Here is a good concise scientific summary of the negative fall-outs of using punishment in your training, and that is why as a behaviourist I do not use any punitive measures:

This post was compiled by the Centre of Applied Pet Ethology - International

Here is a link to my facebook page: https://web.facebook.com/Dogtrainerandbehaviorist

This is an excerpt from the book called The Difficulty of Being a Pet Dog written by Jessica Pierce. I teach this constantly to my clients.

I foster a different way of thinking, or rather the way people should think about their dogs. Because dogs live soo close to us as humans, we forget that their species name is Canis familiaris not Homo sapiens. It is unfair to project human expectations onto your dog, even though they are magnificent creatures. This is particularly important when you think of typical natural behaviours as your dog being "naughty", which is not the case, thinking in this manner can result in a lot of stress and anxiety in both human and dog. Dogs CANNOT be "naughty", READ IT AGAIN, any animal for that matter of fact CANNOT be "naughty", it is an unfair human projection onto your dog. This post created by "Dogs Disclosed", you can also follow their excellent Facebook page, sums it up beautifully and I would like to share it here. I would like to add "digging" here, contrary to popular belief, it is very natural behaviour, and it is unfair to expect your dog, actually no matter their age, not to dig for exploration and/or temperature regulation. When you start to remember this of your dog and understand it, a lot of stress and anxiety in both human and dog will also resolve.

This post is created by "Dogs Disclosed", you can also follow their Facebook page

You know when you lie awake at night and think about something that really presses hard on you; the way dog breeding is done in South Africa is one of those topics. Nobody regulates dog breeders, and they can basically do whatever they want. The public though can educate themselves better, and that is all we can push or do from our side as behaviourists. For any dog breeder, I want to say, can you really justify yourself? Are you making sure you can track every dog born on your property from cradle to grave and are you making sure not one of your dogs end up at a rescue, that already burst out of their seams? Our rescues are already heavily burdened, and that in itself is also already a very broken system. As someone from the public that goes to a dog breeder here are the questions you need to ask:

1) Can I come and visit and see the parents and spend time with the puppies before I take a puppy? This is so you can see the temperament the breeder is breeding with and how things are done at the breeder. If the dogs are only in kennels all the time, and basically treated like breeding machines, you need to think twice. If the parents are highly suspicious in nature and you cannot even get close to them, you need to think twice, as this behaviour has a strong genetic component. Are the parents nervous individuals? General anxiety also has a strong genetic component. What are the breeder doing to socialise his/her puppies already, like I say, or are they only kept in kennels? Breeders need to do a hell of a lot more in terms of socialisation as what they are currently doing, but it is because none of them really know what they are doing. The "critical socialisation period" (a breeder should know exactly what this term means) for dogs, are from 5 weeks to 16 weeks in general, for many breeds it closes much earlier actually, 5 weeks to 11-12 weeks, in those three weeks (5 weeks to 8 weeks) before they go to a new home, a LOT can be done in terms of socialisation. It also needs to be done correctly of course.

2) What are the health issues of your dogs and what are you doing to mitigate it as far as possible? Why I am suggesting to ask this question, as an example, the fact that basically all German shepherd breeders in South Africa is carrying on what they are doing despite their dogs having hip dysplasia already at ten months of age, is immoral and unethical. And an indication that the breeder does not even have basic knowledge of genetics and how it works.

3) What behaviour advice can you give me in helping me to choose the right puppy for me? My prediction is that none of them would be able to, because none of them upskilled themselves in behaviour and basically no nothing, which should not be the case. Every breeder must have a reputable qualification actually in dog behaviour. You need to think now for yourself, do not look at the looks of the dog, is this dog's general breed temperament and that specific puppy's personality you are looking at, going to fit my home and lifestyle? Is it a good match? And further can the breeder give you further good basic behaviour and training advice? "Good" meaning science-based and force-free methods.

4) Are the breeder trying to let you take two puppies, therefore two siblings? If that is the case, say NO! It is behaviour 101, that you do not let two siblings go to the same home, due to a great risk later on in life that they can start have friction with each other over resources. Is the breeder asking you, what dogs do you have already at home? If you already have a young male at home, do NOT take a male puppy for the same reason. If you already have a young female at home, do NOT take a female puppy for the same reason. This is also canine behaviour 101, every breeder should know this. The breeder should also ask you about your other animals; as an example, so many people bring home a German shepherd puppy, and have already two cats, and then they are surprised or shocked later on that their German shepherd chases their cats! The breeder must be able to guide you whether the breed you are looking at is a good match for the other type of animals you already have at home.

5) Do you as a breeder have a contract, where you state that if you for some reason cannot take care of the dog anymore, the dog comes back to me as the breeder? This should be law, to make sure that the dogs do not end up in our already overburdened rescues. If every breeder is forced to do this, I think breeding will quickly die down, because then they will think twice as they need to think for the future that many dogs could potentially come back to them.

I think you can probably gather from my writing above, that I am highly disgusted with dog breeders in general. The only thing I can do as a behaviourist is to try and educate the public.