I REFER to the letter, “Sometimes discipline may be seen as an abuse” (The Star, Oct 21). 

As a dog trainer who has studied dog behavior, I am sad to learn that “Dog Owner of Malacca” still suffers from the misassumption that caning is necessary in order to force a dog to obey commands.  

It is clear that “Dog Owner” has been wrongly led to believe that caning or tying up a dog can stop it from misbehaving.  

Caning only serves to “stun” the dog from a bad behavior temporarily but it does not learn from such punishment.  

If caning is repeated many times the dog will merely “shut down” mentally and bear the pain. 

This will be unfair to an innocent dog and that itself could be considered as abuse. 

There couldn’t be a worse punishment for a dog than keeping  it  tied  up  to one spot 

for long hours, which is also considered as abusing the animal. 

Dogs that are tied up will tend to become anxious and aggressive. 

They will bark non-stop and become neurotic, territorial and even dangerous. 

When dogs are faced with dangers they will react by freezing up, running away or, worse, fighting.  

Dogs that are tied up will be unable to run away from danger and will thus very likely display aggression to protect themselves. 

Dogs depend on us to keep them happy. Let us not make life horrible for them by caning them, tying them up for long hours or abusing them.   

DOG TRAINER, 
Petaling Jaya.