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Most breed books also warn against leaving Min Pins unattended in a fenced yard because they will almost always bark their silly heads off.

So here’s the situation. One of the keys to finally cracking the code on housetraining Royce was allowing him unlimited access to our fenced backyard through a dog door. Once he discovered he could use the backyard to relieve himself as often as necessary without bad consequences, he stopped mistaking the interior of our house for a toilet. You can see what’s coming next, can’t you?

The note from our neighbors arrived Saturday night. We found the note wedged in the frame of our front door upon our return from dinner and a movie. The note began: “My name is ___________ and I live adjacent to you. I truly don’t mean to be a burden, but your dog is making it extremely tough to enjoy our backyard. . .” The rest of the note was equally cordial, rational and sensible. My wife and I felt very bad. Not only had we caused our kind neighbor much aggravation. We also realized we had our head buried in the sand about Royce’s behavior. We sent a letter of apology along with a gift because we were both too embarrassed to face our neighbor.

At this point, the dog door is barred. Royce only goes out on a leash. He may still go into the backyard, but only when one of us is there to watch him. I am hoping Royce has learned his housetraining lessons and will not decorate our house in between outings, but I am not optimistic. I will not rehash the whole housebreaking bit other than to say this is a dog that has actually peed in his own crate and laid in the puddle.

The Solution?
What to do about that barking when unsupervised? I’ve tried everything you have ever read or heard about: Distractions; ambushes; obedience training; positive reinforcement for non-barking behavior.* The only thing I have not tried is an anti-bark device attached to his collar. I did buy one, but it sits un-opened in a cabinet in the kitchen. I decided not to use the device after 1. researching the effectiveness of the device and, 2. thinking about the consequences. For research, I not only did some online reading, I also talked to our customers at Kelsey’s Dog House who have tried various contraptions. Here is what I found:

Loud speakers and other area broadcast devices: These are anti-bark devices that project a loud and supposedly punishing sound whenever your dog barks. The sound is supposed to cover a wide enough area that it should suppress barking in a typical backyard. It doesn’t. None of these machines cover a large enough area, nor do they create a powerful enough sound to deter a dog from barking. Result: Ineffective.

Spray device: This type of collar attachment is supposed to spray your dog with either water or a benign chemical–usually citronella–in response to his bark. There are three drawbacks to this type of machine. First, it is nearly impossible to keep the spray focused on your dog’s face where it will do the most good. As the dog moves around, the spray nozzle’s aim point moves, so the spray rarely hits the target. Second, the reservoir in the device is very small and needs frequent refilling. Third, the citronella spray will saturate your dog’s fur and anything he comes near. You can imagine the drawbacks of this side-effect. Result: Ineffective.

Shrill noise collar attachment: This principle behind this type of aid is the same as the loud speaker device mentioned above. The only difference is the loud speaker is attached to your dog’s collar, so there is no getting away from it. No one I have talked to has said the attachment works consistently. Apparently, most dogs can get used to the shrill noise with repeated exposure, so the noise becomes an add-on to barking. This is a battery operated device and the battery tends to run down very quickly. Result: Ineffective.

Shock collar attachment: A shock device is usually contained in a unit about the size of two matchboxes stacked on top of each other. Some are smaller, but even the smallest are relatively large and heavy for a small dog’s neck. The shock unit has two metal prongs protruding from its underside. When strapped onto your dog’s collar these metal prongs press into your dogs neck. When the unit senses a bark, a capacitor—which stores an electrical charge—dumps a charge into on of the prongs contacting your dog’s neck. The electrical charge passes from that prong across the skin of your dog’s neck towards the opposite prong, causing a jolt of pain. The flash of pain should startle your dog and stop him from barking. In practice, the device works. Everyone I have talked to said as long as they were able to keep the electrical probes in good contact with their dog’s skin, the dog stopped barking instantly and permanently. After only a few jolts, the dog never barked again as long as the device remained in place. One owner said his dog learned to create a low intensity bark that fooled the device. He said the modified bark was low enough that he could live with it. Result: Effective.

