# How to discipline (is yelling ok?)



## Brandy's Mom (Oct 5, 2005)

Yelling isn't going to make him aggressive. The best thing to do when he's doing something unwanted is say NO in a firm voice then re-direct him to a positive behavior. 

I'd caution against using the same tone when asking him to do something positive. You want him to come, for example, so that should be something he looks forward to doing for you. That's when you should use positive reinforcement and a happy voice, no matter how frustrated you might feel inside.


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## RickGibbs (Dec 16, 2005)

I think Samson does better with a FIRM voice, than a yell. Though, I've yelled at him if he's running for the street (car or not, I don't want him ever going toward the street).


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## katieanddusty (Feb 9, 2006)

If he is doing something wrong, you should interrupt him, redirect him to a good behavior, and reward the good behavior. Like if he's chewing on something, you interrupt him, give him a chew bone once his attention is on you, and then praise for chewing on the bone. You can use a firm "no," IF you can keep it non-emotional and it doesn't seem to be having an adverse effect (some dogs will melt if you use "no" to interrupt chewing, others wouldn't stop chewing if you screamed at them).

Depending on the situation and whether the dog would be afraid of any of these, you could also clap your hands, shake something with pennies in it, make a Dog Whisperer noise, tap him on the butt, get between him and whatever he's chewing on, chuck something soft and light at him, etc. The idea is to get his attention without causing any pain/discomfort/fear.

If he's jumping all over or otherwise messing around, try not to give an obedience command unless you're SURE he'll obey or you're in a position to give him a "time-out." Like if he's playing keep-away with something you don't want him to have, don't ask him to drop it or come unless you know he will, or if he's on a leash so that you can reel him in if he doesn't come (or I suppose if you know you can catch him : )


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## Oralia Schatzman (Jun 12, 2006)

Thanks for reminding me to stay cool and calm and focus on what works for my pal. Normally, commands in a firm voice work and Bentley's gotten much better outdoors but he does have selective hearing, particularly outdoors. My "Mean Mommy" roar will stop him mid-stride. Of course, it tears out my vocal chords but it's effective. By the way, what is a Dog Whisperer noise?


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## MarleyLove (Sep 2, 2006)

It's a firm "Sssshttt" almost like a hiss? Hard to describe kind of. If you get the national geographic channel, watch The Dog Whisperer, on a lot of mornings, and you'll see it in action. It's never as effective when I do it as when the Dog Whisperer does it though.....


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## katieanddusty (Feb 9, 2006)

I don't get much of a reaction from my dogs with it either. I usually go towards them and clap, like if they're eating something they shouldn't be or something like that. Or if Dusty is licking a hot spot I chuck the nearest pillow at him :


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## LaurJen (Aug 10, 2006)

MarleyLove said:


> It's a firm "Sssshttt" almost like a hiss? Hard to describe kind of. If you get the national geographic channel, watch The Dog Whisperer, on a lot of mornings, and you'll see it in action. It's never as effective when I do it as when the Dog Whisperer does it though.....


There was a Dog Whisperer marathon on when we first brought Augie home, so after watching all the episodes over and over I was all prepared with my "shhhhhhhhhhhtttttt." Ha, my puppy practically laughed at me. Cesar made it look so simple, hrmphhhh.


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## Lucky's mom (Nov 4, 2005)

In my opinion, best disapline or (training if you will) is that which immediately stops the behavior if a command is ignored. Even a few seconds of fun past the command, reinforces ignoring.

Time-out has worked with Lucky in situations where he ignores me or when he's so excited he's out of control. 

And while I'm putting him on leash and in my control, I don't mind communicating my irritation with an irritated, low rage-rant voice. Yes, I yell when I'm trying to get through the clutter of two kids and a dog romping, but its not a usual thing, and its not used as disapline. I just want someone to hear me in that instance.

Making sure the basics of sit, down are almost reactive the minute heard, helps so much.

Good luck


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## brunettegal1965 (Oct 4, 2006)

I took Bandit to obedience class when he was about 8 months old. To this day, he is well mannered, but it took a lot of patience getting him like that. I seldom yelled at him, but when I did, he would cower down. At that point, I would lean over to him and call him by name and pet him on his head and tell him in a firm voice, NO BARK, or whatever it was, followed by a "but I still love you bandit in a soft loving voice. His tail would wag and his eyes would light up again. I just got lucky with him because he just wants to please us so bad. Of course he can be a bit much to handle when all chaos breaks out so I do the best I can. I always tell my kids that if they call him my name, always follow with a command after, cause thats when I find he doesnt listen if they don't. I consider him my 4th child--my son, my daughter, my older son (hubby!!) and then Bandit. Of course, when he was a young pup, he was a definite handful. Thats how he got his name because he would take any and everything he could get his mouth on and the chase would be on....!!!


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## greg bell (May 24, 2005)

I think it depends on the dog.. Dixie is a fairly soft dog and kinda melts with a lot of yelling..it is really counterproductive with her... surprisingly, she does very well with the ecollar.. 
We train virtually every day and sometimes it gets frustrating, but I try to keep a business like tone bout things.. 
but, like rick, when she is heading for a street or other dangerous territory, i let go with a real yell...


