Do you hit your dog ?

CRJR45

WKR
Joined
Jun 24, 2022
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SE Flo-Ree-Duh
I have a 14 month old Weimaraner and I take him everywhere I can . He minds pretty good , but gets distracted easily .
If I tell him to lay down and he doesn't , I smack him on the head with the end of the leash , just hard enough to make it pop .
A lady at the restaurant saw me do it and gave me a dirty look , so I asked her , Are you giving me a dirty look because I hit the dog ?
Yes she said and turned away with her nose in the air .
Am I wrong here ? I'm not hurting him , just hit him hard enough to get his attention . All my dogs have minded and everyone always comments on how well they listen to me .
 

eye_zick

Lil-Rokslider
Joined
Jan 17, 2020
Messages
161
Location
Idaho
Dogs are not capable of being reasoned with (kids too) and reward/punishment is the language they speak. Dogs respond to physical correction. I put a shock collar on my dog along with 99% of upland game hunters. Only you can decide if it's malignant.
 

Tod osier

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Joined
Sep 11, 2015
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Fairfield County, CT -> Sublette County, WY
I have a 14 month old Weimaraner and I take him everywhere I can . He minds pretty good , but gets distracted easily .
If I tell him to lay down and he doesn't , I smack him on the head with the end of the leash , just hard enough to make it pop .
A lady at the restaurant saw me do it and gave me a dirty look , so I asked her , Are you giving me a dirty look because I hit the dog ?
Yes she said and turned away with her nose in the air .
Am I wrong here ? I'm not hurting him , just hit him hard enough to get his attention . All my dogs have minded and everyone always comments on how well they listen to me .

I tell myself that if I was a better trainer I wouldn't have to, but I am in the same boat with my dogs. I don't train for that situation as much as I should.
 

thedutchtouch

Lil-Rokslider
Joined
Sep 2, 2021
Messages
186
Folks use shock collars to do that stuff discretely.

The trick with dogs is to strictly train them when they are young and they will obey. Folks who have to repeat themselves 3 times never really trained their dog.
And then being consistent. My soon to be ex likes to blame me when our (becoming my) dog misbehaves, but she's the one that started giving him table scraps and letting him on the furniture. Doesn't matter how you train them early if you abandon that training and reinforce the opposite later.
 

KurtR

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Joined
Sep 11, 2015
Messages
3,985
Location
South Dakota
I have a 14 month old Weimaraner and I take him everywhere I can . He minds pretty good , but gets distracted easily .
If I tell him to lay down and he doesn't , I smack him on the head with the end of the leash , just hard enough to make it pop .
A lady at the restaurant saw me do it and gave me a dirty look , so I asked her , Are you giving me a dirty look because I hit the dog ?
Yes she said and turned away with her nose in the air .
Am I wrong here ? I'm not hurting him , just hit him hard enough to get his attention . All my dogs have minded and everyone always comments on how well they listen to me .
Those are the kind of people who go to dog parks and let their dogs run around with no control and then yell here 15 times while the dog give the middle finger. People like to think the all positive training works but fail to realize that saying no or body language is negative reinforcement just as a healing stick or a pop from the lead. Dogs want to have structure and are happier and healthier when they have it.
 
Joined
May 6, 2018
Messages
9,730
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Shenandoah Valley
I generally stay away from striking a dog around the head. Part of retriever training.


But yes, some dogs are really hard headed. I had my lab kill a lamb, beat the tar out of him next to it. He won't touch them now, and is around them all the time, actually half ass works them. But won't touch them now.

Wouldn't have gotten there without him getting punished. Yelling at him wouldn’t have done it.
 
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