A top dog trainer, who has been in the business for more than a few years, will undoubtedly remember that as recently as within the past few decades, aggressively establishing dominance was considered a valid, and effective, method for training a dog.
But in the modern dog owner’s quest for a quality dog human relationship, positive, reward based dog training techniques are gaining in both popularity and credibility.
In the past, it was believed that if a dog barked, growled, ran ahead while on a walk, or jumped on guests, she was fighting for her rank as the dominant member of the household; that her misbehavior was more than bad manners; it was an attempt to rule over her owners.
The American Veterinary Society of Animal Behavior, AVSAB, has this to say about dominance based training: “Dominance is defined as a relationship between individual animals that is established by force or aggression and submission, to determine who has priority access to multiple resources such as food, preferred resting spots, and mates. Most undesirable behaviors in our pets are not related to priority access to resources; rather, they are due to accidental rewarding of the undesirable behavior.”
For instance, a dog owner may have inadvertently rewarded bad jumping behaviors by petting, playing with, yelling at, hitting, pushing, or speaking to their dog when the behavior happens. The jumping is a product of attention, positive or negative, not an attempt at dominance.
Often, dominance struggles are initiated by humans who are unsure about the dog obedience training techniques that work best. The initial dominance display by the human, like an alpha roll or a growl, starts a chain reaction that can ultimately lead to the dog’s fear and aggression toward the owner, and eventually toward other humans.
The alpha roll is one example of a dominance dog training technique that is incorrectly performed. If you were to observe your dog’s ancestors in the wild, you would notice that the submissive wolf voluntarily lies on its back to show its deference to another wolf. When a dog owner forces a dog onto her back to show human dominance, that human is not only confusing the dog with behavior that is not instinctive to the dog, but the human is bullying her, and effectively asking for aggressive behavior to hatch.
The AVSAB contends that leadership and dominance are two different concepts. If you consider a happy human family, you might observe that the father, or the mother, or both, lead their children through the use of wisdom and respect. A family in which the father or the mother is dominant through the use of abuse is never considered to be functional. Wildlife biologists are coming to understand that wolf packs operate in a manner that closely mirrors that of a functional human family. This understanding is contrary to the previous belief that those packs were organized under strong, alpha wolf dominance.
While training your dog, it’s important to establish yourself as a positive and trustworthy leader. This can be accomplished through the rewarding of behaviors that may not come naturally for your dog. Your dog’s nature dictates that she will dig, chew, jump, and bark, unless those behaviors are changed. But if you commit to rewarding the dog behavior that you desire, you will stop digging and chewing behaviors, stop jumping behaviors, stop your dog from barking, and get your dog to walk on a leash.
Use clicker training to reward good behaviors with immediacy. Avoid the reinforcement of undesirable behaviors, ignore those behaviors, or replace them with more desirable habits. And remember to conduct all of your dog obedience training with love, respect, and a positive attitude. Veterinarians, top dog trainers, and wolf biologists agree: the Golden Rule applies to dogs’ lives, too.
