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Nationally known Focus on the Family founder James Dobson has a new book out with advice on raising girls, Bringing Up Girls. Over the past several decades, Dobson has become a trusted authority on child-rearing for perhaps millions of Americans, and he's also compared child-rearing to canine behavioral management. So let's look at his view on how to treat dogs.
In his 1976 book Dare To Discipline that helped launch his national career (Dobson has recently come out with an updated sequel, The New Dare To Discipline) Mr. Dobson, in a passage that seemed worthy of opera or a least a Viking ballad, described belt-whipping his miniature-Dachshund:
"The ONLY way to make Siggie obey is to threaten him with destruction. Nothing else works. I turned and went to my closet and got a small belt to help me 'reason' with Mr. Freud...
What developed next is impossible to describe. That tiny dog and I had the most vicious fight ever staged between man and beast. I fought him up one wall and down the other, with both of us scratching and clawing and growling and swinging the belt. I am embarrassed by the memory of the entire scene. Inch by inch I moved him toward the family room and his bed. As a final desperate maneuver, Siggie backed into the corner for one last snarling stand. I eventually got him to bed, only because I outweighed him 200 to 12!"
Dobson's exuberant description of thrashing a tiny dog which bucked his will raises the obvious question, would you trust this man alone with you own dog ? And the logical extension to that obvious question is - well, if not, would you trust his advice on how to raise your child ? I doubt Cesar Milan, the Dog Whisperer, would have kind words for Dobson's approach, to put it mildly.
For additional reading see:
James Dobson and religiously motivated child abuse
Obama-Critic Dobson Based Child Rearing Ideas On Flawed Dog Training Method
Focus On The Family Endorses 'Satanic Role-Playing' Religious Warfare Video Game As Kid-Safe
[you can vote this up here on reddit.com. thanks for your support, bruce wilson]