Can Verbal Abuse Hurt a Dog?
hazel.93@sbcglobal.net asked:
No, I am not crazy… But my dog stayed at my step-grandmother’s house while I was hospitalized. There was another dog there (her) dog a pesky little rat we will call a chiuawana or PEPE. This dog would not leave my dog alone for the life of her. I feel my dog got tired of this dog bothering her, and not being walked, I walk my dog 4x a day. Step-GM doesn’t walk her dog, just throughs it out in the back yard. Well, my dog peed in house a few times, and when she did shit hit the van verbally to my dog. Call her an embarrassment, you should be ashamed of yourself, I hate your behaviour. I just don’t think you should speak down to anything excpet maybe a murder or criminal. It just brought back times to when I was young and I was spoken to like that. I can’t have kids, I rescue animals….. and I just want to give them the best life verbally, physically, and emotionally. Please help….. I just think this tactic was cool.
Geoff
No, I am not crazy… But my dog stayed at my step-grandmother’s house while I was hospitalized. There was another dog there (her) dog a pesky little rat we will call a chiuawana or PEPE. This dog would not leave my dog alone for the life of her. I feel my dog got tired of this dog bothering her, and not being walked, I walk my dog 4x a day. Step-GM doesn’t walk her dog, just throughs it out in the back yard. Well, my dog peed in house a few times, and when she did shit hit the van verbally to my dog. Call her an embarrassment, you should be ashamed of yourself, I hate your behaviour. I just don’t think you should speak down to anything excpet maybe a murder or criminal. It just brought back times to when I was young and I was spoken to like that. I can’t have kids, I rescue animals….. and I just want to give them the best life verbally, physically, and emotionally. Please help….. I just think this tactic was cool.
Geoff
Tags: Rescue Animals, Step Grandmother
June 13th, 2009 at 3:17 am
gwyneth
not really
June 13th, 2009 at 8:37 am
Lee
I would dislike (lol kill is too strong of a word) my grandmother if she ever treated my cat like that. I love animals dearly, even more then i love humans (Which honestly, i don’t love humans). It was very cruel what she did to your dog. And I do believe animals can understand verbal abuse. Maybe they can’t understand what you are saying, but they can catch on due to the tone of ones voice.
June 14th, 2009 at 1:18 am
verbal abuse wont hurt a dog. It might scare it, and if its constantly being yelled at, it will become very skittish, but if its a one time thing i wouldnt worry.
June 17th, 2009 at 12:31 pm
Paul
Verbal cues is how we train animals, so of course verbal abuse can hurt them as well. When you speak to you dog affectionately, doesn’t he get excited and wag his tail? Or when you yell at him doesn’t he hang his head and mope? Mine does.
June 17th, 2009 at 5:45 pm
Brian
ya, do you get sad when sum1 is yellin at you or like a bad feeling when your principal is yellin at u thy all feel the same
June 18th, 2009 at 1:23 pm
Colin
The poor dog is probably worn out from being pestered by the other dog and being separated from the person that loves her. I am sure she missed you. Dogs don’t like to be yelled at, especially if they aren’t used to it. Just love your dog extra today and walk her and let her get some rest. She will forget this happened and be back to herself soon. It probably bothers you because it brings up unpleasant memories from your past. Hug your dog and be glad you are both back at home.
June 21st, 2009 at 9:15 pm
Patrick
i think it does. it also depends on how your dog was verbally abused. if you of someone else were to have many hand motions, or have some sort of a threatened look on you or someone elses face, this can be very scary for any dog.
June 22nd, 2009 at 8:35 pm
Craig
Yes, it is all energy. Just make it up by lots of positive energy sent your dogs way. We can see that they know the tone of our voice has meaning to them & even if we say certain words it is hard to disguise how we feel. They can feel the negativity.
June 23rd, 2009 at 8:47 am
Patrick
its not really the words that hurt, its the tone.
dogs can tell.
never let her stay at your step gm again
June 26th, 2009 at 4:49 am
Gary
I don’t think that is cool to shame a dog like that especially if it is not there dog . and that was mean of your step - GM ! and yes it could mabey hurt your dog’s feelings
June 27th, 2009 at 11:08 am
Brian
amazingly, dogs can understand verbal abuse and gestures
if you notice if you yell at a dog, they will tuck their ears back and drop their heads a little bit
thats a sign of submission, and their way of saying “i’m sorry”
June 28th, 2009 at 7:11 am
Craig
Dogs don’t understand most of what you say besides maybe their name, “out,” “good dog,” “bad dog,” etc. They do, however understand your tone of voice and you should always speak to them in an authoritative tone when you want them to take you seriously or a more high pitched tone when you’re fooling around. But as far as insults are concerned, they don’t know what you’re saying.
June 30th, 2009 at 12:11 pm
Maxine
We don’t use extreme methods when we train our dogs either, for the very reason you mentioned. Yes, your dog is suffering from the abuse of your step. I guess you just need to try and reassure your dog that you still love it and it will recover. I wouldn’t allow your step around your dog again.
July 3rd, 2009 at 11:46 pm
Colin
It’s not so much the words as the tone.
But knowing it upset people without knowing what it was that caused the problem and not having a correcting action associated with the communication can be very disorienting to the animal.
July 4th, 2009 at 11:02 am
Bruce
I have a chihuahua and he is so good, he loves people once he knows they won’t hurt him. Its all in how you treat them. I’m sorry for you and your dog, I think verbal or any kind of abuse can hurt a dog just like a human. Just give your dog extra treats and love, he’ll get over it and will respond to the special treatment by you. God bless you for being kind to animals.
July 5th, 2009 at 3:27 pm
Steve
Tones and body language surely affects an animal.
Learned words used out of sync with the behaviors may confuse.
Touch is also read.
Animals know and read much into human and other animal behaviors through all of their heightened senses and those of others.
Smell may also factor in.
July 7th, 2009 at 2:20 am
Craig
Dogs understand tone of voice and body language, but they don’t speak English. You could make the words please and thank you just as threatening as any other if you wanted to. So it isn’t what is said, it is how it is said.
I’m constantly telling my wife’s cat that “I hate cats” and he just eats it up and wants more.
July 8th, 2009 at 7:50 pm
Verbal abuse for a dog is tone, not necessarily the words because they don’t always understand the words - just ones they are trained to know, but the tone is what the dog understands and yelling at a dog will scare them or cause them to be afraid. I have rescued dogs for years from bad situations and there is a distinct personality difference for dogs that came from a verbally abusive home.
Giving your dog lots of love and affection should counteract the negative affects that this experience has had, but your dog may not want to go to that home again.
Sounds like you are a great mom to your dog, I would definitely consider alternate arrangements if possible if you need to have a dog sitter again though.
July 10th, 2009 at 1:46 pm
gwyneth
Perhaps you should rescue the chihuahua from there. That dogs getting treated like crap as well.
I do have to wonder why you didn’t have someone else care for your dog, being step GM doesn’t care for her own.
July 11th, 2009 at 8:58 pm
Steven
Yes. It’s more the attitude and feelings in the air that affect them. The important thing is to regain the little love’s trust. You must talk in even level tones and reassure your dog that he is again safe with you.
Dogs live in the moment and forgive easily. The dog will respect you if you treat it well.
As for your past - yes, verbal abuse and belittling really crushes us. Let it go and you and your dog heal together. You don’t need the people not respect you. They may think you do - but that is their insecurity and problem not yours.
If you cannot avoid these people who hurt you or your dog(emotionally) then just smile - and know in yourown mind that they cannot hurt you - you are on to them.
Let me know if all is well.