Punishing Your Dog Causes Long-Term Emotional Harm, According to Scientific Research

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Every pet owner knows the unparalleled love they share for their four-legged companions. Nonetheless, just like any other living being, dogs have their own unique quirks and sometimes, their antics may leave you pulling your hair out in frustration.

The Risks of Negative Reinforcement

Yet, it's critical to remember that venting out your irritation on your pooch is not the way to go, as highlighted by a 2020 study. The research cautions against the usage of negative reinforcement, such as shouting or punishment, as a means to discipline your dog.

This fascinating piece of research was conducted by a team of scientists from Portugal. The study uncovers the adverse impact of punishing training approaches on the overall well-being of your cherished pet.

Comparative Analysis: Reward-Based vs. Punitive Training

According to the study, dogs that are subjected to punishing training techniques are likely to have a lower quality of life during training sessions when compared to those trained using reward-based approaches.

The detrimental effects extend beyond training sessions as well, with the former group of dogs experiencing lower welfare levels in general.

While this isn't the first study to delve into the negative consequences of punishing training, past research has primarily focused on working dogs, such as police and laboratory dogs. The training tools often explored are also limited, with shock collar training being the most common.

However, this Portugal study zeroes in on our everyday household pets. For their study, the researchers recruited dogs from several training schools:

• 42 dogs from three schools that utilized reward-based methods like food rewards or play, and
• 50 dogs from four schools that resorted to punitive techniques such as shouting, physical manipulation, or leash-jerking. Of these, two schools used milder aversive training methods, while the other two were more severe.

Measuring Stress and Behavioral Impact

The dogs' behavior during the first quarter of an hour of three training sessions was video recorded, and saliva samples were taken to measure stress hormone cortisol levels - three from each dog at home to establish the baseline levels, and three post-training.

As expected, dogs subjected to punishing training exhibited more stress-related behaviors like yawning and lip-licking and also had higher cortisol levels compared to their home environment. In contrast, dogs trained through positive reinforcement exhibited fewer stress behaviors and had more normalized cortisol levels.

Long-Term Consequences of Training Methods

To understand the long-term repercussions of such stress, the researchers conducted a follow-up evaluation after a month.

The dogs were trained to associate a bowl on one side of a room with a treat. The placement of the bowl - either on the treat-side or the non-treat side - determined the presence or absence of the treat. All bowls were smeared with sausage scent to ensure the smell wouldn't reveal the bowl's contents.

The researchers then placed the bowls at ambiguous spots in the room to test how eagerly the dogs would approach, expecting a treat. A slower approach indicated a more pessimistic outlook on finding the treat.

The findings were compelling: the more punishing training a dog had undergone, the slower it approached the bowl. Intriguingly, dogs trained through rewards learned the bowl-location task quicker than the punishment-trained dogs, indicating that positive reinforcement might be more effective.

Conclusion

Overall, this study shows that reward-based training could be more conducive to your pet's happiness than punishing methods, which are detrimental to the well-being of pet dogs. So, the next time your pooch behaves badly, it may be better to think of a rewarding way to correct the behavior, for your dog's sake.