Why yelling at your dog can have long-term negative effects

Training your dog might be a little stressful, especially when your furry friend has a difficult time understanding what you want. And while becoming impatient is normal, a new study shows that yelling at your pet and leash-jerking might not be the right answer, and will result in some negative effects for them in the future.

The three-year study took into account the positive and negative effects of 92 dogs from training facilities in Portugal. For the research, dogs were put into two groups, with one of the groups being trained aggressively, using choke collars, and the other group being trained with rewards in the form of treats.

Following the training, the dogs underwent a series of stress tests, showing that there is long-term stress for dogs trained aggressively, even causing clinical depression. The first group approached bowls of food slower, after their cognitive abilities appeared to be affected, showing stress-related behaviors, after it was inspected if they looked tense or relaxed.

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Marc Bekoff, an evolutionary biologist at the University of Colorado, says that punishment training “may seem to work in the short run … but these methods can have future negative consequences,“ adding that these dogs live in “perpetual stress.”

If you are welcoming a new puppy into your life or you are having trouble training your dog, there are some steps you can take, including these seven simple commands.