Dog Health Questions: Questions about dog training?

Okay...so my grandma has two dog that are EXTREMELY well trained and I asked her secret so I could use it to my dog and she said "If they do something bad, I just swat them on the but once. It isn't hard but it is enough to let them know they did wrong. Just like I did with my kids" her dogs don't even ACT abused...if they do something she doesn't like she will just yell "Stop That!" and they stop instantly. They just grab their toy or play with her. They wag their tails all the time and are so happy, too. My dogs have never even been hit (except for my beagle when we was a puppy. We adopted him from a abusive family member) and they act terribly abused! If I go to raise my hand to do something...they cower down instantly. The most we ever did was say in a loud (but stern) voice "No." yet they act like they have been beaten senseless.

Is there any truth to what my grandma says? Why is it that my dogs act abused, but my grandma's dogs don't? Is a little swat on the butt okay in teaching a dog? Is what my grandma does abusive?

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Without seeing it in person, but going by your post I would say No, what your grandma is doing is not abusive.

Even though dogs should be respected and treated as dogs, I will use a human example to explain. A lot of the same principles in raising well behaved kids applies to raising well behaved dogs. All kids need exercise (mental and physical), Discipline and affection.

What your grandmother does is uses DISCIPLINE and not abuse. And this is why her dogs do not act abused, they aren't.

With kids, we use time outs as the most effective way to discipline them. But kids rationalize and can think over their actions. Dogs are instinct only, they don't rationalize their actions.

So a positive marker (reward) is getting to play or getting food from your grandma, while a negative marker (correction) is a quick swat on the butt. (other people use collars or simulate bites with their hands, or neck pokes)

As long as the actions are not causing physical, emotional or mental harm, its not classified as abuse. People who have done a good job raising their kids, often times have an easier time with their dogs because they understand the balance of reward and discipline. (always exceptions though)

So what you would need to implement with your own dogs is a structured, exercise routine, mental and physical stimulation, discipline when needed and affection when they have earned it.

Good question!

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• Many people take poor training and socialization as signs of abuse. It's nearly impossible to tell from a dog's demeanor if there is abuse in his past.
  
  Is your grandmother abusing her dogs? Not in the eyes of the law. Is it necessary to attack your dog when you're angry at them? Absolutely not. Hitting is not the answer. Hitting comes from your own anger, not from teaching the dog anything. Hitting is for people too lazy to train.


• Well every dog has a different temperament I would say your grandmas dogs can handle how she treats them. Allot of dogs would be shutdown with what she is doing. I personally try not to use the methods she uses and I think you should also some dogs only need a bit of redirection and reward when the dog is doing the right thing.
  
  So since you are asking this and you have said what you have you know harsh corrections are not needed so don't use them.


• they probably act like that because you raising your hand or yelling reminds them of when they were being abused. it's nothing that you are doing wrong.. it's the dog's past that makes it more sensitive to discipline
  
  maybe your grandma's approach would work for different dogs, but it seems that your dogs don't respond to it well