If your dog does something you don’t want them to do, it’s understandable to want to stop the behaviour.
Perhaps you’ve been told to tell them off, be firmer, use a correction, or make the consequence unpleasant enough that they think twice next time.
And sometimes, it appears to work.
The dog stops.
But stopping a behaviour isn’t necessarily the same as changing why the behaviour was happening in the first place. And this is where things can get complicated.
If your dog is worried, frightened or uncomfortable, adding something unpleasant to the situation can potentially make them feel less safe, not more.
And feeling safe is one of the foundations that makes learning possible.
What do we actually mean by punishment?
In everyday conversation, punishment can mean all sorts of things: telling a dog off, shouting, jerking on the lead, using an unpleasant consequence or otherwise making a behaviour uncomfortable enough that the dog stops doing it.
In behaviour science, punishment has a more specific definition: something that makes a behaviour less likely to happen in the future.
But for this article, I don’t think the most useful question is:
“Does this technically count as punishment?”
The question I’m more interested in is:
What is your dog learning from the experience?
Because a dog can stop doing something without necessarily learning what we hoped they would learn.
1. The behaviour stops, but what has your dog learned?
Let’s imagine a dog who barks when they see another dog.
Their owner jerks on the lead when they bark. The dog stops barking.
On the surface, it might look like the training has worked. But what might the dog have learned?
Perhaps: “That dog made me hurt.”
And if that happens every time another dog appears, the connection can become stronger:
Dog appears → something unpleasant happens.
And then the next dog appears.
And the next one.
Soon, the dog may not just be worried about that particular dog. They may start anticipating that unpleasant experience whenever they see any dog.
So instead of helping the dog feel safer around other dogs, we’ve potentially added another reason for them to feel uncomfortable.
And there’s another complication.
What happens when the lead comes off?
When working with reactivity cases, clients often tell me that their dog is completely fine with other dogs when they’re off lead, despite reacting when they’re on lead.
That can make perfect sense.
Dogs are capable of learning very specific associations.
If the unpleasant experience only happens when the lead is on, they may learn:
Lead on + another dog = something unpleasant might happen.
When they’re off lead, that particular consequence isn’t available.
There’s another layer to this too:
If my dog is only on lead when they’re close to me, then being close to me and being on lead can become part of that picture.
That doesn’t mean this is necessarily what a particular dog has learned, but it’s one reason it’s worth thinking carefully about the associations we’re creating.
2. Recall is another big example
Recall is one of the easiest places for us to accidentally make coming back to us less rewarding.
Imagine your dog is happily running around off lead.
You call them. They come back.
Then you’re annoyed because they’ve taken ages.
Perhaps they get told off. Maybe you immediately put their lead on and the fun ends.
Or perhaps you’ve had to grab them because they were doing something you didn’t want them to do.
From our perspective, we might be thinking:
“They ignored me! They need to learn to come back when I call.”
But from the dog’s perspective, coming back to you can start to predict things they don’t particularly enjoy.
Why come back to someone who might be annoyed?
Why come back if there’s a risk of discomfort or worse?
Why come back if coming back means the fun ends?
A dog who has repeatedly experienced unpleasant consequences around returning to their person may become less willing to return when there are other interesting options available.
This is why I think recall is much more than simply teaching a cue.
We want our dogs to learn:
Coming back to you is a good thing.
Not:
Coming back to you is where the trouble starts.
3. Before changing behaviour, rule out pain
There’s another question I think belongs right at the beginning of any behaviour conversation:
Could my dog be in pain?
Pain can change behaviour in all sorts of ways.
A dog who is uncomfortable may become more irritable, less tolerant, more reluctant to move, less willing to interact, or react differently to things they previously coped with.
If we look only at the behaviour, we can easily end up trying to train something that isn’t really a training problem in the first place.
If your dog is in pain, training cannot fix the underlying physical problem.
At best, training may suppress some of the outward behaviour while the dog continues to experience the thing causing it.
If the underlying pain isn’t addressed, the behaviour may become more difficult over time as the dog continues to feel uncomfortable.
So if your dog’s behaviour has changed suddenly, seems unusual for them, or you’re seeing behaviour alongside signs of discomfort, it’s important to speak to your vet and consider whether pain or another physical issue could be contributing.
Before asking “How do I stop this behaviour?”, sometimes the first question needs to be “Is my dog physically OK?”
I’ll be exploring the connection between pain and behaviour in much more detail in a future blog, because it’s a really important subject in its own right.
4. Feeling safe is important for learning
This brings us back to one of the most important foundations of training:
Does my dog feel safe?
When we feel unsafe, our brains and bodies aren’t particularly interested in learning something new.
Our priority is getting away from the threat, protecting ourselves or reducing the danger.