It seems a shock collar is the solution to our problems with Royce. As I said at the beginning of this article, there are solutions to this problem. I don’t like any of them.

Not the Solution
Here is my beef with shock collar attachments. First, there is the physical consequence. Almost all of the dogs we groom who wear these devices have scabs on their neck from constant rubbing of the metal prongs. The prongs, though dull and rounded, still irritate skin. There is no evidence to support a claim the electric shocks cause any physical damage. Some people say that shock collar devices cause burns or other injury related to electric shock, but these claims are completely unsupported. Manufacturers say the shock delivered mimics the static shock you might feel touching a doorknob on a dry winter day. I beg to differ. The shock I have felt from one of these devices hurts quite a bit more than static electricity.

Physical impact aside, I do have a moral dilemma with shock devices. While I do not believe in punishment-based training, (There is an extensive article on the pitfalls of punishment here,) my dilemma goes even further. Forcing my dog to carry around a pain delivery system on his neck makes me queasy. Make no mistake. I am not an animal rights activist, nor am I a tree hugger in any sense of the word. I do love my dog as a dog, having never viewed him as a human or as my child. Ascribing human qualities to dogs causes nothing but trouble for dogs. I do believe dog’s have emotions, simple though they may be. I also believe dogs develop strong bonds of trust with worthy owners. I feel it is a betrayal of a dog’s trust and loyalty to saddle him with a source of punishment that is beyond the control of his owner.

There is nothing rational in my argument. After all, the delivery of punishment is entirely under the dog’s control. Bark equals pain. No bark equals no pain. These devices are very reliable. When a high-quality unit is adjusted properly, there is almost no chance a shock will be delivered as long as the dog does not bark. On better units, the shock intensity can be dialed up or down depending the individual dog’s tolerance level so there is no need to deliver any more pain than the absolute minimum necessary to get the job done.

What My Gut Tells Me
Having said all that, my gut tells me a shock collar is not the solution for Royce. I cannot, in good conscience, strap a source of pain to a loving companion that trusts me implicitly. I also feel a shock collar is a lazy solution—one that takes responsibility for Royce’s behavior off my shoulders. I realize there are dog owners who have tried everything else. Their incorrigible barkers will not respond to human direction. For them, the shock collar may be the last resort; and the difference between keeping a dog or turning it in to a shelter. It’s not for me and my dogs.

Let us Know
Just curious. If you have tried an anti-bark device on your dog, would you please let me and your fellow readers know whether it worked as intended and whether there were any drawbacks? If you represent a company that manufactures an anti-bark device, would you also please respond to this article so our readers could have more information about your product? Thank you! J.K.

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*To say I reinforced non-barking behavior is mis-leading. One cannot actually reinforce a behavior that does not occur. One can only reinforce active behavior that replaces undesirable behavior. For example, if Royce typically barks at a dog, I may pet and praise him for quietly sniffing the other dog instead of barking.

Use the signs.

“Disculpe me. ¿Donde esta la puerta E-cinquinta de San Salvadore?” (Pardon me. Where is gate E-15 for San Salvadore?)

“I don’t speak Spanish. I don’t know what you want,” says the person whose help is being sought.

“¿Que?” (What?)

The person speaks to the visitor in a louder voice, almost shouting. “YOU SHOULD TRY TO FIND SOMEONE WHO SPEAKS SPANISH BECAUSE I CANNOT HELP YOU!! DO YOU UNDERSTAND?!”

“¿Que?” (What?)

Why am I talking about this situation in a website about small dog care? The airport situation I have just described is metaphor for how some of us try to communicate with our dogs.

Typically, when a dog does not seem to understand us on the first attempt, some of us try some rather crazy methods to get our point across, and yes, shouting is one of those methods. It gets very weird when we try and fail. Instead of trying something new, we do the same thing over and over again with increasing intensity: “I don’t speak Spanish. Understand? I don’t speak Spanish. I DON’T SPEAK SPANISH!! UNDERSTAND?! ARE YOU DEAF?!”

