How to Correct a Dog

One of the most important steps when starting our dog's training is precisely being able to properly convey our intentions to them. Letting them know when they're doing well and, of course, knowing how to correct a dog when they're doing something wrong.

There are plenty of different canine training/education techniques, all of them equally good and effective. Even so, there are only a few proper techniques for letting our dog know we don't like their behaviour, or simply giving them an attention tap. Let's go through and explain how we should tell our dog "no".

When Should We Correct Our Dog?

The most important thing when training an adult dog or puppy is the common sense of whoever's training them. It's pointless devoting a thousand hours to our adult dog or puppy's training if we don't do it properly. And precisely one of the most common mistakes is correcting or scolding our dog when it's not appropriate.

If what we want is to scold our dog for something they did wrong, we need to do it right at the moment they're doing it, neither before nor after. For example, some people, when they get home and see their dog has broken something or done something wrong, scold them or even hit them (something you should never do), making a huge mistake in the process.

Dogs aren't mind readers, and don't have the ability to link what they did in the recent past with the present. That's why, if we want to correct our dog or give them an attention tap, we need to do it right at the moment they're breaking something or misbehaving.

Whether we want to scold them, simply give a small attention tap, or just correct them, we need to always do it, without fail, at the exact moment.

There's no point doing it afterwards, hours later, or when we get home and see there's something broken… Because dogs don't link the telling-off you're giving them with having broken something earlier. And yes, we all know they make that "I'm sorry, it won't happen again" face when we scold them, but the truth is they have no idea why they're being told off.

How to Correct a Dog With a "Tap" or "Nip"

Focusing on how to let a dog know they're doing something wrong, or how to correct a dog or puppy in the most suitable way, let's explain what the "tap" or "nip" involves, which you've surely seen in some episodes of the well-known dog whisperer.

This technique is without doubt one of the most effective, as well as respectful. You need to understand you should never, under any circumstances, hit our dog (or any other dog, obviously). Aggression isn't a training/education technique — hurting a dog is simply an act of cowardice and complete ignorance.

When correcting a dog, we can use two options, always paired with a correction sound. We need to choose a good sound for correcting our dog and use it whenever we want to let our dog know we're correcting them.

Some people use a "SSSSHhhhhhhh" and others use "No!", both sounds are equally good — simply choose the one you like most. The options we can use alongside the sound we choose are a "gentle lead tug" or a "hand nip".

The gentle lead tug is exactly that — when our dog is doing something wrong and we're holding them by the lead at that moment, we'll give a gentle, sharp tug towards us, while saying "No!" (or "SSSSshhhh", whichever we prefer). Remember it needs to be a gentle tug — there's no need to hurt them. In the video above, you can see how Cesar does this tug we're talking about (some people agree more or less with Cesar's techniques, but this specific technique is very good).

The hand nip is another technique we can put into practice, paired with the gentle lead tug or on its own, but always paired too with a "No!" or "SSsssshhhhhh" sound. It involves giving a small tap with our hand on our dog's back, without hurting them — it's simply a tap to grab their attention.

We'll simply keep our hand straight, and with our fingers give that gentle "nip" or "nudge" to our dog. It needs to be gentle, not rough, since the goal is grabbing our dog's attention, correcting them, not hurting them. Here's another example from Cesar with the "tap" or "nip".

As you can see, this is very simple and respectful. The dog isn't hurt under any circumstances — they simply get a "tap" to correct them, and that's it.

Obviously these techniques work well with adult dogs (over 1 year old), but with puppies or young dogs we need much, much more patience. On another note, there are plenty of dogs for whom a simple "No!" is enough, with no need to use the "nip" — we simply need to apply whichever techniques we see fit.

The Educator/Trainer

More important than trying to train our dog is knowing how to do it properly, since if they learn something wrong, it'll be harder to teach them properly afterwards.

We need to stay calm at all times — if we get nervous, aggressive, or simply give up and lose our patience, our dog will pick up on that state and, as a result, get nervous too.

Our mood matters a great deal during training — we need to be firm, confident and respectful. When we give our dog an attention tap, whether a gentle tug or a nip, we need to do it confidently and with total authority. There's no point correcting them while nervous or angry, since the dog will notice something odd is happening and, as a result, won't pay attention or won't learn properly.

Let's imagine we're out walking with our dog and we cross paths with someone else also walking their dog. Our dog, who's obviously on their lead, suddenly makes a sharp turn and lunges at the other dog, barking and growling, as if trying to bite them.

The right approach in this situation is correcting our dog through a lead tug (gentle but precise) while scolding them verbally with a "No" or a "SHhhh". If they don't calm down and don't obey the correction, we'll also give them a "nip" with our hand while correcting them verbally. If they still don't obey, we'll get them to sit and wait a while for them to calm down.

What's wrong in this situation, something we should obviously never do, is getting nervous, bad-tempered, constantly pulling on our dog's lead and shouting like crazy "very bad" "don't do that" "no no no no no no" and so on… This is precisely the most common approach, and at the same time, the most mistaken.

My Dog Doesn't React, Doesn't Listen to Me

If our dog doesn't react to the lead tug or the nip, we'll simply repeat the action once or twice more until they obey. If they still don't obey, we'll tell them to sit or lie down and wait a few minutes in that state.

Dogs sometimes freeze up, get too worked up, or simply can't focus — that's when we need to get them to sit and relax, since a worked-up dog can't learn.

We should never, under any circumstances, hit our dog because they won't listen to us. Hitting a dog only creates fear and dread of doing something that could trigger a fresh attack. This causes serious behavioural problems in the long run and can turn the dog aggressive, which is why a dog should never be punished through physical means (hitting, striking and so on).

If our dog doesn't react to our training sessions, doesn't react to taps or nips, and doesn't listen to us even though we've tried several times… it might be a good time to see a professional dog trainer. Look for a good professional trainer, ask them to show you their qualifications to verify them, and follow their advice.

How to Correct a Puppy

The techniques we've covered above, mainly the hand "nip" paired with a "No!", are what we should use with our puppy, but with plenty of common sense.

A puppy is just that, a puppy, and so doesn't have the ability to react to or carry out our commands. They only think about playing, running, sleeping, playing, and probably biting everything… this is entirely normal, since they're simply discovering the world around them.

A puppy doesn't need training until at least 4 months old — from then on we can start, gradually and with plenty of patience, training them. Even so, it does matter a great deal that we start socialising them with other dogs and humans. Remember, with plenty of patience and without losing your temper.

If our puppy bites our hand or does something wrong, we can scold them with "the nip" and the "no!" together. Obviously, after scolding them, we can't cuddle them and play with them right away — we'll wait a few minutes before playing with them or carrying on with whatever we were doing.

Other Alternatives

There are plenty of ways to train a dog, and all of them are equally valid. We offer information on some of these techniques, which we use and know give good results, but that doesn't necessarily mean they're the best.

A professional dog trainer can help you a great deal with your dog or puppy's training — they're not a huge investment (they're generally affordable) and hugely helpful.

A canine ethologist can help you fix unusual behaviours — they're like a "psychologist" for humans, only this time for dogs. Often, identifying the original problem can fix bad behaviour, which is where canine ethologists come in.