What is the harshest correction you have had to enforce?

Question

What was the correction and what did the dog actually do? How effective was it?

I have to slap his backside before now, nothing bigger than that. He lunged at a cat. Did he do it again? Yes... so maaybe not the best course of action but it was purely instinctive.

I felt pretty bad as I obviously scared him but I don't think any dog is *too* soft for corrections. Wouldn't want to go much harder though, as he is a wuss and don't want him to shut down.

Answer 1

the harshest correction i have used is pinning a dog down on the sidewalk ... i was walking two pugs and my dog and the male pug had behaviour issues with wheeled things which included skateboards ... a skateboard went by and he went crazy at the end of his leash barking and basically freaking out in a big way to get at the skateboard ... when he could not get the skateboard he bit his sister and would not let go ... he was tearing at her flesh like a pit bull and not letting go ... i finally got them separated but he was still out of control so he went for my dog ... my dog was off leash and got away ... then he went for my ankles and got a few bites in ... i tried just holding him at arms length until he calmed down but after several minutes of holding an out of control pug flailing about, i could not hold him any more ... so i yelled hey right in his face and he went for my face ... enough was enough, i grabbed him by the scruff and put him on his side, reminded myself to breath and not be angry or tense, and i pinned that dog for a good ten minutes in the middle of a busy downtown sidewalk ... when i could i removed my fingers from his neck and he remained laying there calmly ... and it worked like a charm ... the next day i saw three boys with their skateboards sitting down and not riding them, and i asked them if they would be agreeable to let the dog sniff the skateboard just to see it was not scary ... my dog and the sister went right up the kids and their skateboards and the boy pug was more tentative ... but he did go up to them and he is pretty much socialized to people so it was a calm encounter ... as we were walking away the kids took off on their skateboards and while the boy pug looked back, quick leash correction, and he just turned and walked with us ... have i ever pinned a dog before, no, would i do it again in a similar type situation, you bet ... the pugs do not belong to me, i dog sit them for a person four times a year for a month each time ... i told the owner what i did and he was okay with it and even emailed me a few weeks later to tell me his dog was no longer going for skateboards, bikes, strollers, etc. ... but now it has been months and he emails me that the dog is going for skateboards again which shows that dogs need a firm hand, especially the untrained ones ... would i do that to any dog, probably not, but it was very effective for the situation and i will be sitting those pugs again in a couple of months and i am almost looking forward to pinning him for out of control behaviour :O)

Answer 2

I chewed Abby out once. She's a soft dog--other than a few collar corrections (when she lunges at tractors that go by--she hates tractors) that was all it took.



As for what she did--she bit me in the face. Not aggressively, we were playing. I chewed her out and it has yet to happen again (this was a while back, when she was much younger). She learned that lesson pretty quickly- - -now, if my face gets anywhere near her playtime, she stops at once and starts licking me.



I've also witheld food when she tried to yank it out of my hand, and I've scolded her when she gets ahold of the cat food, then becomes possessive of it. If she simply starts to eat it, I remind her she's not a cat and take her away.



I don't really have to worry about her with cats, though--our cats love her, and most are the same size as her :)

Answer 3

Hmmm I'm not sure how to answer this.



I don't tend to smack my dog. I think that one day it may realise that it's a Great Dane and get me back... You never know! Anyway, I try positive reinforcement as apose to harsh correction.



If she does get too overly playful, and bites/mouths, I put her "on the naughty step"... basically, I put her in a different room for a couple of minutes. She'll sit by the door and howl because she wants to be around people, but she knows she's been naughty. Its not a quick fix, but works over time.



I also pin her down when we're playing so she never realises how big she is.



She has never been purposely aggressive. She's still a youngen, so we'll see how it plays out.



:-)

Answer 4

I know i'll get a load of sh*t for this, but i believe that a good dog trainer/handler/owner should never, ever have to use correction of the physical kind.

A loud noise, a stare, a clap or compressed air is sufficient - There is never any need to hit, slap or electrocute an animal to make it do what you want. It's inhumane and unnecessary.

