Dog Training – Why You Should Never Shout 0r Yell At Your Dog

If you have a new puppy in the house and are unclear about whether or not you should use yelling as a way to get him to stop doing something wrong or barking too much, then this article should clear up your confusion.  If anything, you should learn the simple fact that yelling at your dog it does nothing to fix a problem, stop what he’s doing, or induce any type of positive reinforcement.

Yes your dog may stop doing a certain activity temporarily after yelling at him, but he will only return to whatever behavior he was displaying which made you angry in the first place. Why? Because when you shout at your dog it does nothing to fix the issue, yelling only works as a temporary solution.

Most puppies think of their owners as other dogs. And when you start yelling at your pet, it only increases how excited he is about the situation. You also cause your dog to create a negative association between yelling and how he feels around you.  He will soon start to connect yelling with the idea that he is disliked or unwanted, and will not have the ability to know that he is actually breaking a rule that you are trying to establish.

Not All Loud Voice Commands Are Bad

Even though yelling at your dog is considered to be of poor communication skills, there are definitely times when you need to firm up the tone of your voice and change the way you come across to him.  There are three general forms of communication in terms of the way you speak to your dog that you can apply:

1. The soothing tone of voice. A soothing and delightful tone of voice should be used whenever you want to give praise to your dog. When you communicate this way, you should be able to relax and soothe him as opposed to creating excitability. Speaking to your puppy in a soothing tone of voice makes him feel secure and proud knowing that you are happy with him.

2. The second tone of voice used when communicating with your dog is more of a direct tone as if you are talking to a colleague. A direct tone would be the same way you give commands to your puppy when you want to get his attention. It should be short, firm, and authoritative.

3. The third general tone of voice you can use with your dog is more of a disciplinary tone. However, you must learn to draw a fine line between a disciplinary tone and a yelling tone.  Remember, you do not want to yell your dog but there are certainly times when you need to get across to him to back away from something quickly or to stop doing something immediately, all without actually scaring him off with shouting. Personally, I like to use two syllables such as “No Bark” or “Sadie Off”.

Stay in charge and calm when using this tone of voice. Don’t get emotional.

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Maybe you can relate to this.  You know, it was really frustrating for me to walk my dog Sadie when I brought her home from the pound. This neck pulling dog was a huge challenge to me.

I had envisioned these nice walks we could take, both of us getting some exercise, but it just turned into a struggle all the time.

She’d be pulling me down the street sniffing and whatever dogs do, and wouldn’t even pay attention to anything I said to her.  I thought I could change this and I tried a choke chain.  That worked for about one day until she got used to it.  Then my neighbors started giving me all kinds of devices to put on her neck.

One was a prong collar used for a dog twice her size and I really didn’t know how to use it.  It basically fell off her so that didn’t work.  Then I tried this thing that went over her muzzle and made her turn her head when I pulled it.  She HATED that.  Plus it was rubbing off all the fur on her face.  So I passed on that.

Then, I figured I’d just let her off her leash and let her go “free.”  Big Mistake!  I found out one of her favorite games was to play keep away – from me.  And she’s one of the fastest dogs I’ve seen so there was no way I was going to catch her.

So we went back to walks on the leash.  I was getting very concerned because all the pulling was starting to damage her vocal chords.  I could tell because her bark was getting hoarse.  That was kind of sad and I mentioned it to my other neighbor, Pam.

Pam reminded me of a dog trainer she knew that she was going to employ when she got a dog for herself.  His name was John Spieser from dogheart.

Well since I met John my life has changed and he has spurred me on to provide better information about dog training and how to build a connection with your dog through this blog and through the Ambassadors for Dogs training programs.  Stay tuned for more.

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