This blog post was inspired by an episode of Bones. Take a peek at this excerpt. (Viewing time: 1 min)
https://www.facebook.com/dogsloveacademy/videos/228218431160138/
The video clip shown here is from an episode of Bones. It’s about a dog who was trained to be a fighter and he was put down because he attacked a human.
Too frequently we come across people who think they need to train their dog to be aggressive in order to protect their owners or their property. This is entirely unnecessary as dogs are pack animals. They’ll instinctively protect their pack and their den (i.e. their family and their home).
Even worse, some people train their dogs for cruel and illegal dog fighting.
What many of us might not know is that training a dog using aggressive techniques such as yelling, yanking, rough handling, hitting or threatening to hit, or using devices such as shock and prong collars to the extent that the dog becomes traumatised, could be just as devastating to your dog’s future.
We often find a child raised using aggression becomes an adult with easily triggered aggressive behaviours. This is for two primary reasons:
– The first being that we tend to employ behaviours used by our parents, because that’s all we know;
– The second is because the trauma of being on the receiving end of that aggression has lifelong neurological consequences.
Even without delving into the neuroscience behind this, we can reasonably assume this has a similar effect on dogs, as mammals (humans included) share similar hind brain and limbic system structures: – the parts of the brain that determine the mammal’s reaction when triggered into fight/flight/freeze mode.
In practical terms, many of us have encountered dogs who behave like their owners. This is no coincidence.
So, even if fear and aggression based training seems to be working for you and your dog, consider the long-term consequences if your dog happens to be put in a position where it feels it has to fight for its life. One unfortunate incident, and your dog’s future could be taken out of your hands.
There are other, better, kinder, safer ways to train your dog.