I have to quote Einstein, who said “Insanity: doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.” Punishing our dogs for bad behavior is one of those things we try over and over again. Even though punishment rarely works as intended, we keep turning to it, especially when we are frustrated with our dogs’ behavior.

How I Help

Here is how I try to help a lost passenger from another country. First, I point to the boarding card that the passenger is typically holding. When the passenger gives me the card, I look at the passenger’s name, the destination, and the departure gate, all of which are clearly printed there. Next, using a combination of the 20 or so Spanish words I know, I speak single words as I point to the overhead airport signs that are printed in different languages. Gestures and single words usually get the job done. If the passenger still seems lost, and I have time, I will lead them to the gate or at least to the correct concourse and then point in the direction of the gate. It gets the job done.

“Gracias, senor. Gracias!”

“De nada.” It really is nothing. We tend to complicate communication unnecessarily.

What Your Dog Understands

Here is how this is relevant to your dog. First, whether or not you have trained your dog using commands, your dog understands at least a few words of English simply through everyday experience. It is likely your dog knows, for example, “Walk,” “Out,” “Treat,” or “Cookie,” “Car,” or “Ride,” “Food/Dinner,” and, most importantly, “No,” and “Good dog!” He may pretend he does not know the words “Quiet,” and “Stop,” and “Get the hell off me,” or some variation of these. He probably does know what these mean and chooses to ignore them out of self-interest. If you would, hang on to the idea of dogs acting in their own self-interest. I am going to use this thought to tie everything together towards the conclusion of this article.

Second, your dog can read you like a book. If he is interested in doing so, he can probably read your body language and facial expressions. He is acutely attuned to your moods. (See my article “Barometer Dog” for more on your dog’s sensitivity to your moods and behavior.) There is even some evidence to support your dog’s ability to detect your general disposition using scent. (“Oh brother, this guy stinks like anger!”) This is important to keep in mind because it implies you do not have to clobber your dog over the head to get your point across. Your dog usually knows which way your thoughts are heading, sometimes even before you do.

Here is where we are so far. Through practical experience, you and your dog have some verbal language in common. Two of the most important words you share in common are “No,” and “Good dog!” You and your dog also have a non-verbal language in common, largely thanks to your dog’s sensitivity to your moods and behavior. Sounds like you have a great starting place for getting your point across to your dog.

Simple Language and Good Timing

Using simple language and, even more importantly, gestures and other physical signs, you can have a simple and effective conversation with your dog. It is, for example, completely unnecessary and even counter-productive to shout at your dog when he barks non-stop at something through the window. Your response? “Royce, stop barking this instant or I am going to come in there and let you have it!” Better to get your point across with a calm and assertive “No!” along with a snap of your fingers that implies, “Pay attention to me. I’m not happy with you at the moment.”

Timing is also critical to communication with your dog. Have you ever listened to one of those interviews on a cable news show in which the reporter and the interviewee are on opposite sides of the world? The reporter asks a question and it take several seconds for the interviewee to answer. It is so strained, it is almost embarrassing and it is certainly hard to follow. Sometimes, if the topic is rather dry, you might feel like changing the channel rather than enduring the long gaps in conversation. Same thing with your dog. If you take too long to respond to your dog’s behavior, your dog will change channels. By “too long,” I mean seconds. Your dog has an extremely short attention span. If he pees in the house and you respond to the accident more than a few seconds later, your dog will make no connection between peeing in the house and your response of displeasure. None, zero. To sum up, in order for your dog to connect what he has done and your response, you must respond within a second or two of his behavior. There is no exception to this rule.

Self-Interest

Let’s wrap it up with a discussion of self-interest. When a foreign passenger asks me for assistance, I’ve got that passenger’s full attention. He knows if he does not get the information he needs from me or someone else, he is going to miss his flight. Most international departures only happen once per day and most flights are usually fully booked. If he misses his flight, he is not only going to wait a full day for another chance, he might also not get on the flight leaving tomorrow. Earlier I said even though your dog may know the word “Quiet,” that does not mean he will respond to it. If there is a bigger payoff, (in his mind,) for continuing barking versus going quiet on your command, he is definitely going to continue barking. Even if he shuts up on command, he will likely resume barking after a few moments if that remains the best deal for him.