People go on about their dogs still loving them and giving them kisses and wagging their tails, it's called submission, providing you are Alpha your dog will do that whether you hit it or not.

That's my beliefs and they can't be completely wrong because in the 5 dogs i've had i've never had to hit any of them.

Answer 5

I've had to pin her once and that was it.

I corrected her multiple times for chasing our other dog and I had enough cause he was just brought back from the vet for the second time that day because the first trip they hurt him pretty badly while restraining him, so he was walking very badly and she went to chase him and I said no and when she didn't stop I grabbed her and pinned her down on her side. I told her that I had enough and that I will not tolerate her doing that. I then said stay. I took care of my other dog and came back to her and said come and petted her. I let what she did go and she was fine.

Since then we had no problems with her chasing him.

Answer 6

Not really had to use one in a while actually... most of my "hard" corrections are with Tess because she likes to take the p*ss basically. Millie is really soft so a simple, harsh "NO" usually does it.



The last hardest correction for Tess was when she was barking and lunging at our Chickens (yeah, luckily there's a gate and fence she couldn't get over to get them), i gave her a strong but quick "pop" on the leash- ineffective, scruffed her- ineffective, slammed her to the ground- ineffective, whack on the butt- VERY effective. Did she do it again? Nope, not while i was there anyway.



For Millie i would have to be when she was barking excessively at the dog next door (not a happy or warning bark a full out aggressive bark) so i took her by the scruff and threw her in the house. Did she do it again? Yes, she did, so that wasn't right by me but it was instinctive & i didn't have time to think of what sort of correction was right for the behaviour. But hey, we learn from our mistakes don't we?







Wow, Uncle Ed, harsh. Let me ask you a question, what have YOU "done and trained"?

Answer 7

Really haven't had to use much with my first two dogs, a sharp word was always fine for them.. Then I got Kenai, and the idiots who bred his parents thought it would be cool to breed an Alaskan husky with a Rottweiler.. both who apparently did not have good temperaments. My friend got a pup, couldn't handle or properly care for him so I took him. Worst dog I've ever had to deal with.. 4 months old and had food aggression, possession aggression, and dominance aggression tendencies.. I hand fed him and made him sit for every bite of food for over a month. That worked like a charm.. with toys I taught him to fetch for me, and sit to get it back. He has come a LONG, long way. But if you can imagine a dog with the attitude of a Rottweiler, and the vocal tendencies of a husky, you get a dog who talks back to you over EVERYTHING! He's always pushing, testing, looking for cracks to move himself up on the totem pole, or at least he was.. the change in him has been slow but sure and he's so much better than he was when I got him. He's not soft at all, a smack on the butt wouldn't even phase this dog, I've had to pin him down numerous times for different reasons. He is not at all scared of me, that is for sure, but I've earned his respect. In the beginning every time I told him to do something he would resist, no matter what, he'd resist.. I had to prove that was unacceptable and that my word was law. To that effect I've pinned him down many a time and held him there until he relaxed himself and gave in. He has extremely high prey drive, and is overly vigilant and aggressive towards other dogs, he will not submit to any other dog ever so I've had to tackle him a few times and hold him till he's calm. Regular corrections don't work, a tug on the leash is nothing to him his spirit is irrepressible. The only thing that works to calm him down and earn his respect is to pin him down physically until he relaxes. Any time he ever shows the slightest hint of any kind of challenging my requests, he gets told to lay down and he does, and he rolls over and lifts his leg, I put my foot on his neck and when he relaxes totally he's allowed to get up and go about his business. I have to do this sometimes, because he gets soo worked up and over excited and fixated on things. It was a battle the first time, but now when I say DOWN! he knows, and down he goes on his back, legs wide open, belly to the sky.



Felicia.. strike like a rattlesnake indeed! I agree..

Answer 8

I choose my dogs with care and do not choose the challenging dominant dogs, I then carefully socialise my dogs well and train them every day right from the day they set a paw into my home. The only tool I have used with my dogs is training discs which is not really a correction it just indicates none reward. I have however used a master plus spray training collar and pet correction spray for other dogs who I have trained as a last resort.

