Punishing our dog on the terrace is a punitive method that will not only affect the emotional well -being of our canine, but also entails different risks for its physical health.
Affects your emotional health
The community of experts in animal behavior, ethologists, defends that education should be based on the positive reinforcement of desirable behaviors and that punishment methods cause, in the short or long term, pain, stress and fear in the animal.
It has been proven that dogs educated through the application of punishment suffer more stress and fear. Not only during the application of the punishment, but the rest of the day.
Therefore, when we punish our dog on the terrace for behavior that we believe is “inappropriate”, we are contributing to our dog developing anxiety and fears that will affect him in all facets of his life.
On the other hand, it will be negatively affecting the relationship that the dog has with us, and by extension the rest of the people.
It is prohibited in some cities
Fortunately, more and more municipalities join in having ordinances on the possession of pets that are more sensitive to animal protection. In many municipalities, the prohibition of the continued permanence of animals on terraces or patios is already contemplated.
So if you leave your dog alone for a long time (for example at night), you may be incurring an infraction with its corresponding fine.
You may have an accident
Even if you think that the dog “is not so stupid” as to jump off your terrace or that it “does not reach” the railing, you are very wrong. There are many cases of animals falling from a height, with fatal results for most of them. They can act in this irrational way due to stress and fear of punishment or any external stimulus that scares them, such as the noise of a firecracker.
Another very common accident is that the animal, either trying to escape or wanting to observe the street from the terrace, gets trapped between the bars of the railing .
can make you sick
The weather is one of the great enemies when we leave our dog outdoors. An increase in our dog’s temperature can cause heat stroke. A punished animal is more vulnerable to suffering it, due to the fact of the “reprimand”, it is more stressed. Even if it’s not summer, even if it’s cloudy, even if our terrace is in the shade… there are many reasons why we can lose our dog’s life in just a few minutes: a sudden change in weather, a shadow that has changed, an exterior floor much hotter than the one inside our house…
We also have the opposite side, the cold, the rain… It is a fact that the animal can suffer from hypothermia, pharyngitis, laryngitis, bronchitis or pneumonia, among other diseases. And once again, the stress of the punishment will be a factor against him.
We cannot forget the possible toxins to which it may have access, either accidentally, plants or chemical products (like that can of paint that was left over from the last renovation), or deliberately, by some unscrupulous person who tries to poison it.
they can steal it from you
Animal theft is a reality. Unfortunately, thousands of animals are abducted for very dark purposes. From those destined for dog fights , whose victims are not only “strong” dogs for fights but also any type and size for deadly training, to those that are exploited for illegal breeding or on a simple whim because they liked the dog. .
And it doesn’t matter how high our terrace is. These unscrupulous, on many occasions criminal organizations , do not resist any height or enclosure. There have been cases of robbery even inside homes, aren’t they going to rob someone who is on a balcony?
nuisance to neighbors
Again, the stress of punishment or any external stimulus can cause our dog to bark, howl and ‘whine’ wildly. This can generate inconvenience and even the complaint of our neighbors, since not only could we be incurring an infraction according to the municipal ordinance by leaving the dog outside, but the continued barking, if they exceed the allowed noise limit , would be denounceable as it is considered to harm the rest and health of the rest of the residents.
