Hello everyone.  I am new and apologise if this has been covered before.

Is it possible to discipline/train a dog WITHOUT smacking/hitting?  The thought of hitting a dog (or any living creature for that matter) turns my stomach.  I am a mother to a young boy who is very kind and gentle.  Now, I wouldn't want him to get the idea that hitting his dog is OK. 

Unfortunately, everyone around me is all for giving their dogs a smack when they don't listen to a command.  I don't feel comfortable watching it and definitely know I could not enforce physical discipline.

Can anyone suggest a more effective way of communicating with a dog?  I have read jane (?) fennell's book and her concept of amichien bonding.  However, to be honest, something about it made me feel uncomfortable.  I think perhaps it was this idea that as the owner, I needed to establish dominance.  I understand that dogs are not humans and treating them as such takes you down a slippery path; but, at the same time, I think like ANY relationship, whether it be with anything in life....there needs to be a good healthy dose of respect.

How can I develop this respect in the dog world?

Many thanks. 

Hi Vetiver,
I completely agree I have always been horrified when I have seen an adult hit/smack a dog or child. Of course they have to learn right from wrong but to do it with smacking is just causing confusion in the animal and it ends up just being head shy and nervous.
To show or let your dog know you are not happy is with your voice- high pitched and happy with full of praise for good things and deep and low when telling off. A lot of people do ignore bad behaviour, so longs they look at you when you've told them for whatever- you have there attention so that's the main thing, usually they stop doing the bad thing that you don't want in the first place- such as digging up the lawn or chewing your settee? I find Victoria Stillwell very kind in her way of dog training and you might find her approach better.

It is possible to train or dicipline a dog without violence and I agree violence doesn't teach anything, in fact it is likely to make a child think it is acceptable to hit or teach a dog that you are unpredictable or dangerous and who wants a relationship built on fear?

I was hit as a child, fortunately I decided violence was wrong but if you see the news a lot of people think its acceptable.

Positive re-inforcement, when you reward the dog for doing what you want is the better alternative. Avoid highlighting all of the negatives.  You need to be the leader but you can do this respectfully, without being harsh and as leader you have privileges that the dogs don't (or the children!) What the privileges are, are for you to decide.  Also as leader you must teach about dangerous situations and intervene as you feel is necessary.

I don't allow my dogs on the furniture or upstairs and this was established whilst they were new to my household.  I still cuddle them, sometimes on my lap, at my invitation (I have a large GSD & a Rough Collie!) I can do whatever I like, they accept that I'm the boss.

I used to practice exclusion when the dogs were younger and doing things I did not lilke. Its like having a time out step. No harm comes of a few minutes missing out on the action!  It has worked for my children and my dogs.

Good for you I hope you can educate the people around you.

NILIF (Nothing In Life Is Free) works well for disciplining without confrontation.  Here are a few links, http://search.live.com/results.aspx?q=NILIF&src=IE-SearchBox but if you start off by setting up situations to distract from behaviours you don't want and removing opportunities for the pup to misbehave and give plenty of rewards for positive behaviour you won't go far wrong.

Hi Vetiver,
Welcome to Champdogs :)
Ive put a couple of links up I think may well interest you;
One talking terms with dogs - Turid Rugaas Turid is an extremely experienced trainer Internationally, Ive been to 2 of her seminars.
Clickersolutions - Training articles This site has a very comprehensive collection from many highly regarded trainers who all subscribe to 'reward training' by gentle methods :) and after you've read Turid's articles on how dogs communicate it should all make sense.
   You dont nesc. have to use a 'clicker' to train your dog (I use  a key word or click my tongue) But think of it as like a camera, you are pointing a camera at your dog and taking a photo of good behaviour 'click'... so with a camera that moment of good behaviour or a good choice made by your dog is printed on the memory card...so with clicker training, that 'click' is printing that good moment on the dogs brain :)
HTH :-)

(p.s look out for posts made by one of our members 'Theemx' she's incredibly knowlegable in reward training, and a good person to read)

Yes it is not only possible to teach a dog without physical punishment it is much more effective.  I hate the word discipline/obey etc.  I want my dogs to love doing the things I want them to and for the most part they do :-D It really upsets me that people feel they need to resort to hitting/grabbing at their dog or yelling at their dog for not doing what they want and usually because the dog doesn't understand what is being expected of it or because the owner has never made it a worth while thing for the dog to do.

I get fed up with hearing my dog is stupid or untrainable or stuborn, when these problems are down to lack of being able to communicate, all dogs that are physically and mentally fit and well are able to be trained and as it us people who choose to bring an animal that speaks a different language into our homes then it is up to us to bridge that communication gap in a way that benefits the welfare of our dogs.  That often means a lot of hard work learning and being patient on our part but I think if we can't do that then we should possibly reconsider having dogs at that time in our lives.

For me the best way to bridge the communication gap is playing with our dog and teaching our dog, clicker training gets my vote every time.  I have one dog that is very independant and to say she is not the kind of girl that naturally hands on my every word is somewhat of an understatemant, she also had the attention span of a drunken gnat :-D However with time building up a bond and with free shaping clicker work I have a girl that will focus on me and gets a waggy tail when we start training and when I ask her to do something.  I know without a shadow of a doubt that had I used physical punishment or verbal punishmant then I would have had a dog that would not only not have wanted to work with me but would have had no interest in me full stop. 

There are some breeds that are bred specifically to kork with their handlers and will take much more in the way of physical punishment than other more independant breeds and it breaks my heart when I see dog being bullied and them still looking up at their handlers with pleading eyes and wanting to be with them.  I generally think these people don't deserve the love and devotion that our dogs are willing to give us.

However all that said, if someone comes to me with help for training or I see someone hitting their dogs then I bite my tongue when it comes to saying what I would like to say as it will not get anyone any where.  If you judge people then they shut down, but if you tell people you understand their frustrations (which I do, just not the way they deal with them) and show them a different way that gets better results then you are much more likely to change the way people interact with and teach their dogs.  So get out there and show people how rewarding and fun it can be to do things a different way, even if it just a couple of friends or someone you get chatting to in the park, it all helps :-)

If you are planning dog training classes have a look to see if there is apdt class nearby  . Their traing methods use only poitive reinforcement , this style should suit you very well oh yes and your dog

Thank you everyone for your response.  I am delighted to say that we are now the proud owners of a beautiful little english springer spaniel.  He's just a little slice of heaven on earth and our family feel so blessed that he chose us.  He will be joining us i two weeks time.

Again, thank you all for the advice.  I am so relieved to know that violence is out of the equation.  Seriously....I absolutely can not use physical force for discipline.  Thankfully, I've landed on my feet here with this forum.

Hi vetiver,

Welcome to the forum :-) You'll find that pretty much all of us here advocate kind and gentle training over harsh methods. Good luck with your new pup - you'll find advice on loads of topics on here if you ever need any hlp.

The training club I go to follows the KC good citizen scheme to 'go through the ranks' in terms of class structure, and their training methods are 'firm but fair' which is how I feel works best for my dog.

By that, I mean that we encourage and reward the good behaviour, and ignore, or gently discipline the unwanted. Gently disciplining involves a 'no' or 'leave' command as opposed to smacking or yelling, which only scares the dogs. Praise for good behaviour varies from excited 'what a good dog' & lots of cuddles and quite silly :-) behaviour for the young pups, to a happily spoken 'good boy' and a small treat or gentle cuddle for the older & more experienced dogs.

Personally, I feel that as long as your dog is treated in a consistent and fair way, with clear boundaries and praise for good behaviour, then you'll have a happy dog who wants to do things to please you, not because they fear a smack if they don't obey.

Claire