Answer 9

I was walking Toby, and some kangaroos started hopping away. He went crazy, and I couldn't control him. I was telling him to down but it didn't work, so I hit him on the back again and again trying to get him to stop, and then slammed him into the ground. I had my whole body over his hoping to get some control. Usually I take my choke chain with me just incase but, I hadn't that day.. and kangaroos will drown dogs that chase them. Next door there's a dam, and we have two dams. There was no way I could let him go.



I do think it was harsh, and brutal but, this WAS a life and death situation.





Soo.. I wonder who this Uncle Ed is that isn't brave enough to use their normal account?

It's funny how everyone blames the teenagers and kids for the drama, you're just trying to start it. Alot of people on here, REALLY need to grow the hell up.

Answer 10

One of my dogs tried to start a fight with another dog, I pushed her to the ground and threatened her that if she ever tried that again she would be dead. Yes it did work as she has not tried to start a fight. No she is not afraid of me, if she was afraid she would not be running up to me wagging her butt and giving me kisses, doesn't sound like a terrified dog to me. I have scruffed my dogs, and I really don't care if people think it is cruel, when you are working with a hard headed breed like mine you need harsher corrections, specially since my mom has spoiled them over the years, she is now regretting it.

Answer 11

He lunged and snarled at a passing dog when we were on a walk. I popped the leash so hard he slammed into my big wheel. He learned his lesson.



Edit: CPDT09 what was I supposed to do, ignore the behavior like it didn't happen? I've stupidly tried that approach, it did not work.

Answer 12

I will NOT put up with ANY form of a bite ..or...threat to bite me over anything.



I always say you have to "strike like a rattlesnake" when a dog bites you (or at you). If you decide to take the dog on for it's behavior ... ANY... hesitation whatsoever will get you bit a second time. I can count on one hand how many times I've truly had to shake a dog down, but I have done it.



My oldest "bad attitude" rescue (that I still have 10 years later) gave me a super aggressive "muzzle bump" warning once for doing something she had been corrected for multiple times.



She was a fair sized dog (mature, but not up to full weight) and she came with this horrible habit of frantically DIGGING at the door when you would walk up to let her out. I don't mean ...a gentle pawing.. I mean...digging in a craze. I had an old house with awesome old wooden doors and that was not cool as she was clawing them up. I had started to back her off from the doors and she had to sit before I opened them. She didn't like it...but she was complying. I had noticed an annoyed "look" in her eyes several times when she didn't get away with something (she came as a spoiled rotten belligerent brat)..so.. I wondered IF she was about to challenge me over this issue. When she decided to go for it... It was a blur.. ..and she nailed me hard. She didn't open her mouth, but she left a large tooth welt on my wrist. I instantly caught her scruff...jerked her up off the floor...and slammed her up against the wall. This was not preplanned...it was a knee jerk reaction. I held her there until she quit struggling and gave up. Then.. I dropped her...and walked away. Had she been any bigger I would not have been able to do what I did. That was our final meeting of the minds...and she never challenged me again over anything.



Surprisingly...she ceased a few other negative behaviors after that too which proved to me she KNEW what I wanted...she was just being a witch about a few things. I was afraid to rehome her for fear she'd get someone buffaloed and/or bite someone. I was her 5th owner in ONE year...and I would have put her down before rehoming her.



She's about 11 yrs old now...and with the exception of being dog aggressive - she turned into a dang good dog.



Legit

If people are being honest I bet every dog owner has *smacked* their dogs buns a few times. I certainly have...(also for chasing a cat I might add)...lol

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ADDED: legit

Curtis

It's my belief that if you get put in an instant position to have to deal with a problem that hits like a lightening bolt you don't have time to go put a dog on a leash and "recreate" the scenario so you can properly discipline the dog. In my case the dog had been corrected multiple times (leashed up) and was doing much better. Then..out of the blue...she did it...and did it royally. I always KNOW if a correction was delivered right or wrong by how the dog reacts the next time the situation presents itself.



The dog NEVER pawed on a door again, so I felt my delivery of such an aggressive, swift correction was by far the right correction to dole out.

