How do you punish your dog?

OK first the brief background:

Tilly is 8mths old spayed Dalmation, she was crate trained as a pup but now when I go out (she is left for max 3 hrs) i leave her crate door open and she has access to the hallway, stairs and landing which is quite a big area. I close all room doors. This has worked fine until now.

Tody she has learned to open the doors and has completely ransacked my bedroom.

How would you 'punish' this?

I don't believe in smacking a dog and I never would. I showed her what she had done and made her lie down and told her off in a very stern voice. She knew what she had done because I didn't get the usual welcome home, she came to me with her head down and tail between her legs so I knew she'd done something before I even saw it.

I am still mad tho' and she is in her crate with the door closed and I am not looking/speaking to her. I know I might be being harsh but I really am mad and haven't calmed down yet, I can't let her out cos I don't want to loose my temper.

Tammy x

why would you lose your temper if you let her out?

She knows she has done wrong now i guess, maybe you need to put some locks on doors now....

i do as you do,tell them off in a stern voice,and send them to bed,



only if caught in the act(sorry forgot to say,i dont see a point in telling them off otherwise they not know why)

I am clearing the mess now and if she got in my way then I might loose my temper. whether her fault or not i'm furious right now so shes better off in her crate.

I think that dogs can have short memories and unless she was caught "in the act" it can be pointless telling them off after they have done something bad as they may not understand why you are telling them off and what you are cross about.

It could be a boredom thing, while you are at work and i would work hard to walk her before you leave her and maybe extra things to occupy her, maybe kongs or bone etc.

I think that if i was left in hallway, stairs and landing i may want to venture into a bedroom after 3 hours. I am not sure that i agree with locking her in her cage now as punishment because she probabley has no idea why she is being punished. Just my thoughts really, but i would try to occuppy her more to prevent it than punish her.

I don't punish the dogs unless I have actually caught them at it. I blame myself if they have managed to damage something (which isn't very often) as it's usually my fault for leaving it out!
Becky

Why do you need to punish your girl ? She doesn't know she has done wrong, dogs don't do "wrong & right"

They read human body language quite well & often their body langauge is wrongly read as "knowing they have done wrong"when we are angry with them for doing something we peceive as being wrong.

The submissive body position your bitch might have taken is not her showing she knows she has trangressed, she is showing fear & reading your reaction

If my dogs do something I don't want them to do(like crewing something they shouldn't)I ignore what they have done & clear up. I then call them to me & they get a reward for carrying out a command(like give a paw etc)this reinforces acceptable behaviour as being rewarded & incorrect behaviour as being not rewarded

If my dogs do something like chewing non dog thing it's my fault for allowing them access

If you do not want to have your rooms"trashed"then don't give her unsupervised access, prevention is way better than correction

i show them what they have done tell them of in a loud voice which i only ever use when thewre naughty and tell them to go and lay down

if someone says to me i told off the dog for chewing the remote,i say well hang on you left it in reach,do you think he done it to get at you !

I would never use her crate as a sin bin its just asking for trouble.
only tell the dog off if you catch it, and stop holding a grudge, if you cant let her out as you will lose your temper this is not good, try to let it go, theres no point in keeping up the angry thing she will not know what its for so long after the event, she will just think your mad at her and get worried,