James Dobson

Dr. James Dobson is leader of Focus on the Family, a Christian ministry and radio show. He is author of several books, notably "Dare to Discipline" and "The Strong-Willed Child", and an ardent advocate of spanking.

In the latter book, Dobson compares child rearing with dog rearing. He describes a situation in which Sigmund, the family dog, refuses to leave his resting place, the "furry lid of the toilet seat":

"I had seen this defiant mood before, and knew there was only one way to deal with it. The only way to make Siggie [the family dog] 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!

"But this is not a book about the discipline of dogs; there is an important moral to my story that is highly relevant to the world of children. JUST AS SURELY AS A DOG WILL OCCASIONALLY CHALLENGE THE AUTHORITY OF HIS LEADERS, SO WILL A LITTLE CHILD -- ONLY MORE SO." (emphasis Dobson)

Anti-spanking groups have criticized such views as highly simplistic and dangerous to children.

External links

• Focus on the Family website (http://www.family.org/)
• Chris Dugan: Would you trust this man alone with your dog? (http://nospank.net/dugan.htm) -- Anti-Dobson commentary.