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## RickGibbs (Dec 16, 2005)

greg bell said:


> like rick, when she is heading for a street or other dangerous territory, i let go with a real yell...


And for me, it might even be more out of fear on my side than actually punishing Samson. The thought of him getting run over or anything like that scares the hell out of me....


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## eddie2kevin (Oct 1, 2006)

thanks for great responses, I notice the clapping works really good to get him to stop or I will put him in a timeout in the garage (which really is not a punishment since we have a couch, ceiling fan and pool table out there, even we hang out in the garage sometimes). When he sees me take him away from the kids who refuse to stop playing with him he knows I mean business, now if only my human children could start listeing so well!!


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## njb (Oct 5, 2006)

How old is the dog? It does make a difference. 

Whatever you do it has to be consistent and not harsh. I use that 'ssshh' noise when I walk my pup but it is always accompanied with a quick physical correction. Not a harsh jerk--a quick pop--

I might have to re-watch the Cesar marathon (lol) but I believe whenever he uses that noise there is a physical action to it--even if it is body language. 

Set the dog up for success not failure--sorta just like with kids--catch them doing something right and praise them--make them want to please you even more. 

I personally have never yelled at Julie is now 5 months and a little toot! She threw a tantrum after class the other night not wanting to leave--like you cant make me go! Most important with Goldens is to not loose your sense of humor--your sooooo gonna need it--

Redirect the behavior, is my best advice, they are smart dogs and will catch on.


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## jeffreyzone (Feb 8, 2006)

greg bell said:


> I think it depends on the dog.. Dixie is a fairly soft dog and kinda melts with a lot of yelling..it is really counterproductive with her... surprisingly, she does very well with the ecollar..
> We train virtually every day and sometimes it gets frustrating, but I try to keep a business like tone bout things..
> but, like rick, when she is heading for a street or other dangerous territory, i let go with a real yell...


I agree with Greg; the loud voice is something to reserve for dangerous situations. Otherwise, the dog can easily learn to tune you out or melt under the excess pressure.

Over the past few years, I've practiced communicating as quietly as possible with my two. It all started when we found ourselves close to deer in the woods behind my house. I didn't want to spook the deer, but I did want to tell the dogs not to chase them. Obviously, we'd established a "no chase" policy already, so it was a matter of moving the policy from our yard to the woods. Now, all communication in the company of deer is done with hand signals.

This work has made a loud *"Leave it"* or whatever become even more effective.

Good luck! *njb *recently reminded you to hang on to your sense of humor. That is very good advice.


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## njb (Oct 5, 2006)

I was reminded of my need for humor when my girl drag the water hose which was supposed to be filling up her pool into the living room--she was so proud of herself! 

Oh--and when she ate a case of toilet paper at 3am drug a whole Banana tree she had chewed threw in through the pet door at 4am of the same night--what can you say but--ohhhhh Julie! and post a sticky note to 'lock the pet door before bed' on your forehead? 

I was too sleepy to find my camera for that moment--too bad would have been a great photo op--


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## jeffreyzone (Feb 8, 2006)

You really MUST keep a camera handy. You could have won some serious money with video of that water-hose incident!!!


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## Goldndust (Jul 30, 2005)

If your doing this in a firm authoritive voice, it is the correct manner. How old is Jack??

Yelling of course does no good, it just keeps them in the excitement mode they are in at the time so it isn't the correct way. It has to be calm, relaxed but firm and authoritive. The thing is also if they blow you off when they are given the command "Sit", and they "Know" this command you can't let them blow you off, this means you have to manually place them and tell them NO/Sit no matter how many times it takes you.

It is a tough one sometimes, i've ran into this myself while out training with my trainer and Kode. I at times was being to nice and my voice was not being authoritive enough and Kode would blow me off, once I learned how to do this his response has been much better. Just goes to show you the voice does mean alot when it comes to dogs. But, I think for some it is a something they have to master abit because some of us are very soft spoken and we have to turn on that business talk Greg mentioned above when working with our dogs. It really does make a big difference.

Another thing to pass on would be when you say something like "Sit", and if they don't do it in your situation then it's NO/Sit......drag out the Noooooo. The dog is going to hear the oooooo sound more and pick up on that. Kodes being trained to signals and e-collar, so i've had to back track a bit and have picked up some things from this trainer. And like BrandysMom said, yelling wouldn't make him aggressive. But it really serves very little purpose in training do too the fact of it keeping them in high excitement mode....they pick that up from us at the time, and if there already in that mode, then we yell and move them higher into the mode then you get nothing from them...it all then becomes frustration I think on our parts, and theres too. They do very much want to please!

Happy Training, sounds like your doing fine. I myself will be using the e-collar for dangerous situations out there.


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## Jman515 (Oct 1, 2006)

my dog is buck wild at times  got obience school on Oct 20th


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