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Ask Yvette

Last week we looked at puppy classes and what you should expect. This week, we'll look at a topic that can bring out an emotional outburst in many. How do you discipline your puppy?

Discipline, like many words, carries a number of definitions. It can be tossed about and used to justify many things. Some people take the “rod of discipline,” very literally. Other people equate discipline with abuse.

Personally, I have always favored view that discipline involves structure, order and teaching. The roots of the word actually do come from teaching. Think of words like disciple. In my opinion, there is a teacher and student relationship implied in there.

And that is what I find makes the terms so interesting. Replace the word discipline with teaching, and immediately you get a very different feel for what the word might have the capacity to convey.

Dogs do need discipline. The problem is that many people do not do it very well. Creating discipline – err teaching – falls on the shoulders of the individual in charge. Instead, many people fall into using punishment, which blames the student.

I find that maintaining order is a balancing act. If you go too far one way, you will have a dog that does what they want, when they want. You will probably have some level of chaos. On the other extreme is abuse. No amount of arguing will convince me that animals need to be physically harmed with kicking and beatings.

In the middle of that spectrum are good solid leadership skills. Picture an employer that you respect. It's unlikely that your boss yells or whines. Picture an emergency room doctor dealing with crisis. They lead, they don't whine. Imagine a firefighter calmly but firmly establishing boundaries. And for a humorous picture, imagine The Donald saying, “You're fired.” There is authority conveyed in the tone, mannerisms and convictions of people with power. They make the rules clear and rarely need to resort to more than a firm directive. Going firmer is the exception, not the rule. That type of order and discipline is commanded not demanded.

Yes, people fall hook, line and sinker for strategies such as, “You must alpha roll a puppy to gain leadership and discipline.” No you don't. You need to behave like a consistent leader. You need to teach what you want, and control the environment so the puppy gets it. You can be both kind and firm.

Other people fall into the too nice category. In an effort to not do any harm, they let a puppy get away with too much. Then out of frustration, they fall into nagging, blaming and whining. That is not discipline. When I see nagging, I see a leadership weakness.

Discipline does not have to involve pain or blame. That isn't to say that I have not met dogs that have been physically punished who are nice. But I have seen far too many people who punish out of frustration. You'll see people jerking on a leash in anger, not strategy. It's the angry spanker situation applied to dogs. It's not effective, and it tells me that the human is out of control.

That's what makes watching a great leader so incredible. They do it with a smile on their face. They usually get high levels of compliance because they have earned that respect.

Next week: Leadership strategies and plans for new puppy owners.

Yvette is an award winning pet writer and pet behavior columnist. She also is the author of Meeting Milo, a North American dog bite prevention program to reduce the approximately 2 million children bit by dogs annually. She is the owner of AwesomeDogs.ca and works as a behavior consultant in London, Ontario.

This column was originally featured in The Londoner
See more of Yvette... www.awesomedogs.ca
www.meetingmilo.com

Yvette has 2 dogs of her own, KIKI and KAYA. Take a look...

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