Dogs experience something similar.
If a dog is frightened, overwhelmed or anticipating something unpleasant, asking them to concentrate, engage with us and learn a new behaviour can become much harder.
Imagine trying to learn something while waiting for someone to shout at you every time you get it wrong.
You might be able to perform the behaviour.
But would you feel relaxed?
Would you be confident about trying something new?
Would you be keen to engage with the person teaching you?
This is why approaches that rely on fear, intimidation or punishment can potentially make training harder.
If your dog starts anticipating that something unpleasant might happen, we’ve potentially compromised one of the very things we need for learning:
Feeling safe enough to engage.
5. Suppressing behaviour doesn’t necessarily remove the feeling underneath
This is particularly important when we’re talking about fear, anxiety or discomfort.
A dog who growls when someone approaches their food is communicating something.
If we punish the growl, we may get less growling.
But that doesn’t automatically mean the dog is now more comfortable with someone approaching their food.
We’ve potentially changed how they communicate, rather than changing how they feel.
And this is where punishment can become particularly concerning.
If a dog learns that their subtle attempts to communicate discomfort don’t work – perhaps turning away, freezing, moving away, lip licking, growling or other signals are repeatedly ignored or punished – they may become less likely to use those signals.
That can leave us with the classic:
“The bite came out of nowhere.”
Except sometimes, it didn’t.
The earlier communication may simply have been missed, misunderstood or suppressed.
If the dog has learned that the subtle signals don’t work, they may eventually move to a behaviour that is much harder to ignore.
This is particularly important around children, where being able to recognise and respect a dog’s communication can be crucial for safety.
Removing a warning isn’t the same as removing the reason for the warning.
6. “But my dog stopped doing it…”
This is probably the biggest reason punishment can be tempting. And I don’t doubt that it can stop behaviour.
That’s part of what makes it appealing, it feels like we can relax, it reduces our own frustration.
If a dog barks and something unpleasant happens, and then the dog stops barking, it can feel like:
Problem solved.
But we need to look a little deeper.
Has the dog learned that barking isn’t necessary because they now feel safe?
Or have they learned that barking results in something unpleasant?
Those are very different lessons.
The same applies to growling, pulling, jumping up, running away, reacting to other dogs and all sorts of other behaviours.
The absence of a behaviour doesn’t necessarily tell us how the dog is feeling.
And if the underlying emotion hasn’t changed, suppressing the outward behaviour can sometimes leave us with a dog who is simply communicating less clearly.
So what should we do instead?
This doesn’t mean we have to let our dogs do whatever they want.
Reward-based training doesn’t mean having no boundaries.
We still need to keep dogs and other people safe.
We can manage situations, prevent access to things that aren’t safe, use leads and long lines, change the environment, move away from triggers and teach alternative behaviours.
But we can do all of those things without deliberately making our dogs frightened or uncomfortable.
And when something isn’t going well, we can go back to the foundations.
Does my dog feel safe?
Can I give them more distance? Reduce the pressure? Change the environment?
Have their needs been met?
Could they be tired, frustrated, under-stimulated or simply in need of an opportunity to behave like a dog? Are they in pain?
Are we connected?
Have I built a relationship where my dog feels safe engaging with me?
Are we enjoying this together?
Can I make the learning easier, more enjoyable and less pressured?
Is choosing me rewarding?
Can I give my dog a reason to want to come back, check in or engage with me?
These are the five questions I explore in more detail in my blog, Stop Asking “Why Won’t My Dog Listen?” – Ask These Five Questions Instead.
The goal isn’t just to stop the behaviour
When we’re frustrated by something our dog is doing, it’s completely understandable to want it to stop.
But behaviour is communication.
And if we only focus on stopping what we don’t like, we can miss the opportunity to understand why it’s happening.
Punishment can sometimes suppress a behaviour without changing the underlying emotion or need.
When fear, anxiety or discomfort are involved, adding the anticipation of something unpleasant can potentially make the situation more difficult rather than easier.
Instead, we can ask:
What is my dog experiencing?
What are they learning from this?
How can I help them feel safe?
And what can I teach them instead?
Because the goal isn’t simply to have a dog who stops doing things we don’t like.
It’s to help them feel safe, confident and able to make better choices.
And sometimes, the most effective way to change behaviour isn’t to make the unwanted behaviour more unpleasant.
It’s to make the behaviour we want easier, safer and more worthwhile.
Want to take the five questions with you?
I’ve created a free guide exploring the five foundations I think are worth considering before we try to change a behaviour.
The Five Questions Every Dog Is Answering
You’ll discover how safety, needs, connection, enjoyment and rewards can all influence your dog’s ability to learn, and how looking at these foundations can give you a clearer place to start.