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.ADDED#2. - legit

Since I do rescue dogs... I need to say there are some RARE exceptions with dealing with a "fear biter"....but.. that's a whole other topic. I would still correct the dog for snapping, but NOT the same way.



ADDED: #3 - legit

Curtis...

I can see you feel attacked (and for that...I'm sorry), but buddy...ain't NO way I'm going to RECREATE a bad behavior (or scenario) in a dog that I just successfully BROKE of doing (just so I can possibly do the PR approach of breaking her again (???)...what??). Now to me...that would be harassing a dog into exhibiting a negative behavior for no reason other then to follow some "cook book" steps in a training manual. If the correction can only be accomplished using a human training approach HOW EVER does a momma dog ever teach her puppies anything without a leash on them? She does it by other means of "leash free" communication. No ego involved at all. Also, as much as you will defend your methods (as we all do)..and feel the need to go in circles with a semantics argument... a correction is a correction IF IT "CORRECTS THE PROBLEM" you're trying to fix.



** cor·rec·tion

   /kəˈrɛkʃən/ Show Spelled[kuh-rek-shuhn] Show IPA

–noun

1.

something that is substituted or proposed for what is wrong or inaccurate; emendation.

2.

the act of correcting.

3.

punishment intended to reform, improve, or rehabilitate; chastisement; reproof.

.

All owners assume a certain amount of risk when correcting their dogs. That's the nature of owning and training animals.

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Answer 13

Uhh..My new puppy pooped in the house when I had just took her out. As she wasn't yet potty trained I scolded her and put her outside.

One of my older dogs chased a cat, I swatted her bottom. Not very hard, just enough to make her know I didn't like that.



https://answersrip.com/question/index?qid=20100718085428AA2BDEG

Answer 14

You've never handled my breed then lol

Holly can't hear well anymore, but when she could simply raising my voice would freak her out.

pretty typical of the breed. Very soft dogs and eager to please. With her I usually touch her to get her to knock it off. That's all that's needed.

Answer 15

Last night, I had to tackle Tiger to the ground for being food aggressive towards other dogs. I mean, I can't really blame him - he was trying to eat and two other dogs were crowding around him, trying to steal the food, but still - I will not accept him growling.



I've also correcting him by tackling before, but I don't remember for what. I haven't had to do it for awhile with the exception of last night.



Uh oh.. I'm an animal abuser! Someone call PeTA!



**Edit: I probably would have done what Bells did, as I agree with what she did. However, I had no prong collar or leash on me, and I didn't want any fights to ensue.. I kinda had no choice.

**Edit: Agree 100% w/Felicia's add on.

Answer 16

GSD have all been trained with coorrections from a prong or chocker..After that initial training I never once had to use anything other than my voice as a correction.Firm and stern stopped these dogs in their tracks.

The 1 pekingese boy and the biggest was hung with a choker 2ft off the ground for starting fights with the others.I used it 1x and it was Greeks suggestion and he never did it again.

Curtis you have no control over your dog with so many training tools and the dog still is'nt listening.If he had been properly trained then he would of listened on your first call to stay and sit..To have to resort to the type of training tool you are using on full power to get control I say you have a lot of work to do.Just think if this was abusy highway..Dog dead,plain and simple..

Answer 17

He snapped whilst taking food from my hand a few years ago. Food aggression or any form of it is something i will not deal with, no excuses, not in any form at all.

My hand met his head and then his head met the floor.

It was instant and effective. What was running through my mind was ''you will not do that and think you can get away with it in future''.

He has never snapped or curled a lip around food since. I can put my fingers in his mouth as he is chewing and he doesn't b-tch... of course not something i do everytime but i wanted to get him to the point where he COULD tolerate something like that.

Despite a popular opinion, no my dog doesn't quiver in fear or flinch when i put my hands on him now... he knew exactly what he did to deserve that.

My 9 year old nephew was hand feeding him pieces of carrot just a few hours ago... and my dog was gentle as a lamb with him...

He is an easy going dog for the most part, but that was completely unacceptable behaviour from him.