You can work your understanding of self-interest to your advantage. No matter what you want your dog to do, you will get your best results if you create a situation in which it is in the dog’s best interest to do what you want. The process is intuitively simple. If you want your dog to do something, praise and treats in response to good behavior is a must. If you want your dog to stop doing something, not only tell him what you want, give him a better alternative as well. “Hey buddy, let’s go play ball.” Let me be clear about that last part. Never bribe your dog away from bad behavior. For example, offering a treat to stop barking may seem like a good idea. Your dog’s simple logic will twist that treat into a reward for barking. I know some people who throw cookies at their dog’s feet to get him to stop jumping up on guests. Bear in mind they don’t tell the dog to stop jumping up. They bait the dog off people by throwing cookies on the floor while the dog is jumping up. Here is the result:

“I jump on people, and I am rewarded. Jumping on people is good.”

The correct strategy is to use good, clear communication to stop your dog from doing a bad behavior, and then, once the bad behavior has stopped completely, offer an alternative that the dog enjoys. This method becomes a 3-step process:

1. Tell your dog what you want using verbal and visual signals: “Royce, down.”
2. Give praise for a proper response: “Good boy!”
3. When your dog stops jumping up and is calm: “Let’s go play ball buddy.”

One More Alternative

Before I close, let me offer one other alternative for you. When in doubt, ignoring bad behavior is far better than punishing it. Given a dog’s short attention span, if his bad behavior is not getting the result he seeks out of self-interest, the bad behavior will die of neglect. At Kelsey’s Dog House, I will occasionally take a seat in one of the daycare rooms. Almost immediately, 3 or 4 dogs will begin balancing themselves upright against my legs. They want to get up in my lap. My response is to pretend they are not even there. I don’t speak to them. I don’t look at them. I don’t touch them. Within 30 or 40 seconds, without fail, all of the dogs who were seeking my lap will give up and walk away.

Telling a dog what you want is very simple. We humans, being complicated creatures, tend to complicate our communication with dogs. We find it hard to believe we can get our point across with single words, spoken calmly, using gestures to make our point.

Punished pup.
(photo courtesy of ~ggvic~ at Flickr.com)

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Justice Served

For many of us, in some strange way, punishment feels like the right thing to do. Punishment, for lack of a better word, is traditional. It is justice served. You’ve heard comments such as these:

1. “Back in my day, we didn’t put of with that sort of thing. If a dog did wrong, we let him have it.”
2. “You are spoiling that dog. You should teach him some respect with a good whipping.”
3. “The best way to get a dog to stop pooping in the house is to rub his nose in it.”
4. “If that were my dog, I’d let him know who’s boss.”

I’ll Take Action

For some of us, there may another reason why we resort to punishment. Punishment can feel rewarding. I am not talking about satisfying a sadistic streak. I am talking about the relief you feel when you convert your own inner tension into physical action. Yelling at, or spanking your dog can be a stress reliever. I absolutely do not support using punishment as a personal stress reliever. I am merely pointing out that taking physical action can provide some stress relief for humans in the same way any gnawing problem seems to lessen when we take action.

Here is an example: Your dog is in the backyard barking at something on the other side of the fence. Perhaps you are sitting at your computer trying to get some work done while your dog continues to bark outside. You believe your dog is acting crazy. You know you should do something about it, but you are too busy at the moment to get up and address your dog. As your dog continues to bark, you can feel the stress building. Finally, the stress becomes too much. You rush out the door to take action against your dog. Whether or not your dog stops barking after you respond, you will likely feel better, (initially,) for having done something.

How Your Dog Sees It

That is the human side of the punishment equation. Let’s look at the canine side. Your dog has no sense of morality. Any behavior your dog engages in is the result of self-interest. A behavior gets a dog something it wants: food, shelter/territory, relief from discomfort, or satisfying stimulation. A behavior can also help a dog avoid something it does not want: injury, physical discomfort, loss of food, loss of shelter/territory, or loss of satisfying stimulation. When your dog barks non-stop at something over the fence, it is not doing so to annoy you. A dog barks non-stop to ward off what it perceives to be a threat. That pretty much kills the idea that delivering punishment is justice served. Justice and morality are not part of your dog’s understanding of the world; and punishing him will never teach him anything about justice or morality.

