The Tell-Tail Signs of Force

To understand Force is to understand why trust is easily broken between a dog and his caregiver.  It can undermine a dog's progression into adulthood, undermine cooperation, and lead to abandonment. Even if you have never used force on your dog, others' may have. Well-meaning family members, and even professional caregivers using outdated information, may have used force on your dog. Your job is to protect your dog, and provide gentle guardianship. It requires you to recognize the signs of force, educate those who have used it, and protect your dog at all cost.  

The Tell-Tale Signs that Force has Likely Been Used

A dog who has been trained or disciplined with force is recognizable. He cowers with fast movements, at hand gestures, or raised voices, with his ears flat against his head, and his tail curled down. He shows ‘crescent eyes’ (meaning the white shows in a crescent shape under his irises).  The dog’s natural curiosity is lower than normal as is his confidence. He avoids people, glancing at where at person is in position to himself, and looks worried, with eyebrows pinched tightly together. When you see these signs in combination, it is likely force has been used.

What is Considered Force? 

Force is shouting, pulling, and pushing. At it’s worse, it is hitting, kicking, slapping, straddling a dog, shaking a dog by the scruff of his neck, hitting your dog on his nose with a rolled up newspaper, and/or pinching or kneeing any part of his body.  Force is also training collars, including; shock, prong, choke, and citronella collars. Any type of force is to be avoided and for good reasons: 

1. Science has proven that dog’s have complex emotions and the same emotional capacity as a 2-year old child. Today, similarities between dog and human brains are being studied. It is helping us to understand mental illnesses, which dogs share with humans. Also, it is now proven that dogs' emotional capacity and the way they feel are very similar to humans and they are thought to have complex emotional lives.
2. All dogs are fundamentally hard-wired to be cooperative, attached and dependent on humans. It is in their DNA. To help you remember this fact, think of dogs as being all about 'Peace and Love and Cooperation'.
3. Out-dated training methods based on a dog's inherent need to dominate, and gone uncheck leads to injurious harm to humans is now disproven by science. We now know a dog’s relationship, born out of thousands of years of evolution with humans, is one of trust and cooperation. There is much misunderstanding on what dominance is: ""...being dominant" does not mean punishing or actually harming another individual, it's easy to see that dogs do control or influence the behavior of other dogs in non-injurious ways, just like other animals, including humans, do. Once again, when people understand what "being dominant" means they will see that dogs can and do dominate other dogs, other animals, and humans, and positive training/teaching methods that are used to influence or to control the behavior of dogs are very effective"
4. We now know that Dog training based on references to Wolves and Pack Behaviour is incorrect. TV Personalities, like Cesar Milan use outdated methods to sensationalize quick behaviour shifts. In reality, the methods psychologically traumatize a dog. Scientifically the dog fails to see long-term beneficial results with aversive methods.  Often dogs who are forcibly handled 'shut-down’ emotionally and then the dog is shown 'cured'. It is inaccurately described by the TV personalities as 'submitting'. It is very dangerous, and crushes the dog spirit.  Eventually a traumatized dog will emerge with even a higher tolerance to aggression by increasing his own aggression. 
5. Dogs may test boundaries but normally this is only during adolescence. It can also occur in traumatized dogs that have been rescued and then re-homed. Dogs are not trying to be dominant, but are puzzling out who they are, and who you are to them.
6. Once force is used, a dog learns that doing new ‘things’ may turn out to be painful so normal curiosity is learned to be avoided. A dog who has had force used on him can return to normal in time by building confidence and trust through gentle guardianship.
7. Tolerance to physical pain requires more and more pain to be inflicted to maintain the same results. A dog increasing his tolerance to pain will increase his aggression. A cycle that creates a very dangerous situation.
8. Use of force to change or reinforce training commands will force the dog to suppress his normal emotions like fear, and turning them into frustration and anger. Once this happens, they can ignite without warning in the form of aggression, growling, snarling and ultimately biting.

If you currently use force, and would like to explore how to use force-free methods for long-term results and a happier dog, there are several resources regionally and nationally to support you. Check out the following sites:

http://theiscp.com/contact-an-iscp-practitioner
https://www.petprofessionalguild.com/Zip-Code-Search