Answer 18

I am not an animal fanatic but I do think that anyone who raises their hand to a dog in anger is brutal and I wish the dog could do it to them. It really strikes me as ironic that some of your so called "top contributors" are animal beaters. I wonder if they treat their children or wives like that also. And I could care less what their feeling toward me are. They say their behavior worked and their dogs are so well behaved now but I will bet you anything that whether they show it or not there is a feeling of fear for them and I for one do not want my dog afraid of me in any way shape or form. So go ahead and hate me and slam what I had to say, actually if makes me feel great that I struck a nerve.

Answer 19

Murphy growling and snapping when eating his GOOD bone



Prong went on, i approached again and corrected the heck out of him.....It served its purpose

Answer 20

Aggression breeds aggression. By making your dog fear you, you are only giving it a negative experience, associating you as negative.



Teach your dog what you want him to do instead. Get rid of that communication barrier. Don't just beat it.



**Back when i was younger, I used to hold my golden's snout when he would growl at me...as soon as I would let go he would bite me.



Hmmm....When I hear someone saying they popped their dogs head into their big wheel.... kind of makes me wonder how people "correct" their kids when they misbehave.



And no...I don't think you are animal abusers...I just think you need to catch up with science. Having to dominate/or beating your dog is such an archaic method. You just need to teach your dogs the proper behaviors. And teaching your dog not to growl...only ends up in bites "out of nowhere." If you own a dog, take the time to train it properly. Don't beat your dog to comply...just because they will listen immediately out of fear. It may work in the short term....but the long term effects are not good. As a trainer, I can see all these little problems that are overlooked from dominance training. Such as getting snappy or aggressive just because you are grabbing their collar. But people will be stubborn and stick to their old ways instead of looking to better their methods.



Really funny how some of you guys are getting SO heated about the right way to train a dog. Telling each other how the other person is SOOO uneducated because "they only trained ONE dog." Well....to the people who are saying that....what education have you received? Because I'm pretty sure if you kept up with the science of dog training, you wouldn't be saying the things you say. I'm sure most of you who answered have very little education in dog training, besides the fact that you have trained your own dogs.





Here's what I think:



People on here will think twice about giving health advice. Ask the vet, they say. They do this because they know how detrimental it can be to give someone the wrong advice when it comes to a pets health.



With behavior issues being one of the main causes of death for a dog, I think people should think twice about giving advice for that too. Leave it up to the professionals to give sound advice.



ADDED:

Anzie- What you could have done is fixed the problem and not the symptom.

The problem being- dog aggression.

The symptom- the growling, snapping, etc.

I just adopted a dog with dog aggression 4, almost 5 months ago. She's completely fine when I take her for walks because I created positive experiences with other dogs for her. But, until I had the problem fixed.....I walked on the other side of the road when I saw dogs coming my way. Avoiding the negative situation that could have arised.

Answer 21

Bells was the only one to do the INTELLIGENT thing. I read 2 other people's fonts and they acted immaturely and hot headed. They're lucky they didn't get bitten. You NEVER train out of anger, when you start following your emotions in training it ceases to be training.



Bells had the right idea, to step away from the situation because she wasn't in position to correct the dog. She then put a prong and leash on him, and "baited" him into repeating the behavior. WAY TO USE A FUNCTIONAL ADULT HUMAN BRAIN!!! She used her human intelligence to problem solve. She picked her battles wisely and abandoned a futile attempt to correct the dog, and instead introduced another, similar situation that gave her perfect opportunity and capitalized on it. Bravo.



The hardest I've had to correct Han so far was just yesterday when he decided to chase a little stray mutt. He was fine until it decided to run up on him barking then run. I gave him a couple of chances to recall, he didn't, he was wearing a Dogtra 1900 with the rheostat dial, I flicked it all the way up and turned on the continuous stim, he turned back to me, drama over, lesson learned. Failure to recall is always unacceptable with my dogs.



