Yelling At Dogs Has Long-term Negative Effects

Getting a pet dog requires a lot of responsibility, and this includes being able to take care of them properly. At times though, when you’re stressed and too busy to attend to its needs, you may have the tendency to shout at it. While this may be a short-term solution that could send your pooch scampering off towards a corner, it is not a very good one.

A recent study reported by Science Alert stated that when you scream at dogs, you don’t just scare them momentarily, but you are causing them long-term trauma. The best way to deal with your pets is through a lot of patience.

Aversion Training

Ana Catarina Viera de Castro, a biologist and the study’s head researcher from the Universidade de Porto in Portugal, stated that they got two groups of dogs for the study. One group was from a school, which utilizes “aversion training,” and the other was from another school, which trained dogs using the rewards system.

De Castro’s team found that dogs that were trained using aversion training where yelling was involved were more stressed. This was determined after they found higher levels of cortisol in the saliva. Cortisol is the body’s “built-in alarm,” the main stress hormone that helps in regulating the mood.

According to the researchers, dogs that were under the aversive method had poorer welfare. This was both for short-term and long-term behavior. They were also shown to exhibit stress-related characteristics and fared poorer when undertaking cognitive-related tasks. They also had a pessimistic disposition compared to dogs that were trained under the rewards method.

Reward-Based Training

Those dogs that were trained by teachers who were calm and gentle towards them performed better when assigned with cognitive-related tasks. They excelled at simple tasks like “locating a bowl with sausage” inside a room, which was full of empty bowls that were smeared with sausage. Obviously, the dogs that had the “harsh” training had a harder time locating the bowl.

NYPost stated that researchers viewed the behavior as one that has something to do with their training. They got more depressed and less hopeful, which also made it harder for them to find the bowl.

On the overall, the researchers concluded that dogs that were trained using the aversion method like yelling and leash-jerking fared poorly in terms of their mental state. Their cognitive skills were affected, and they were more stressed compared to dogs trained gently and in a loving manner.