In reply to the OP just a thought how old is your brother? Just think if he is 16ish they may not have been listening properly? (thats not meant to offend in any way by the way)
Its decent of him to ask you though, shows he has respect for both you & your furbaby
I'd never hit a dog, I've put a naughty dog outside, raised my voice or left the room, but never hit.

To marley123

I am not surprised Bruce obeys your OH, fear does that to you.



So your actions balance out that bloke who may or may not have been going to hit his dog

Do the decent thing and if the dog has a name tag on, phone the owner, and give him back, he may be misguided, but he does not deserve someone stealing his dog.

Walking along a pavement with Ruby a couple of days ago.
We came across two women standing talking and a dog on lead leaving us little room to pass.
As we got closer the dog lunged and barked at Ruby.
The woman with the dog hit the dog on the top of it's head with her hand.
My reaction was to say"no no don't hit your dog she is only letting us know we have entered her comfort zone and doesn't want us to get any closer. Look where her tail is tucked between her legs she is fearful not dangerous."
I don't think my words where well received as the woman yanked the dog to her and just glowered at me!!

So no I do not like physical corrections it is bullying and re-enforces fearfulness.

What a very sad thread.
Hurting someone or some creature is a failure, not a method.

I'm glad this question came up.

Buddy, my M-I-L's pup is around 11 weeks old so is going through the play biting stage and if he does it to me, I stop playing with him and ignore him. I was stunned last week, when round at her house, she smacked him on the nose when he tried it with her and he then started growling and barking at her. I told her it was because she had hit him and he sees it as her way of playing but she wouldn't have any of it.

Then she went to ask if I could get her a plant spray bottle when I next go shopping. Apparently the dog training class she started going to last week with Buddy, told her to get one and fill it with a mixture of cheap hair spray and water, more spray than water and when he chews something either in the garden or in the house, to spray it with the mxture and he will stop, because he's not supposed to like the taste. I asked 'but what if he does like it and it makes him ill, will they pay for the vet bills?' Couldn't believe I was hearing this, told her to just use water and spray him on his back to deter him instead. It worked for us with Lady.

I hope this club is not KC registered if it is, the KC would want to hear about this.

It is NEVER appropriate to use hairspray on a dog, no matter what the dilution it can seriously damage a dog's health.

There is no NEED to use a water spray and it can be counter productive when you want to bathe a dog...............

Some dogs LIKE water spray.

Rely on your relationship rather than instruments to punish.

Instead of telling a dog what NOT to do, is it not better to demonstrate what you WANT it to do instead?

The problem with punishment is that unless you are an expert, it has to be escalated and then where does it stop?

Terrible advice. All it's going to do to a dog is either scare it or wind it up even more depending on their underlying nature. It could even lead to a bite with a reactive dog. My mum smacked Sophie on the nose the other day and I asked her how she'd like me to do the same to her the next time she did something I didn't like. I was NOT impressed. I never hit my dogs as all that proves is you have no self control rather than teaching the dog anything.

There's a woman round here with a Jack Russell. The dog, apparently, was found tied to a lamp post in Blackpool with a note saying "please look after this dog". It goes seriously mental when it sees another dog, lungeing, screaming and barking from the other side of the road. Most of us with dogs round here know each other and often walk together if we bump into each other when out as all our dogs get on well. She's a hot topic of conversation!

I hate seeing her and the dog. She's qute an old lady, in her late 60s/early 70s. The dog kicks off and then she does. She screams and shouts at the dog effing and blinding at him, yanking him about by the neck and even kicking him on occasion or hitting him with an umbrella. We're all in a catch 22 situation in that we can't say anything as she wouldn't be able to hear us over the racket she and the dog are making at our dogs. The worst thing is it's contagious and tends to make even the nicest, most tolerant dogs bark back.

She doesn't realise she's making the dog 100 times worse as he thinks her shouting is her joining in with him and physically yanking/kicking/hitting is winding him up further in his highly reactive state. All of us would love to take her aside and explain this, but we're a bit afraid of the reception we'd get.

Why? Is she going to hit you? Sorry, but if I see someone abusing a dog I can`t stop myself.
eta - call the RSPCA or dog warden if you don`t want to get involved.

So you are more afraid of the old woman than what is happening to the dog?

Hmmmmmm logical.

Therefore what she is doing cannot be that bad can it if you are happy for her to continue?

the rspca already knew about the case as we had told them as he was seen kicking the dog quite hard a couple of weeks ago, she needs to see the vet as she looks very ill,
the first time they came out they gave him a warning and he said he would stop but after last night they came to get her,