In the spirit of the spanking your child thread... Is hitting your Dog OK?

[trumad]

Hey---quite a few in the spanking poll say it's OK to spank your child.... so I'm wondering if it's OK to hit your dog as well?

I'm not talking about a little swat on the nose...I'm talking about hitting the dog much the way you spank a child.

[SmileyRose]

1. kids and pets no

but it should be legal be beat the crap out of anyone who still has a "W" sticker on the car.






I only half kid.

[trumad]

2. I think in New York it is...

[mod mom]

16. lol

:rofl:

[geckosfeet]

3. Pointless. Unless you want to create a devil dog that will hate you and everything else.

[madokie]

4. A great big fucking NO

I've learned that hitting never works like you want it to so I talk, smile or frown. Works on kids as well as pets much better than the violence of hitting does.

[the other one]

5. Leash and training collar

Kids and dogs both

[trumad]

8. Tried the leash on the kids...but they always escaped.

;-)

[hlthe2b]

6. Never....

Counterproductive in every way...

[H2O Man]

7. Interesting question.

I like it.

My dogs are not only my Good Friends, they are Tumbling Clowns. I do not think it is okay to hit Good Friends or Tumbling Clowns.

For sake of clarity, I should also add something -- which you already know, but others reading this thread might not -- and that is that I had an amateur boxing career of over 300 bouts. Long ago, I lost interest in hitting anyone, and even longer ago, lost interest in being hit.

[trumad]

9. Yeah---I was never into the getting hit thing...

Unless my wife is wearing leather.

[H2O Man]

13. Right.

Strange thing with lots of Irish pugs: the inner need to show your opponent that his best shot can't hurt you. "Boy, I really showed him!"

[notadmblnd]

10. I've never hit a child, I've never hit an animal

I have both and I've never found a need to hit in order to control either another human being or animal.

[Sancho]

11. as I recall...

none of my dawgs ever did anything bad enough to warrant physical punishment. Dawgs are happy to see me, grateful for dinner, and sit on command. On the other hand, I recall that the children consciously acted in ways that were completely deserving of torture - lucky for them that my wife is a saint who teaches elementary school and warned me that in Florida they put the kids and parents in jail and shoot the animals (sort of a cultural thing). As such, it is best to avoid beating living things here unless you have a good lawyer and don't mind being petless.

[H2O Man]

12. Another problem

is that, unless you stop feeding them, kids grow up. From the photo below, you can see that my son is now much bigger than me. I am sure that I could have kicked his ass when he was wee little, but now he's bigger, stronger, faster, and hits very, very hard. I'd add the need for a good neck brace to the need for a lawyer, and being petless.

[trumad]

15. Yeah---I wouldn't mess with him for sure...

BTW: From a distance you kind of look like Clarence Williams III.

[H2O Man]

17. I never should have

started teaching him on the heavy bag when he was 3. I wasn't thinking ahead far enough. Then, tricking him into doing hard work by saying, "Yep. Both Carmen Basilio and Jack Dempsey loved doing this. It was their favorite training."

Per Clarence: perhaps this explains why my wife calls me "the Missing Link."?

[trumad]

18. Solid

[Junkdrawer]

14. When they're puppies, I grab the snout and scold NO! when they bite...

It's really all it takes...

[Orsino]

19. Pain as a motivator? Sucks.

Spanking a child, who stands a chance of understanding the nature of the punishment, might be defensible. But a dog? No.

We've seen Cesar Millan take on the worst-behaved pet dog around, and control their behavior through exercise, discipline and affection. He does nothing more than body-check doggies, who respond well because they evolved to "get" this. He'll roll them on their backs, at most, but only to establish dominance.

[DefenseLawyer]

20. Has Rick Santorum weighed in yet?

I'll defer to him.

[xultar]

24. DUzy

[Are_grits_groceries]

21. Mittens has his own method. He's a type of dog whisperer.

He whispers to them and says he will tie them to the top of his car for a ride if they don't behave.

[Javaman]

22. Hitting on my dog? what is the matter with you? oh wait...

sorry, never mind.

[saltpoint]

23. Dogs are our good pals.

[unpossibles]

25. not really, no

And as someone who's rehabbed many rescue dogs who had been beaten, I'd never dream of it. There are many far better ways to get a dog's attention and show that you are the boss - which is what they generally need, an established pecking order within the pack. Making a dog afraid of you through physical violence will just make the dog mistrust you and possibly turn on you some day.

Dogs do use threats of pain with each other, but unless it is a full on fight, they 'pull their punches' so to speak, and their bites don't really hurt so much as show that they could hurt the other dog, such as when a dog grabs another dog's leg or throat. It's a display of what they are capable of without really much actual pain or violence usually. Having wrestled with my dogs before, I know this first hand - they will very lightly use their teeth on me, but not actually bite me - and when they do go too far, they will stop and lick me to make sure I am not actually hurt.

With dogs - and children too, I assume - you really need to understand psychology and how they work. Violence tends to just beget violence, and while a small amount of pain to get their attention is understandable, it's also not really that necessary in almost every case. Think like a dog. If you have a dog who is always pushing the boundaries and fighting for dominance, show them who's boss. Pin them to the ground with your hand on their neck if need be (not suggesting choking them obviously), cause that's how they do it to each other.

[ThomWV]

26. I've got the best dog you ever saw and he never got a swat in his life - just hugs and rubs.

My boy Albert.

[Echo In Light]

27. Never spank. Never strike our pets, either. Why? Both are psychotic acts.

Got a problem w/my stance on that?

Too. Fucking. Bad.

[lunatica]

28. When I raise my hand like I'm going to strike them my dogs don't even flinch

But if I gently say 'no' they instantly get it.