity to such training is cause for failure. Given this, we-as a profession-should realize that the effects of shock on normal or distressed dogs can only be injurious and thus, we should condemn and work to prohibit such techniques."

From: Do Supplements and Shock Collars Work in training Dogs?

(1) Dunbar, Ian. Before You Get Your Puppy, 2001

(2) Humane Society of the United States