Do you realise when your dog says sorry?

I have a pomeranian male. I swear that he is really a hairyboy.lol He actually yells at me. When I come home, He has this tone, sort of a howl and bark as if to say why did you leave me so long. When I discipline him, I actually tell him NO in a harsh tone. When I have finished I give him a hug and a belly scratch. I swear he is smiling as if to say thanks mom. I love my dog.

I typically do not discipline my lab. If he does something wrong my wife and I give him a time out. We basically ignore him for about ten minutes directly after he does something wrong, like tearing into the trash bag. Then after about ten minutes, we call to him and have him sit or something else that is really simple and praise him for the good action of sitting. Ignoring him is the punishment and it seems to work really well. It is hard to ignire the pouty face, but we never raise a hand to strike him as that is just cruel and the animal learns nothing.

Maybe your dog says sorry, but my dog, although I love her, doesn't look very sorry when she's naughty. But sometimes we do feel bad for her and after a bit give her a hug - which is really bad for training, but what the heck! ;)