Hitting A Dog

Hello everyone I am new and was hoping I could get some advice on this sticky topic.

I have 2 dogs: A 5year old Pit Bull and a 3 month old Great Dane. Well my mom has always believed that in order to get a dog to be well behaved you have to hit it. I believe this is ridiculous and inhumane, but her house her rules so there was nothing I could do.

Now picture this: An 80pound fierce looking Pit Bull (yet so sweet) cowering and rolling over when she starts yelling. I find it so sad

Well I recently purchased a Great Dane puppy and my mom has not touched her because: my dog my rules. I have not hit her ever and she is a wonderful dog, very fearless. She plays and runs with no fear whatsoever. But she still does ocassionally pee in the house. And this morning she peed and my mom hit her but not hard I got mad and told her she didnt have to hit her. But Catalina (Cathy) just ran off wagging her tail like she didnt even notice.

What can I do to make my mother see that you dont have to hit a dog in order for it to be behaved? I want Cathy to have a good start on life and not be a scared cowering dog. I know China my Pit Bull is a very confident dog until the yelling starts which at that point she will try to get in Cathy's crate and she can only get her head in, lol very funny.

Please Help!

 

Oh and one more thing: This mornings incident was totally my moms fault which makes me even madder because she is being ignorant.

I was sleeping and she said she would take the dogs out so at one point she said ill take them out now hold on. And I told her take Cathy out now cuz if not she will pee.

Well just as I said that she peed. I mean she is stil a pup and has to go out as soon as she wakes up, and my mom hit her and when i told her not to hit her my mom said 'a dog has to learn'

 

Maybe your mom should read this:

Using physical violence to punish a dog should never be an option, unless the safety of another human is in serious jeopardy. All it teaches a dog is to fear its owner, and to encourage potential fear aggression in the future. Also, an owner who uses physical means to discipline his or her dog runs the risk of being severely hurt or even killed, if the dog in question has deep-seated aggressive tendencies.

Verbal warnings, leash corrections, a squirt from a hose or spray bottle, or even a loud clap are all efficient methods to let a dog know it`s made a booboo. Hitting only serves to scare and hurt, and prove that some humans are at best poor leaders, and at worst, sadistic. Don`t be one of them; get your dog trained, be consistent, and use effective behavior modification techniques instead of violence, which will only serve to frighten and incite.

 

First off I would like to say that you should NEVER hit a dog ESPECIALLY a Pit Bull. As a pit owner I feel that it is very irresponsible. Pits are not bred to be human aggressive, but with constant abuse it may cause them to recoil and attack your mom. Just becuase your mom feels she rules that house does not mean that her actions can avoid a conflict with the Pit.
You may want to post this on the Pit Bull forum to see what others have to say.

As for your Great Dane: good job on training him positively. Positive Reinforcement in my opinion is the only way a dog should EVER be trained. I know of many people that use prongs or chokes even pennie cans, but I don't agree with it. Training a dog is about respect and boundaries. A dog doesn't know their boundaries, you have to show them. A dog may obey someone who hits them out of fear of more abuse, but the dog ceteinly does NOT respect their owner. This goes for any breed, not just Pits.

How old are you? Have you thought about moving out of your moms house. The reason I ask is becuase youhave seen your mom hit your dog once, think about what may be happening when you are not home. I am not accusing you mother of anything, but be sure your dog is safe when you are away.

You said your moms dog rolls over when being yelled at. That is doggie language for "I surrender". When a dog does this, they are showing that they are submissive to the "dominant" one, and that all aggression can stop now, the dog has been "put in its place" so to speak. I think its really sad that this dog has had to live like that. I would suggest, since the two dogs get along, to have some play dates, away from your mother. You may be able to help re-bulid some of the confidence in your moms dog, and not to mention how much he will love being out with the two of you to play in the sun.

Good luck

 

oops, don't know why it went up twice

 

I totally agree.

Shyra: I have 2 dogs, a four month old mutt named Nana and a new addition: 2month old Laika a Golden Retriever.

