Dogs, Abuse, and Negative Reinforcement
Via Tom comes this story:
Garner told police that he had to rush the 3-year-old pit bull and her 9 week old puppy to an animal hospital because his father had stabbed them with a sword.
First, this guy is an evil bastard. Second, the article is interesting because (as I’ve mentioned before) the media always points out when dogs are pit bulls (which technically isn’t a breed but is commonly used to refer to the American Pit Bull Terrier) and rarely does it identify other breeds. And the media has misidentified dog breeds as well.
When it comes to dogs, negative reinforcement (i.e., punishing bad behavior) is usually not effective. You should train your dog to respond to a firm No command and when he stops the bad behavior, praise him. However, with some dogs, negative reinforcement is all they will respond to in some situations. If you have a stubborn dog and you have to punish him physically (which you shouldn’t do until you’ve exhausted all other forms of correction), lightly hit him with an open hand on his ribs. Don’t hit him hard, just enough to make a startling noise. That’s really all it takes to get their attention. Honest.
October 26th, 2003 at 10:05 pm
Another helpful Dog Tip. I had a friend who controlled two in-house Rottweilers with a spray bottle filed with plain water. Like you say, just get their attention, along with “no”. My own in-house Rott is scared to death of a broom. For no reason at all. She’s never been hit by the broom or anything else. But her broom paranoia makes it possible to get her under control with only the word “broom”. Yes, after I learned how much she hated the dreaded broom, I taught her the word!!! LOL Works every time.
October 27th, 2003 at 10:18 am
See this link for something funny about media headlines re: SUV’s
http://www.elephant-rants.blogspot.com/2003_10_26_elephant-rants_archive.html#106721972654893189
October 27th, 2003 at 10:45 am
Justin:
What has that got to do with dogs and dog abuse?
October 27th, 2003 at 10:49 am
I think he’s going for the comparison that:
1) the media is biased about pit bulls
2) the media is biased about SUVs
October 28th, 2003 at 1:21 pm
When it comes to dogs, negative reinforcement (i.e., punishing bad behavior) is usually not effective.
One nit to pick: you’ve fallen for the trap of the common misuse of the term “negative reinforcement.” “Reinforcement” is something you do to encourage a behavior. Positive reinforcement encourages a behavior by introducing a reward, such as a treat. Negative reinforcement encourages a behavior by taking something away, such as a restriction (in a dog’s case, removing the leash might be seen as negative reinforcement).
If you want to discourage a behavior, that’s done with punishment, be it positive or negative. Hitting a dog, or scolding it, would be considered “positive punishment,” and that’s mostly what you’re talking about. To round out the bill, “negative punishment,” would involve taking something away (food dish, favorite toy) as punishment for a transgression.
Truth to tell, pets don’t generally respond well to either negative, because they don’t really understand. They generally only understand the “positive” versions. That is, if I do this, I get praised, but If I do that, I get yelled at. Negative reinforcement and punishment are usually reserved for your kids, who understand those things (e.g., take away curfew for good behavior, take away TV for bad behavior).