Discipline summary

Shaking or Lifting: This, along with the final corrective tool, is what I call a natural means of administering discipline. Little physical pain is felt, but when you hold a dog by the scruff of the neck and shake it while issuing a verbal command, the dog will apply its whole attention to what you are saying.
It is akin to a mother dog's grabbing and shaking her puppy, which is how a puppy is taught. When a puppy is lifted from the floor, it is placed in a vulnerable position that it does not like.

Again, as a result, it will concentrate on what else is happening. If you are saying no in a stem voice, it will associate the action it was doing with the consequence (shaking) and the word no. Thereafter, the word no is associated with the punishment, so the shaking is rarely needed.

The Ultimate Natural Aid—Your Hand: This has the advantage that it is the only tool, other than your voice, that is sure to always be with you! Much has been written about not using your hand to administer discipline to your dog, so I will try and put matters into some sort of perspective based on years of experience with dogs and many other animals. I regard the hand as the most obvious, effective, and least unreliable aid that I have. It is as natural for me to use as a dog its teeth, a cat its claws, or a horse its hoofs.

Out there in the real world it undoubtedly remains the most used tool by dog owners. The argument against it as a means of administering discipline is that the pet will become hand-shy. If this happens, then it suggests it has been used inappropriately. Further, even if you use a strap or switch you will still raise your hand in order to use it, so the dog can still become hand-shy.

If you spank your dog at the very slightest provocation, then it is to be expected that it will become very wary of your hand. But if it only associates your hand with a spanking when it has ignored a verbal command, then it has no reason to fear the hand under any other situation. Your hand is part of you, and it is you that the dog must have the utmost respect for.
This means it must learn that if it gives you no reason to get annoyed with it, life will be trouble-free and filled with affection. If it ignores you, it will experience problems of discomfort for its transgression. Indeed, this is as near to the natural way in which it would learn as it can within a human pack.

Just remember that your hand is no different to any other training aid if it is used incorrectly: it will create fear, and frustration. It is not so much the tool that is so important in disciplining your dog as the consistency, the extent of punishment, and the timing. .