"First you learn a new language, profanity; and second you learn not to discipline your dogs when you're mad, and that's most of the time when you're training dogs"
About this Quote
Dog training, Lou Schultz reminds us, is really human training with fur in the frame. The joke lands fast: the "new language" you pick up is profanity, not the crisp, authoritative commands from instructional books. It works because it punctures the self-image of the patient, competent owner. Anyone who has tried to teach a stubborn dog to heel knows the reality: the dog is largely unbothered, while the human suddenly discovers an expressive vocabulary they swear they never use.
Schultz's second point is the one with teeth: don't discipline your dogs when you're mad, and you're mad most of the time during training. The subtext is an indictment of our default emotional posture - not just irritation, but entitlement. We approach animals like they're malfunctioning appliances instead of sentient beings trying to decode inconsistent signals. Anger feels like "leadership" in the moment, but it mainly trains the dog to fear your mood, not understand your rules.
The line reads like a wry field note from a writer who's watched the domestic theater up close. It situates dog training in the mid-century, common-sense tradition of humor that smuggles ethics inside a punchline: the real discipline isn't the leash correction; it's emotional regulation. Schultz isn't sentimental about pets. He's blunt about the way people outsource their frustration onto whatever can't talk back - and then wonder why the relationship breaks down.
Schultz's second point is the one with teeth: don't discipline your dogs when you're mad, and you're mad most of the time during training. The subtext is an indictment of our default emotional posture - not just irritation, but entitlement. We approach animals like they're malfunctioning appliances instead of sentient beings trying to decode inconsistent signals. Anger feels like "leadership" in the moment, but it mainly trains the dog to fear your mood, not understand your rules.
The line reads like a wry field note from a writer who's watched the domestic theater up close. It situates dog training in the mid-century, common-sense tradition of humor that smuggles ethics inside a punchline: the real discipline isn't the leash correction; it's emotional regulation. Schultz isn't sentimental about pets. He's blunt about the way people outsource their frustration onto whatever can't talk back - and then wonder why the relationship breaks down.
Quote Details
| Topic | Dog |
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