Uh Oh ... I discuss dominance!

I have been researching the perfect dog toy lately, so of course, I headed over to the US patent office web site where I could peruse every dog item ever imagined. Do you know what I found? The majority of the applications AND granted patents are for things that punish our "best friends." Apparently, people are obsessed with shocking, spraying cold water, using noxious gases and a variety of equally heinous things. The things I saw listed would have made a Spanish Grand Inquisitor drool.

What. is. up. with. that!?

Need to dominate
Of course, I know, it goes back to our perceived need to "dominate" nature and thae idea that we have to make animals submit or they might eat us. If you stop and think about it, you know that this is not necessarily so. Trust me, they don't use dominance to train killer whales at Sea World. So the whole thing is not that clear-cut, in fact, there is a great debate over dominance based vs. reward-based training going on in the dog trainer community.

Flawed Dominance Studies
It turns out that the original studies which came up with the whole "alpha dog" concept were not done in an authentic pack, but at a zoo, using wolves that were strangers to each other! In an actual wolf family the alpha rolls and scruff shakes rarely happen. That is not all, UPenn just published the results of a wonderful year-long study that proves that aggressive dominance based techniques will lead to owner directed aggression.

Translation, people who use dominance-based trainng techiniques actually get bit more often than not. Check it out here. It seems like a flawed concept that needs to be revisited.

The Better Way
On top of all that there are a lot of great trainers and behaviorists that have worked out really effective ways to get your dog to act like a civilized member of society that actually work. Of course, for me, this all makes perfect sense. You see, like many of you, I am not a bully by nature, I don't ooze testosterone (no offense to those of you who do, i love men, but i can't lift 100 pounds either). So when the first professional trainer I worked with (oof that was a long time ago!) arrived at my house and body slammed my dog, I watched in amazement as that dog did anything that woman wanted. Did she obey me without question. Of course not. Way before the Dog Whisperer became all the rave, I knew you can't fake this stuff. So I had to find another way.
If you are a parent, this should feel familiar
Luckily two things happened. First as I was getting educated, the field of dog behavior was developing into a serious science and there was a ton of material for me to work with. Second, I had a son. For many reasons, I was committed to using positive parenting techniques with my child. Long story short, I ended up with a kid that, as a toddler, would get compliments from total strangers in restaurants. What is my point? I was proactive in many situations, used my head, and was always looking for teaching opportunities. That is not to say I did not have incompetent moments, no one is perfect, but I recognized them and moved forward.

What I have Learned
How does this translate to training a dog? Well, I realized that the trainers on the positive reinforcement side of the fence were advocating the same basic concepts found in good parenting.

Be clear about what you expect
Give lots of guidance
Manage your dogs environment so it is easy to do right
Make it fun.

I have achieved so much more with dogs, mine and yours, using positive reinforcement and humane techniques that I ever did pretending to be some psycho that shakes, rolls and beats a dog into submission. Don't misunderstand this, I am no pushover with my dogs (or with my son), but I am not a bully either. I think that often we are presented with a false choice here, like if you don't bully, well, you are a wimp. Believe me, it takes MUCH more inner fortitude to CALMLY keep still (yes calm and assertive) than it does to go into the alpha roll thing. Another thing I want to be clear on, I admire Cesar Milan for all he has accomplished, but you have to remember it is TV, and as such it has limits in its applications in real life. Real life is harder, more work and will take longer, and Cesar gets bitten.

I understand some of this will surprise some of you, so I will leave you with one of my favorite animal behaviorist, Ian Dunbar at his recent TED talk, he says it better than I do.