How do you discipline an abused rescue dog?

[Plow]

As retarded as this is, I'm going to give a legit answer anyway.


The only option for disciplining a dog is voice. Any physical action will cause fear, which will overwrite the "I did something wrong" sensation and completely defeat the purpose. If you've trained it well you can use making it go outside, but if you have to actually physically force it out, again it will defeat the purpose.

My friend beat the living shit out of the border collie at the time, he loves that dog more than his family, and he treats it like his own son.

So much rage, so few words... Tell your friend he shouldn't have dogs. Or kids. Also animal cruelty has gotten to the point that animal control would probably be willing to respond to someone reporting that statement, or at least look into it.

[Omnipotent]

how didn't this thread end here? i mean it's fucking perfect c'mon.

that said i kiss my dog on the nose all the time while it's sleeping and wake it up and i'm fine

i have to ask is your friend black cuz i hear dogs are irrationally racist

He's a cracker

[Mojo]

Been said before, what your friend did was stupid. Look at it this way. When I am dreaming, I'm always in the house I grew up in. Not the one I live in now and not the one I moved into when I was 16. This probably won't change and I'm sure the same thing is true for most people here. You might be able to snuggle up to a dog and wake it if the dog has always been in a good environment, but if it has a history of abuse there is a risk of getting your face ripped off. No amount of training will change that, at least not for a very long time. Being a good pet owner means being more cognizant of your pet's state of mind. For dogs, yelling is a good way to discipline, but you need a good rapport with the dog. Physical contact almost never works. We're always touching our pets to show affection, it's mostly just confusing and counterproductive to try using that.

[Plow]

It's not even yelling, it's just tone more than anything.

[AoE]

[Rhyis.]

Love that scene lol

[Kyreth]

i'm hoping in the wound then the eyes?

Eeyup.

[Kyreth]

Remind me again how a wolf in the wild is an abused shelter dog again?

You can and should assert dominance over your dog. That doesn't translate into beating the hell out of it. I have never had to resort to violence to establish pack order with my dogs. My current dog even knows that she is below everyone in my house. I certainly didn't make my 4 year-old beat the hell out of her to establish that.

You are completely ignorant of animal behavior if you think beating a dog is justified because of some misconception you have about wolves.

This. Beating the dog is actually not all that efficient. I've had big ol' dogs that had attitude.

Wrestle with them. Seriously. Play-dominance games work really well and not only do you establish who's boss, then all it takes to make the newspaper-whacking moments stick is a loud bop on the butt. Too much actual pain tends to leave the dog nasty towards other humans because it wants to establish it's higher on the food chain than someone else.

[djzombie]

Been said before, what your friend did was stupid.

What i recommend your friend try next is to give the dog a kiss on the nose while hes eating. Surely that will go as well if not better than the original situation.

Wrestle with them. Seriously. Play-dominance games work really well and not only do you establish who's boss, then all it takes to make the newspaper-whacking moments stick is a loud bop on the butt. Too much actual pain tends to leave the dog nasty towards other humans because it wants to establish it's higher on the food chain than someone else.

This is probably the best advice I've seen in this thread, especially pertaining to larger dogs. Also, if the dog happens to hurt you while playing with him like this make sure you let him know immediately so he knows that this is unwanted behavior. You don't have to hurt to a dog to make it understand, you just have to make sure he understands your tone and emotion. When im playing with my dog if he gets his mouth on my hand or scratches me i'll pick up my hand bring it close to me, push him away and say "that hurts" or "your hurt me" and he almost always immediately comes over to me ears down and sits next to me waiting to be acknowledged as a good dog again.

[Odin'sLaw]

WHY HAS NO ONE SUGGESTED FIRE!? (the friend not for the dog)