Again Bells, good example how to do things right. I saw like I said, 2 answers where they should've done the same thing you did but failed to do so out of emotion. As far as popping Hooch on the butt I don't think that was inherently dangerous, but you said he did it again, so it was ineffective. A sharp leash correction would've went a lot longer. One GOOD correction is better than 100 tugging ones. I give few corrections, but the corrections I do give are swift, well timed, and unpleasant...just like they should be...and that's why I don't have to give many corrections.



-edit- Pinning a dog, or using a dominant dog collar to withhold air isn't a correction, it's a self-defense/emergency technique to stop a dangerous situation. It can teach a dog not to repeat the behavior but it still isn't a correction.



-re-edit- Again Felicia that wasn't a correction, that was defending yourself. The perfect example of how to get your face ripped off or hand de-gloved (skin forcefully pulled off of the flesh of your hand)...do what some of the other posters have said such as slapping a dog for biting at your hand. Any dog worth it's salt would accept your challenge and you'd be in the hospital with your feelings, ego AND body hurt.



Slapping a dog in that situation is NOT self-defense, it's a poorly planned, poorly thought out correction.



But, Felicia, you could've also baited her into the behavior again with a leash and training collar and REALLY corrected her and ended the behavior in a few training sessions. Avoidance training should never take more than 3 or 4 sessions because the corrections should be so harsh that the behavior goes extinct fairly rapidly.



8 TD's = 8 people who let their emotions run their training apparently, feel sorry for their animals that they don't deserve!



-edit- Nikko you have NO idea what you're talking about. The "dog" is an 11 month old puppy #1 (aka not finished training and probably better trained than anything you could ever produce). #2 the dog did stop after it was corrected, which is the purpose of the e-collar...control off leash. Also I didn't have to turn it all the way up, I CHOSE to. I chose to make not coming to me when called regardless of the distraction the worst thing he's ever felt...at his stage in training I didn't expect him to not break off. #3 a dog has to mess up for you to correct it in the first place. You don't know what the **** you're talking about...which is obvious because you think hanging a dog is a correction...which of course, it's not...which I just said for the 3rd time just now! Any time you want to compare your mutts to my dogs feel free to youtube a video. "What if it had been a busy highway"...why would I have an 11 month old on the side of a busy highway off leash? Why wouldn't I have been in a privately owned field training like I was? Why do you think you know my dog, or my training methods? Why don't you ask questions instead of pretending to know what you're talking about?



"With so many tools"...yeah the same tools your best friend who you just gave a shout out to (Greek) uses. We both use 1900NCPs exclusively. The next time you want to try to make me look stupid make sure you can do it without making yourself look stupid first. have a nice day :)



-edit- No Felicia I do not feel attacked by you you just voiced your opinion. Nikko was the one -trying- to start drama. Felicia I see exactly what you're saying but that worked for ONE dog. Try that with a REAL handler hard dog and you'd be dead if no one was home to help you. I work with 90lbs bruisers and they can kill you. You don't pick your battles you get KILLED or end up in the hospital. I remember when it was the thing to do...meet aggression head on. But after puberty and the testosterone drop (lol) I've come to realize that there are some battles you can't win. If your dog had been a 110 pound Rottie who said "OKAY FELICIA LET'S FIGHT THEN" you'd have gone to the hospital that day. You CAN NOT beat a 110lbs Rottie nor can I nor every criminal who thought they could and ended up in jail bruised, slobbered on, and stitched up with no pain meds (no narcotic pain relievers in jail...sucks huh?).



-edit- LOL Uncle Ed! SOME people have seen my other dogs, I think it's more fun to watch you and your middleaged friends with nothing better to do assume! Teehee! I don't play much but I love making you play my game! Haha! NOW! Put your heads together and think of something else collectively intelligent to say!

Answer 22

when my dog pooped on my sisters bed. the punishment was an outdoor doggy :(

Answer 23

Dogs will be dogs wat can i say but rules still need to be enforced and i think the best way to do that is to treat them like a child and put them in a time out or something

Answer 24

please use what has worked for me so many times. When a dog does something wrong I use a spray bottle of water ,squirt them ( they hate water in their faces) and I use the word NO in a firm voice.

If you use force and or hit them, you will instill fear into them and then you end up with a huge problem on your hands.

But only water. That's all