I have never hit a dog - wait, no, I take that back. I have bopped a dog rather hard on the muzzle in the middle of a dog fight where it would have done serious damage to the other dog if it hadn’t let go.
I tend to follow doggy etiquette. My reprimands to pups have included a muzzle shake (it’s what moms do), especially when pups are in that “I will bite anything!” stage. I will also do it when I find them chewing something inappropriate (and then use the “trade ya!” command and give them something to chew). Very effective. I’m also not talking about Shaken Puppy Syndrome here Just a light grab of the muzzle and shake.
Now… I will come out of the woodwork and admit that I have bitten a dog on the ear before. It was a very VERY dominant puppy who was really getting close to the edge, tempted to nip me into submission. I alpha rolled her (don’t do this at home - I really don’t recommend alpha rolling unless you really know what you’re doing, or the dog is really REALLY stable in temperament… at which point you wouldn’t be rolling anyway)… and she tried to nip at my face. So I bit her ear. Not hard, but enough for her to go “Oooooh… right…”
I’ve hit my dog exactly once. He had bitten me and I was making it clear that biting was not acceptable behaviour. The ‘hit’ involved me dropping my finger on his nose from the height of about one inch while saying ‘No’. He learned not to bite and I never worried that I had done something stupid to my dog.
I’ve have been much more physical with him during play than I have ever been while correcting bad behaviour. The end result? A dog that is a treat to be around, he loves meeting new people and absolutly doesn’t threaten anybody, and he love to play, rough sometimes.
I obviously do. If I knew better (that is if you show me some evidence it doesn’t work) I would stop. Keep in mind, I just tap him very lightly, it’s not like I’m not beating him down with my fists.
When I was younger (probably 13 and younger) I’d swat my dog on the bottom or the nose when she bit me. It did eventually stop her from biting me, but I still feel bad about it. We got her at 9 months old - we were her third home. Her first home was a woman who didn’t want a dog and had been given a dog as a gift. I guess she was nervous with us.
She slept in my bed with me every night for many years.
I spanked my dog (not violently though) only a few times, and only when he had done something completely unacceptable, like taking off out the front door and scaring the crap out of me (the house we lived in was next to a major road). He’s a very sweet and extremely loyal dog, so he doesn’t require much disciplining. Plus he’s getting up in years now and basically just sits around and looks cute. He’s my mum’s dog now, so he doesn’t live with me anymore.
My roommate, on the other hand, smacks her dog around for any little thing. The dog barks, she hits her. The dog pees on the floor, she gives her a good few wallops and locks her in the bathroom with the lights off. I don’t even think she likes her dog, honestly. This is a tiny dog too, a little manchester terrier (toy), and she’s only about a year and a half old. The hitting doesn’t seem to have accomplished anything except to make her fearful. I think she’s gotten a little rebellious too. A couple of weeks ago she tried to bite my roommate for the first time. I feel sorry for the dog, but there’s not a lot I can do. I’m sweet to her, so hopefully she doesn’t think all humans are abusive. The roommate in question has a few anger management problems & I don’t want to be on the recieving end of any of her tirades. And yes, I’m moving out soon, and I’m really excited about it.
Never, and I’ve raised a number of very well behaved dogs.
It’s not a moral thing, it’s just poor dog training. Hitting a dog will make it hand-shy, and can cause it to fear bite. It can also make a dog neurotic.
Talk to a professional dog trainer. Enroll your dog in basic obedience if it’s giving you problems. Note that you won’t find dog trainers smacking the dogs. Don’t read human emotions and motivations in your dog’s behaviour. Learn to see the world the way a dog sees it, and you might discover that smacking a dog is counter-productive.
I’ve given my dog a swat on the bottom a couple of times and only when she’s done something bad repeatedly. For the most part, a loud voice and putting her on the lead outside by herself for a minute does the trick.
I don’t hit my dog on the butt, because it wouldn’t phase her. Sometimes we play rough and it involves hitting so she wouldn’t think a smack on the ass means something bad.
However, she has proven to be agressive with toys - especially bones - in the past and will NOT “give” when asked.
I was told by our trainer - who loves dogs and would never hurt a dog without good reason and would never encourage bad owner behavior - that if you go to get something from your dog’s mouth and you state very firmly to give, and it won’t give AND it growls…time for a firm and swift swat to the nose and a loud verbal NO.