I have never hit any of them and I am telling you they are practically fearless. Well Nana doesnt like other dogs, due to lack of socialization and being hand raised. But I have yet to find something that Laika is afraid of.

There is no good reason to hit you dog, it will only make them afraid of you, and you stated you have to dogs, both of which are big dogs. I have never seen anything more ridiculous and saddening then a huge dog that is terrified of his owners.

Try to convince your mom that your puppy will adjust better and will be better behaved if you dont hit.

For Laika, she is still being potty trained, i used to use a big 'no'. But I read from a Golden Retriever breeder that since this is a very smart breed who thrives on positive reinforment a better method would be to ignore her when she pees in the house and praise her like crazy when she does go outside.

This method is working quite wonderfully for me.

 

If your mother would read any books, she could look at "The Power of Positive Dog Training" by Pat Miller, any of Ian Dunbar's books, or "The Dog Whisperer" by Paul Owens. Paul Owens' book has a LOT about why non-violence is best and why it works. The first part of Pat Miller's book is also about why positive is better for the dog and more fun for everyone. If she won't read them, maybe you can read them and then be better able to put in words why positive is better.

About "correcting" a dog for peeing inside. I agree that you should ignore it if you don't see it happening. But if the dog is in the process, I don't think there is anything wrong with making a loud noise to startle the dog into stopping, and then wisk it outside to finish up (where it gets a lot of praise).

Of course, what you use to startle the dog depends on the dog. My sister has a very soft Golden. Yelling frightens the bejeebers out of her. She could probably just say "Hey!" in a loudish voice to startle her into stopping, or clap her hands once or twice.

My Nala, however, probably needs a bullhorn or train whistle to startle her.


Jamiya

 

Hello and Wellcome to the forum!

I'm very sorry to hear that Your Mother is hitting her's and your dog, that makes me sick! She was obviously brought up to think that that was how you control your animals. WRONG!!! I hate to think of that poor pit cowering when she begins to yell. She has done some damage to that poor animal! Someone said: dogs should respect you not fear you! that is so right!!! They may be listening to her but they DO NOT respect her, like what was already pointed out.

It is NEVER to late to learn a lesson! I would buy a good book on good positive training methods and let your Mom read it when you're done.

(Jamiya I have got to write the name of that book down ) Sorry! that was for another member...

Good luck to you, and keep up the good work! You are well on your way to being a responsible dog owner! Your post proves that

Susan

 

bullylove1: I agree with you 100%. My father has had Pit Bulls all of his life and at one point he had a female pitbull who he had gotten when she was one, where she had been abused.

Well that dog was the absolute sweetest thing, except when you raised your hand, not at her just raised your hand in a way she felt threatened she would growl and snarl, it was sad.

Luckily though she never bit anyone, though she certainly did put on a show!

 

Lanena,
I understand. When we adopted Harley, she had been abused, not etremely, but was very hand shy. If we would raise our hand to scratch our nose, she would cower and pee. It was terrible. It took a good couple of weeks for her to truly trust us 100% and know that we would never hurt her.

The best way to train a dog is to ignore the bad, treat the good.

Pat Miller is a wonderful writer, and her books are words to live by. I have not heard of Paul Owens but I am writing the name down.
Jamiya, what is "The Dog Whisperer"?

Thanks

 

It is the name of the book by Paul Owens. I am currently reading it - or trying to, since I keep getting interrupted every time I sit down to read. So far I really like it.

*gazes longingly at my bag which contains my book and goes back to pretending to work*


Jamiya

 

Jamiya,
silly girl. I know its a book. Is it on training?

 

I have a good example for your mom. Our dog Serene was hit by her previous people, but has NEVER been hit in our home. Raised voices, even on TV or joking around, STILL make her cower even after 2 yrs without being hit. She is still a very "old soul" even after 2 yrs of pampering and positive training, you can still see in it her eyes sometimes. Jersey came to us as a pup and never was hit. The difference between the 2 dogs is unreal. Jersey just has an unconditional trust that Serene will never have. She assumes everyone will hurt her. By the way, good for you for training your dog positively even though it isn't common practise in your home. Your new pup is lucky to have you.

