This page is part of the Auxiliary section of the Beginning Course of the
D.S. Dog Training Workshop - an element of the Dog Science Network
A Conversation with a Veterinarian
I once had a conversation with a veterinarian as we both sat in a courthouse hallway waiting to testify as expert witnesses in a civil trial that centered around people who were being sued for keeping noisy, barking dogs in a residential neighborhood.
Unaware that she was speaking to a fellow expert, the vet said something to the effect that dogs cannot be bark trained, therefore, it was incumbent upon the neighbors to accept the constant noise. As an educational psychologist, and a guy who, undoubtedly, has bark trained more dogs than anyone else on the planet, that statement was of some interest to me.
When I pressed the dog doc on her assertion that canines cannot be bark trained, she soon acknowledged that, in fact, dogs can be quickly and easily trained not to bark or, conversely, they can be trained only to bark at some things but not at others. But she said, and I paraphrase, To bark train a dog you have to use punishment, and punishment is cruel, inhumane, immoral, and unethical.
As you will see repeated many times on this website, punishment is whatever you do after your dog misbehaves, to effectively reduce the possibility that he will misbehave in that fashion again. It is whatever you do that succeeds in causing your dog to misbehave less in the future. The punishment technique you use need not be anything harsh, violent, or cruel. Indeed, there are many perfectly humane, loving ways to punish a dog sufficiently to cause him to stop misbehaving.
When I followed up on the vet's assertion that punishment is always necessarily cruel and inhumane, she quickly relented and acknowledged that it is not so. However, she said, and again I'm paraphrasing, It isn't safe to tell people how to use punishment procedures when they are training their dogs, because there is always going to be somebody who will disregard your instructions about how to punish properly, and instead of punishing in a loving, humane way, they are going to just zero-in on the word "punish," and use that as an excuse to abuse their dog.
There are certainly many people who are of the belief that if you give people information, it will cause them to behave irresponsibly. We see that perspective reflected in the public schools so called sex "education" classes and drug "education" classes in which they just try to frighten the students into abstinence without actually giving them any real useable information that pertains to either sex or drugs.
However, I don't buy it. Abusive people are going to abuse their dogs whether or not the community of experts disseminates accurate training information, and by playing to the lowest common denominator, they deny people the information they need to train a happy, healthy dog who can function in a community of humans without causing harm, while living up to his potential as a loving companion.
There is a far better way to protect the canine species than by withholding vital training information from the public. For more on that, please visit our sister site at New Animal Control.org