The Problem with PUNISHMENT.

Perhaps the biggest problem with punishment is that it does appear to work. Yell and the dog stops, frozen. Threaten and the dog retreats. Knee him in the chest and he takes his paws off your pant leg. Perhaps in the future the dog avoids jumping on the kneeing person altogether but may still jump on everyone else - or he may he generalizes that anyone in the doorway is dangerous and therefore to be avoided. The "pay off" to the punisher is a feeling of control - the appearance of results. The dog stops what it was doing, for the moment.

The dog may look "sorry" or "guilty" but truly, this is merely an appeasing posture designed to diffuse your aggressive tone.

He may not be jumping up, but if what you want to teach the animal is proper polite greeting manners, you really haven't taught what you intended. A dog whose defensive freeze, fight or flight response has been triggered is not processing through his problem solving frontal lobes, he's operating on adrenalin and escape/avoidance response.

The threat of physical punishment makes him appear obedient and subservient. But what does the dog really learn? That sitting for petting is preferred over jumping up? No. He learns that avoiding visitors and being invisible is safer than greeting them. What is the long term fall-out? Suspicion of strangers? Anxiety whenever the door bell rings? Instead of a leaping, happy, social dog, we now have a stressed dog who skulks in the background or barks instead. Over time, this chronic anxiety and conflict at the arrival of visitors can develop into a serious anti-social greeting problem. "He was getting so much better about greeting people at the front door - until he bit the pizza man for no reason." No reason? There is always a reason.

Even when punishment seems mild, in order to be effective it often must elicit a strong fear response, and in such cases, the fear response can generalize to things that sound or look similar to the punishment. Punishment has also been shown to elicit aggressive behavior in many species of animals. Thus, using punishment can put the person administering it or any person near the animal at risk of being bitten or attacked.

Punishment can suppress aggressive and fearful behavior when used effectively, but it may not change the underlying cause of the behavior. For instance, if the animal behaves aggressively due to fear, then the use of force to stop the fearful reactions will make the animal more fearful while at the same time suppressing or masking the outward signs of fear; (e.g., a threat display/growling). As a result, if the animal faces a situation where it is extremely fearful, it may suddenly act with heightened aggression and with fewer warning signs. In other words, it may now attack more aggressively or with no warning, making it much more dangerous.

- from the Position Statement-Punishment Guidelines from the American Veterinary Society of Animal Behavior

Shock and Awe?
THE PROBLEM OF UNINTENDED CONSEQUENCES

Dogs learn by association: .... If ..> Then.
Whenever A happens, B appears to follow.

The fall-out of punishment:
If the dog likes 'B', a conditioned positive emotional response to 'A' occurs.
If the dog dislikes 'B, a conditioned negative emotional response to 'A' will occur.

Example:
A: the sound of the doorbell > predicts B: a visitor = emotional response - expressed by unwanted behavior: barking.

• If the dog loves visitors, he barks in excited anticipation of the arrival of new friends.
• If the dog is afraid, he barks and becomes anxious - either while hiding from the scary thing, in an attempt to call for help, or to actively drive the scary thing away.
• If the dog is territorial, he barks and becomes agitated, warning the intruder away with offensive strategies.

A: visitor > predicts B: negative consequence (owner stress, scolding, leash correction, shock) = increase in negative emotional response.

The once friendly dog who experiences punishment at the arrival of guests may begin to dread the sound of the doorbell. The territorial dog whose barking is punished may stop barking, but have an INCREASED resentment for intruders. Now he will bite without warning.

A very soft dog who is anxious and barks out of fear who is scolded or experiences a physical consequence (positive or negative - coddling or physical correction) may result in increased anxiety. You cannot punish a dog into feeling safer or more confident. Hugging and cooing "don't worry honey, mommy will protect you" may increase the stress the dog is feeling. Now the owner appears stressed, too!

Let's look at the simple exercise "leave it"

Dog reaches for your sandwich and hears "leave it" followed by a smack on the nose or jerk on his leash. The dog flinches back, the sandwich is safe. In the future the dog will startle back at the comand - he learns that "leave it" is a warning of future smackings or jerks to come.

- vs. -

Dog is taught the neutral phrase "leave it" as a cue to come away from an off limits item and look at the owner. Behavior is heavily rewarded and taught to fluency. The sight of the item becomes a cue to seek out and gain eye contact with the owner.

Later - dog spots off limits item and hears "leave it!"

Punished dog ducks, flinches back. Heart rate and adrenalin go up. Dog avoids item and person.
Association: unattended sandwiches, tables, dining rooms are only safe places to sniff when the owner is absent.

Positively trained dog turns away from item and runs happily to the person who said "leave it."
Association: unattended sandwiches signals potential reward opportunity, seeks out owner.

Both dogs left the item alone.

One dog experienced a negative emotional response, the other a positive emotional response.

The fall-out is that the punished dog not only avoids the item, but also the dog owner. We've not only punished stealing, but may have also punished coming when called, being reached for - perhaps he ducks when you reach to pet him, is harder to get ahold of to get the leash on, or more difficult to groom. We've negatively impacted the dog/owner relationship.

The punished dog avoids the owner. The rewarded dog runs toward the owner.