I feel all dogs somewhere along the line wether it be house breaking, human aggression, dog aggression, beggin' at the table, growling at your best friend, about to kill the cat ... has expierenced a firm hand.
Wowza. Are you ever wrong. The only hand my dogs have experienced is one that pets them and gives them their food and treats and unconditional love and respect.
What I don't get is that some of you (general "you") are adamant that physical force is necessary to get a dog to do what you want it to. I wonder what kind of lives these very people lived in order to come to the conclusion that a firm hand, a yank on the leash, a collar that goes "bzzz" is okay and the way to go.
My beautiful Banzai came to us after going through a couple foster homes. The original people thought he was deaf and he surely had a firm hand. I'm sure they were frustrated when they said "sit" and he just sat there and stared at them. You can't expect a dog to know sit without teaching it what sit means. I'm sure they got upset and kicked and screamed and smacked him around when he peed in the house when he didn't know that is what the outside was for, because they hadn't taught him that going outside was the right thing to do.
Banzai has been here almost a year now. I can still raise my voice or make a quick movement and he slinks back to the time in which he was abused- all because the people were adamant that physical abuse was the way to make him do what they wanted.
My precious boy has NEVER, NEVER been a victim of abuse in this household. He can sit, he will come and do fancy tricks, he'll give you sniffles and he's 150% reliable off leash, even in the most dire of circumstances. He's a guard dog, he's the center of this family and he's the best all-around dog I've ever been around and all he did to get to this level of obedience was get praise and love and treats when he did what was desired.
So you tell me, in what kind of sick mind, this dog would need to be physically abused in order to be considered "obedient"?
