Teaching a Dog Not to Jump on People

Why Shouldn’t We Use Punishment to Teach A Dog Not To Jump Up For Greetings?

Recently someone asked a very good question about the use of punishment when dogs jump to greet people. The person made the analogy that if a dog were to interact with a porcupine, the dog would get hurt and therefore, not likely go near a porcupine again. Something unpleasant happened so the dog learned not to approach porcupines. An example that could apply to humans is that of a hot stove. When the stove top is red and we touch it, we get punished (burned) and therefore, we learn not to touch hot stoves. Why, if punishment works so well for the above examples, shouldn’t we use punishment to keep dogs from jumping on us? It seems very reasonable and rational that many people would come to the conclusion that the use of punishment would be the preferred method to use. Hopefully, after reading this, you will walk away with a deeper understanding of the use of punishment and behavior, and well…..our relationships with our pets.

First, when punishment is used, it only needs to be used once, perhaps twice (bottom line…very few times) and the unwanted behavior should stop. That’s the whole point of punishment after all. But how many times do you find yourself or see others repeating a punishment over and over again? I see people doing it quite literally for years!

Now, for arguments sake, lets just say a punishment technique worked for a greeting behavior ( i.e. dogs jumping up on people). Does that mean we should use it? Aren’t we ethically and morally obligated to use the least aversive techniques as possible? And if so, how does the example of the porcupine and the hot stove make any sense at all? Where does that fit into learning, behavior, and punishment? Click Here to Read the entire article

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