[QUOTE=Charger]
I define a “yell” as something that has obvious anger behind it. Volume has little to do with it. There are easily detectable levels of hostility in the voice of someone “yelling” vs. someone “commanding.”
[/QUOTE]
Hmm, we have definition differences then. I looked up “yell” on dictionary.com and the first definition is what I was intending - “1. to cry out or speak with a strong, loud, clear sound; shout: He always yells when he is angry.”, except that the example they used included the word angry. So, I looked up shout - “1. to call or cry out loudly and vigorously.” which is closer to what I mean. So, I guess I don’t yell at the dogs, I shout at them.
However, regarding “commanding” - a command in dog training language is a word(s) that a dog knows it is supposed to respond with a particular action. A command may be whispered, yelled, shouted, screamed…etc.
[QUOTE=Charger]
It was a dairy farm. Cows can be trained, and we also had dogs. The tone of any command given to any trained animal should be consistent with the traditional command technique used by most trainers.
If any of us ever yelled at any animals, we would be punished, because it was uncomfortable for the animal.
[/QUOTE]
For a dairy cow, I can see enforcing that rule since dairy cows can be easily upset. But, cows are not dogs and there is certainly nothing wrong with making a dog uncomfortable when they do wrong. Were you not made uncomfortable/punished if you broke a rule? Same principle applies.
[QUOTE=Charger]
So, when the OP described “yelling,” I assumed that meant something other than “gave the dog a command.”
[/QUOTE]
Actually, she said screaming, which was one of many emtional terms in that post that I rather think were exaggerations. I just cannot picture any rational person going about screaming - “1. to utter a loud, sharp, piercing cry. 2. to emit a shrill, piercing sound” - all the time for any reason.
[QUOTE=Charger]
Basically, if the person doing the yelling was doing so angrily, then she was in the wrong.
[/QUOTE]
Yes, and no. If I am angry with a dog, I will let them know by the tone of my voice that I am angry/very upset/extremely disappointed because dogs do need to understand levels of corrections. Just as you would be much firmer with a child for serious things than for minor stuff. However, I should never react to a dog out of anger.
[QUOTE=Charger]
We live in a society that accepts verbal abuse too much. I find it odd that you are so adamantly on the defensive about the accusation, just because it is an accusation.
[/QUOTE]
Your are living in a completely different world than I am! Even way back when I was taking my two baby brothers to the grocery store, and one wore one of those harnesses because he was hyper active, just about every trip some old biddy would be all over me about how abusive it was to have him on a leash. That was over 30 years ago and things have only gotten worse - now we cannot swat a kid on the butt, we cannot have competitions because some kids would lose and thereby have their psyches ruined, you can’t train a dog using anything but a buckle collar and treats, etc.
[QUOTE=Charger]
I have a family member who yells at his children in front of all the other relatives at family gatherings. He had a fist-hole in the wall of his apartment when we helped them move. He has a violent temper. He punches walls, that is not a stable person. But the worst thing anyone has done was defend his behavior and actually verbally attack anyone who has said anything about it. Some people have a strange need to defend that kind of destructive behavior.
[/QUOTE]
I don’t know much about that sort of thing, but family dynamics seem to be a much different thing, even when it comes to things like abuse.
[QUOTE=Charger]
I’m not a saint and made no claim to be. Think of me as the worst person in the world if you must. But even I recognize that there is an anger epidemic in much of the world. I hope it gets talked about more, so that something can be done about it. Having to interact with angry people will ruin my month, and I wish the yellers of the world were more aware of the torment which they inflict.
[/QUOTE]
Well, I suppose one of the reasons why there is so much anger in the world these days could be because folks keep trying to tell others how to live. You are so sensitive to anger that having an interaction with anger would ruin your month (!!), so you think that “the yellers of the world” (which at some point, is essentially everyone) should tip toe around you? And apparently you project your sensitivity onto others and onto pets and don’t realize that not everyone is so seriously affected by anger and yelling as you are. Perhaps some of that world anger comes from being expected to act inhumanly sweetness and light all the time.
Kathy