Does it Work?

That leaves the question: will your dog’s “inappropriate” behavior stop if you punish that behavior? I worded this question very carefully. From a dog’s point of view, there is no such thing as inappropriate behavior. All canine behavior happens in order to get the dog what it wants or avoid what it does not want. Also note that I said the behavior is punished. I did not say the dog is punished. There is a huge difference between punishing a behavior to make it go away and punishing a dog to make a point. That still leaves us where we started, will punishment make a behavior stop?

Here is the answer: Maybe.

The two keys to making punishment stop a behavior are:

1. Correct timing of the delivery of punishment.
2. Punishment severe enough to outweigh the benefits of continuing the behavior.

Whoa, whoa, whoa. I know I got your attention with statement number 2. I’ll get to that in a moment. Let’s look at timing. In another article, I said many professional dog trainers use clickers during training. A trainer will first teach a dog that when the clicker clicks, a reward—usually a treat—is coming soon. If trained correctly, the sound of a clicker becomes so tightly associated with treats, the mere sound of the clicker becomes a reward. The reason a dog trainer uses a clicker has everything to do with timing. When a dog does something the trainer wishes to reward, he sounds the clicker immediately. The dog gets instant feedback that it has performed a correct behavior and a treat is forthcoming. The clicker’s value is in its immediacy. In a dog’s world, a treat that arrives at a dog’s mouth even a few seconds after a behavior occurs is too late to give the dog meaningful feedback. Seconds later is not good enough! The dog needs nearly instantaneous feedback to make a connection between the behavior and the reward.

Timing is just as critical with punishment. Unless punishment is delivered nearly instantaneously after the undesired behavior, that punishment will have no connection to the undesired behavior. Let’s say, for example, a person sees value in hitting a dog with a rolled up newspaper for peeing inside the house. How many seconds or minutes do you think will pass between the moment the dog pees and the moment the owner hits the dog with the newspaper? In this scenario, hitting a dog with a rolled up newspaper will be completely disconnected from the actual act of peeing in the house. Badly timed punishment will not only fail to stop an undesired behavior, it will have lousy consequences in other ways. I’ll get to those consequences soon. Let’s talk about severity of punishment.

Numerous studies have shown that mild forms of punishment are either ineffective, or produce diminishing returns. Dogs are thick-skinned. A light spanking, for example, may surprise a dog, but it probably does not hurt in any punishing way. Yelling at the dog, may only confuse or agitate him. Further, the more frequently a dog is punished, the more likely it is he will get used to the punishment. This tendency is known as habituation. It has been proven time and again that dogs and other animals, humans included, can actually build up a tolerance for punishment to a point at which punishment becomes nothing more than background noise.

In no way am I saying you should beat the daylights out of your dog. Just the opposite. Each dog has a different tolerance level for punishment, and there is no way for you to know what is not enough and what is too much. The risk of going too far and injuring your dog makes severe punishment out of the question.

Earlier, I said badly timed punishment will not stop an undesired behavior. Worse still, badly timed punishment may stop desirable behavior that was occurring at the moment the punishment was delivered. You may intend to hit your dog for peeing in the house, but if the first hit happens as the dog is walking towards you, the act of coming to you will be punished. Unless delivered with surgical precision and timing, punishment almost always impacts behavior that has nothing to do with your dog’s original crime.

The Consequences

If I still have not convinced you that punishment, in the traditional sense, is not the way to stop your dog’s undesirable behavior, let me put the last nail in the coffin. A dog’s loyalty to you, and his desire to work for you, is based on kindness and trust. Your dog responds positively to you because you are the kind and benevolent center of his world. As soon as you break out the strap, the rolled up newspaper, or even a loud and hostile voice, you begin to associate yourself with pain. As I said earlier, much of what a dog does hinges on avoiding pain and discomfort. Once you become known as a source of pain, your dog will begin to avoid you. Worse still, your dog may respond aggressively to fend off punishment. People who train dogs for the fighting ring use punishing stimulation as a method for promoting aggressive fighting behavior.

