Are You Hurting Your Best Friend Without Even Realizing It? 5 Ways You Might Be Mistreating Your Dog and How to Do Better

By Daphna Nachminovitch, Senior Vice President of PETA’s Cruelty Investigations Department

What if your best friend were to grab your phone out of your hand while you were trying to read an important text message and refuse to give it back? Imagine how you’d feel if you were trying to tell your friend that you were worried, lonely, or sad, but they interrupted you and shouted, “Shut up!”—or if your friend invited you over to their house but shoved you to the floor the second you sat on their couch.

Anyone who treated you like that probably wouldn’t be your friend for long. Yet many of us are guilty of treating our best friends—our dogs—in these and other cruel ways every day.

Many types of cruelty are considered “normal,” so dog guardians don’t think twice about the harm they’re doing their canine companions. Using choke collars or electric fences, confining dogs to crates all day (and/or all night), dragging them along on walks that are supposed to be for their benefit, and never letting them sniff, not to mention swatting, shoving, or yelling—that’s no way to treat someone who loves, trusts, and depends on you for everything.

If you’re subjecting your canine companion to any of the following common types of cruelty, stop today—and if you know people who are doing these things to their dog, talk to them and help them understand that they’re harming their best friend:

1. Being a pain in your dog’s neck—literally

Shock collars and “invisible fences” deliver painful jolts to dogs’ necks when they cross invisible boundaries, use their voices, or engage in other perfectly natural behavior. These devices can also cause anxiety, displaced aggression, burns, and cardiac fibrillation. Dogs who escape invisible fences—to chase a squirrel or in a panicked attempt to flee fireworks, for example—may be too afraid to return home because they know they’ll be shocked again if they try. And invisible fences do nothing to keep aggressive dogs and cruel humans out of your yard, leaving your dog completely vulnerable.

Choke and prong collars punish dogs by inflicting pain when they walk. These barbaric contraptions can cause serious physical damage—including spinal cord injuries and paralysis, crushed or fractured tracheas or larynxes, asphyxiation, dislocated neck bones, and bruising of the esophagus—as well as emotional damage.

Do better: Secure your property with physical fencing that lets pups frolic safely, without risk of escape or electric shock. If you have a dog who pulls during walks, find a humane dog trainer who can help you learn to teach your dog not to pull. It takes time and patience, but it is very doable if you’re consistent. In the interim, use a comfortable, well-fitting front-clip harness, such as the SENSE-ation No-Pull Dog Harness, to reduce pulling.

2. Locking up your pup like a prisoner

Crating is solitary confinement—a cruel punishment for dogs, who are highly social pack animals. No one thrives in isolation, and dogs don’t just want contact with others—they need it. If deprived of social interaction, they become lonely, depressed, and withdrawn and can develop other psychological problems.

Crates also deprive dogs of the opportunity to fulfill their basic needs, including stretching out, walking around, looking out windows, and relieving themselves. Contrary to myth, crating does not speed up the housetraining process. It can actually prolong it because puppies can’t “hold it” for long and having no choice but to soil their crates can make them lose their instinct to keep their surroundings clean. And if a fire or flood occurs while no one else is at home, crated dogs have no way to escape. Dogs have burned to death and drowned, trapped inside crates.

Do better: Don’t make dogs prisoners in their own homes. Instead, take them for a long walk in the morning (“a tired dog is a well-behaved dog”), dog-proof your house, leave out plenty of chew and puzzle toys while you’re away, and come home on your lunch break or hire a trusted dog walker. Or take your dogs to a fully vetted doggie daycare or have them spend the day with a trusted friend or family member who works from home. Then give them some playtime and another walk when you get home.

3. Turning walks into forced marches

Walks aren’t just a bathroom break—they’re the highlight of a dog’s day and essential to good psychological and physical health. Walks give dogs not just exercise and fresh air but also a much-needed change of scenery, social interaction in the form of greeting friendly dogs and humans along the way, and the chance to sniff the “news” on the hydrants, fences, and trees using their remarkable sense of smell. You wouldn’t want to be rushed through your coffee-and-morning-news routine—and dogs don’t like being rushed, either! Dragging them along at a hurried pace, staring at your phone instead of paying attention to them, regularly taking them outside for just a five-minute pee, or nagging them to hurry up is unfair and unkind.

Do better: Take dogs out often (at least four times a day), go to interesting places, let them choose which way to walk whenever possible, and always let them go at their own pace.

4. Bullying your best buddy

If you hit, kick, slap, or otherwise physically harm your canine companion, you need to stop now. This is never acceptable. Being swatted with a newspaper or shoved off the furniture can be frightening and painful—both physically and psychologically.

Do better: Guide your dog into appropriate behavior using positive reinforcement only, such as treats and praise. If you want a punching bag, go to the gym—don’t take your issues out on your dog.

5. Raising your voice at your dogs—and never let them use theirs

Punishment-based “training” methods, including yelling, have serious long-term negative effects on dogs’ mental health. One study found that dogs subjected to punitive training methods had higher levels of cortisol—a stress hormone. In other words, screaming at dogs stresses them out and makes them sad and depressed.

It’s also just cold and means to shush canine companions the minute they make a peep. Barking is as natural and necessary for dogs as talking is for humans, and your dog may be trying to communicate something important, like “I’m worried” or “The house is on fire!” Dogs who seem to bark incessantly are doing it for a reason.

Do better: Always speak kindly to your dogs, take time to find out what’s behind the barking (boredom, frustration, anxiety, lack of exercise, and inappropriate living conditions are common causes), and address it. If you aren’t willing to let your dog speak (bark) now and then, please don’t get one.