How we trained/raised our puppies and foster dogs:
- We did not hit them.
- We yelped when they did things, accidentally, that hurt us. They did not intentionally attack us. Ever.
- We put them in their crates when they were bad. When you’ve got a blanket preventing you from seeing anything, it’s like being grounded in your room. Not fun. Teaches a dog not to be bad most of the time.
- When they did bad things, we’d say, in a very deep voice, “NO!” Sometimes jerk their collars a bit. Not often more than that, the sole exception being once when our german shepherd got an attack of the “I’m going to do as I please and fuck you sideways if you object.” My father pushed her down and she went as he directed. Later he realized how evil that was and was very sorry. She licked his face profusely. I think they made up.
In my mind, hitting a dog is like hitting a human being: the intent is what’s important, but if you hurt 'em, it doesn’t help much that you didn’t mean to. That said, if they ATTACK you (as in, it’s a dog attacking, not trying to play), I don’t see anything wrong with getting them off you and making sure they don’t do it again. So long as that doesn’t involve unnecessary roughness or permanent injury. It’s hard to explain . . . more of a case-by-case thing. I jsut see so many people who have negative opinions of big dogs because of the occasional one they see on tv. Folks, given any dog, it can be trained to attack anything that moves. It can also be trained as an excellent family dog.