Let’s sum it up. If you yell and rant at your dog for barking, will he shut up? Probably. If you whack your dog for jumping up on you, will he stop jumping up? Probably. Will he learn a permanent lesson and not bark the next time in similar circumstances? Absolutely not. Will he never jump up on your again? Probably not. Will he begin to mistrust you and avoid you as much as possible? Almost certainly.

If physical punishment is not the answer to bad dog behavior, then what is the answer? That’s coming up next time. If you would like to read an excellent article that supports everything I have talked about here, check out this link to a position paper on punishment from the American Veterinary Society of Animal Behavior.

What?!.
(photo courtesy of Fotodawg@flickr.com)

1. Your dog peed on the
a. Oriental rug in your living room.
b. hardwood floor in your foyer.
c. down comforter on your bed.
d. carpet in your bedroom.
e. the recliner next to the fireplace.
f. a pair of expensive athletic shoes you left in the hallway.

2. Your dog pooped on any of the above items.

3. Your dog runs from you when you try to pick him up.

4. Your dog chews up any of the items listed in 1.

5. Your dog barks incessantly at
a. a squirrel he sees outside
b. a neighbor’s dog that lives over the fence.
c. your neighbor.

6. Your dog dashes out of an open door
a. at home.
b. at a friend’s house.
c. on your car.

We all get irritated by the things our dogs do that do not make sense to us. Sometimes our dogs do things that are so seemingly stupid/defiant/disrespectful, it gets us downright angry. We all have reached our breaking point at one time or another.

“Ooh, I’m going to open a can of whoop-ass on that dog! Rex! Come here! Now!”

Rex wanders over, thinking “What’s up boss? This can’t be good.”

WHACK! “If I told you once, I told you a thousand times, don’t jump up on Aunt Tillie!”

That’s it. Game over. Rex will never willingly or happily come to you again. He may still creep over to you, tail tucked, when you call him, because he really does want to please you, but he is forever going to be scared that his response will be punished. Or, he may simply think “To heck with this. I’m outta here.”

Am I telling you anything you did not already know? Probably not. Human nature still gets the best of us. Here is the thought process that leads to the problem I just described.

1. The dog does something to make you angry.
2. You believe the dog should know better, so now you are going to bring the dog back in line.
3. First, you are going to re-establish his respect for you by making him follow a command: “Rex, come!”
4. Next, you are going to make him regret his misbehavior. WHACK!
5. Finally, so there is no misunderstanding, you are going to explain it to him: “Rex, I told you to never blah, blah, blah.”

Now, let’s look at it from the dog’s point of view.

1. “Gotta pee. Hey, there’s a convenient place to relieve myself.”
2. “Ahh. That’s better.”
3. “Hey, is that a piece of cookie lying on floor in the corner. I’d better check that out.”
4. “My master just called me. I’d better see what he wants.”
5. “Ouch! What’d you hit me for? Why are you yelling at me? I came when you asked.”
6. “This guy’s crazy. I’m getting away from this loon before he hits me again.”

Of course your dog does not carry on a verbal conversation with himself. The words are used simply to illustrate why your dog associates a spanking with coming when called, not with the dirty deed he committed earlier.

I’m sure you have heard of clicker training. The reason dog trainers use clickers during training is to give a dog an immediate signal—the click of the clicker. That signal tells the dog he did something correct and a treat will be handed over in the next few seconds. The key to the clicker sound is it occurs within one second of a correct response from the dog or the dog will not make the association between response and reward. What does that tell you about a dog’s attention span?

When you call a dog over and then punish it for something wrong which it did even a few seconds earlier, the wrongdoing and punishment are disconnected. The punishment is more closely associated with coming on command. If it is your habit to call your dog over for punishment, all you are doing is ruining a desirable behavior.

There’s more. Punishment hardly ever works. I will cover the reasons why next time.