Dogs have very strong skulls and jaws. As others have said, if it doesn’t yelp when you hit it, you’re not hurting it. Scaring, maybe. But you need to be able to be the Alpha dog to keep a dog safe.
If a dog was in a pack or with it’s mom, and it growled at the alpha dog (or mom) when it tried to take something from it’s mouth, you’d better believe that the growling dog is going to get a swat to the face and probably a bite on the neck too.
FTR my dog learned pretty quickly to give when told. Most commands are for a dog’s own good.
You could always call animal control and have them take the dog away, especially if there’s physical evidence (bruises, etc) that could prove she hits the dog severely.
I have never and would never hit my cat. Sometimes if he’s play biting really hard I’ll push him away, but that’s just to stop him from biting me. As others have said, discipline like that doesn’t work on cats; there is no need or way to assert myself as the “Alpha Cat.” And besides, it would be cruel and evil.
I could be wrong, but I don’t think the OP was talking about an occasional attention getting swat on the butt, or tap on the nose.
As to the birds, I’ve found that blowing in their face while giving them the eye and saying “no bite” works wonders. It even works with parakeets and cockatiels and they have much smaller brains than their bigger cousins the parrots.
That is the only form of discipline I have ever had to use with my birds. I don’t know about the height equals status thing. My parakeets seemed to love the floor. They’d pull on the carpet fibers, attempt to pick up dog toys much too big for them and just generally be little nuisances.
I don’t have any pets, but I do hit my mum’s terriers. One Half-and Half Lakeland/Jack Russell and one pedigree Cairn. They both have an attention span of approx 30 seconds and are as obstinate as bricks. When they are determined to climb into your lap or whatever, a pretty full-blooded clip around the ear is required to dissuade them. As in, rapping them on the head hard enough to make my knuckles hurt produces the following response:
-Duck down onto floor looking hurt
-Make ‘mean human hit me’ face
-Look around for sympathy and another lap
-Complete lap survey and find that there are no unoccupied laps other than the one currently sat on floor next to
-Look of glee at being next to unoccupied lap
-Try to jump into lap
This can literally go on for 15 minutes before either I really belt them, or shout at them REALLY loudly, or they find something else to do, like chew a bone or each other. The Border Collie/Lab cross is perfectly obedient and will do whatever he’s told. I can’t imagine ever hitting him, but with the little dogs, you just have to. Peeing on people, mauling chickens, fighting dogs 3 times their size, falling in canals, you name it. Two little doggy trouble tornados.
And hitting cats? WTF? Cats aren’t supposed to be obedient. Cats hit YOU if you don’t supply them with luxuries in an appropriately servile and speedy manner. If you obey rapidly, your reward is a purr and them sleeping on you, that’s the whole point of cats.
When my dog was young and still learning, there was nose-swatting, butt-spanking, introduction of noses into messes, and an occasional knee-to-the-chest response for jumping up on me. Also there was the “roll over and show me your belly because I’m the dominant one around here” routine. I probably did this stuff for about two years.
She is almost nine years old now. The only discipline she’s needed for years now is a loud, firm “No.”
For cats, I’d give a swat on the nose for biting or for sniffing/eating of human food. Otherwise, squirt guns and loud noises for all other offenses.
My old dog would get a play swat every so often, and she knew it was a game. I also on occasion gave her a swat on the rump to get her undivided attention, but never as a punishment.
When the was punished, it would range from use of The Voice[sup]tm[/sup], an enforced ‘ignore the dog’, to an out and out alpha roll that ended with my teeth in her neck.
Sadie is gone now. We go pick up the new pup a week from Friday, and start again
My 2 cats have learned when I yelp “OW!” that they must detach their claws from my anatomy and run for the metaphorical hills (well, more like 6 feet or so).
They have learned that when I reach for the white squirt bottles that they must run under the couch for They Have Been Bad Kitties.
They have learned that when I hit a particular growling note in my yell that They Have Been Bad Kitties.
They have learned that when I stomp after them that they must run under the couch because Provider of Food has morphed into Noisy Chaser of Cats.
In return, I don’t yell at them for trying to trip me when I get home, clean their boxes, keep them fed and watered, and give them lovin’s. Anything else, and we roll our respective eyes and go back to what we were doing, be it watching TV or (them) licking their furry butts.
Just a light grab of the muzzle and shake.