 

Key word here MOM you got to be kidding me tell MOM what to do, sure....I have seen my mother take a broom and give her dog a kick in the butt and you know that darn dog still runs to her and stays with her it seems to know she wont hurt it. The kick is more like a push and the broom the same..It's a game between the two of them now, The dog has a name but it only seems to react to darn dog ( there's really is not and r and n in that word).Someone here tell me how you tell mom who by the way is 94 years old how to take care of and treat a dog..? My father us to take a stick shaking it at the dog telling it he was going to beat it bloody and then heal it and do it again, dogs reaction was to sit there and smile and then lay down and put it's foot over it's face. My father would look at him stomp his foot a few times and walk off only and hour later you would see the two of them sitting by each other sound asleep. No I don't hit my dogs but they sure know when to stay clear of me when they have been bad. As I have told my wife
there can only be one boss in the house and I am it..
Oh - rule of thumb you can't hit your wife with a stick any thicker then your thumb. Old law some years back..I think they changed that law soon after they invented the baseball bat. In case you guys did not know it was a women who invented the game you got to us the stick she used the baseball bat, not sure how the ball got into the game hmmm. You think ???

2pyrs

 

I also have a dog that came from an abusive home. She is scared of men, when someone yells she takes off into another room. She doesnt know how to play as she spent her whole life chained to a tree. She is the love of my life and after 2 years she is learning to love and be loved. She spends her days just laying around and I would love to see her playing and running around with the other dogs but I think she is now enjoying the good life! Whatever the solution I hope you guys work it out and your mom is able to learn that dogs have feelings too and this is no way for a dog to live.

 

Hello and welcome shyra, wow tough one! I think that maybe if you sat down with your mom and asked to make a deal or a pact with her, explaining your views and feelings in a reasonable way..no mouthing off, no disrespect...just simply explain your opinion and ask for a deal with her. The deal being, she not hit your dog or yell at it, she let you do all the training, all the care all by yourself. Ask her to let you see for yourself if you can train her to be well behaved using the methods you chooose. How you explain this is really important, if you allow yourself to be critical of her methods she will get defensive, so just simply make the topic about what you DO want to do, not about what you feel she does thats wrong. In addition I feel like the best bet would be for you to be completely responsible for her...meaning you take your pup out, if mom isn't doing those chores she won't have the reason or opportunity to hit or yell at your pup. You may not be able to convince your mom that your way is the right way...don't expend all your energy trying, instead make the goal a smaller one and try for that. Believe it or not I have had this same argument with my mother about my children! I am 36 years old though and have my own home so I was in a position to enforce my rules,you don't have that luxury. It's a tough spot to be in but give your posts here I think you can handle finding a compromise.

 

Thank You

thank you to everyone who has posted, you have been a big help.

I have been trying to get my mom to see the benefits of positive reinforment. This morning the dogs were tied up outside and Cathy was whining and carrying on, my mom was losing it. So I told her ignore her and she will shut up.

And sure enough 10 minutes later Cathy shut up and fell asleep

 

Shyra keep up the good work!

 

Probably sounding like a broken record here, but I agree that is is completely unnecessary to hit a dog, for ANY reason. I also agree that is especially asking for trouble in hitting a Pitbull--- just recently there was a story on the news of a boy who was mauled to death by a Pitbull. They can be wonderful dogs but special care needs to be given given their unique temperment, and your mother could end up mauled herself one day if her dog decides he has had enough and attacks.

In response to 2 Pyrs post...as amusing as your little stories are, we are not talking about someone who threatens to hit their dogs but never does, Shyra's mother actually does hit them and therefore I think this is a topic that is not to be taken lightly, as the abuse of any living creature should not be.

 

Puggleowner,
a little off topic but which story are you speaking of?

I read the one of a boy at his grandmothers house that got mauled when she was in the kitchen. The worst part about that whole article is that the picture of the dog isn't even the dog that attacked.
Its a Staffordshire Terrier standing in front of a hospital in Germany! The dog wasn't a pure Pit either, yet another Mix.

Goes to show how media plays such a huge part of what they choose for us to know.