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Dominance dog training – good or bad?

April 7, 6:47 PM · 2 comments

You don't have to dominate your dog to train her.

Lots of people have been told about the ‘dominance’ method of training dogs, but, unfortunately, lots of people have also been given false information. For example, some people think that if your dog jumps on you or steals food and other items from your hand, the dog is exhibiting dominant behavior. But that is not the case in this situation. Most of the time if your dog jumps up or steals stuff, it’s because he or she has been rewarded in some way for this “bad” behavior.

Let me give you an example. My little Cocker Spaniel used to be allowed to ride in the front between the two bucket seats in our SUV. Now we are driving a much smaller car and there is really not enough room for her between the front seats. But she, being trained that it’s ok, still keeps squeezing up into the front. We have been trying to stop her, but every time she sneaks up into the front, we absent-mindedly pet and stroke her, thus reinforcing the behavior we don’t want her to have. Needless to say, so far, she hasn’t learned to stay out of the front seat.

Some people think that since our domesticated dogs are distantly related to wolves, we should mirror wolves’ behavior to teach our dogs. The fact is, dogs aren’t wolves. Wolves are dogs’ closest relatives — just as chimpanzees are ours — but dogs became a separate species possibly as long as 135,000 years ago. Although dogs retain some characteristics of wolves and other canids, thousands of years of domestication, co-evolution with humans, and selective breeding have changed them profoundly. So wolves are not the best model for dog behavior.

As hunters, wolves live in large packs and work together to raise young and hunt together. Domestic dogs on the other hand evolved as scavengers, much more dependent on man and his trash. And the shyer, more fearful the dog, the easier it was for him or her to survive around humans. The marked differences in social systems inevitably lead to notable differences in social behavior. Studies done on dogs show that feral dogs live in small groups rather than packs like wolves and frequently the dogs spend much of their time alone.

According to a study done by the San Francisco SPCA Behavior and Training Department, “What was not known at that time is that appeasement gestures, which inhibit or cut-off aggression in another animal, are willingly offered by the subordinate animal, not forced by the superior. There is not one documented case of a wolf (or a dog) rolling over or pinning another animal on the ground. Nor is there one case of a mother wolf or dog “scruff-shaking” puppies.” Reconsidering the Dominance Model in Dog Training, The San Francisco SPCA.

Cesar Millan, of National Geographic’s The Dog Whisperer is one trainer who uses dominance to train dogs, and he has many fans. However, there are also those who say this method is not useful for a good dog/human relationship. “The dog who fails to come when called is not exhibiting an intention to establish dominance over the caller. Rather, dominance behavior is “when animals use aggression for scarce resources,” says Dr. Sophia Yin, DVM, of the University of California-Davis.

The debate will, of course continue as to whether dominance training is good or bad for dogs, but at my house, we don’t dominate our dogs; we all live together in a happy pack.

Posté par polanou à 22:58 - Commentaires [0] - Rétroliens [0] - Permalien [#]