Dogs And Dominance Training
Dog Training is not about dominance
Many methods of training dogs have as their underlying message,that we must not let the dog "win”, we must not allow ourselves to been seen as "weak”,therefore we must dominate.
Some methods dominate in an intimidating and(often)abusive way,others much less so,but still the perception persists that it is "us and them”, that somehow our dogs are always trying to "get one over on us”.
Dogs do not have hidden agendas, they do not do things to tick us off, they are simply asking questions and judging our answers – and then they react.
That’s it.
There is no clever plan of action, no desire to beat us into first place.
If we show ourselves to be poor decision makers then they WILL challenge us (or ignore us) – not because they necessarily want to be "top dog” (very few do), but because we have proved to be incompetent, and they do not trust us to keep them safe.
So instead of over reacting, shouting (doesn’t work), demanding (doesn’t work), getting angry and belligerent (doesn’t work), trying to dominate physically (dangerous), when our dog does not do as we ask, try looking at WHY.
The reason we react as we do to "disobedience” is because we feel our dog is trying to make a fool of us – embarrassing us in front of other dog owners who we think will see us as useless. Worse still if our dog shows aggression – then we are not only embarrassed, we are also shocked into fear-induced anger, and (often) panic. A disaster when the dog is already in a heightened state.
People and dogs react in a similar way to leadership.
Calm, convincing, non-aggressive, trust-inducing decision-makers who never lose their cool and who consistently make good choices for our benefit,ENGENDER,NOT COMMAND,our respect.We follow them gladly and rarely challenge their decisions.
That is humankind.
Dogs are even more simple.They give their loyalty and trust completely when the human proves worthy,but conversely,there are no grey areas for them – you are either up to the job or you are not.
So the bottom line is that if your dog is not doing as you ask,blame yourself,not him.Take the trouble to learn what makes him tick – and why – and then act toward him in a way that he can understand and respect.
Most importantly,rid yourself of the perception that you have to dominate – you don’t.You just have to be convincing.
Your relationship should be one of friendship – but with you making the decisions your dog is not equipped to make,in a human world he can never understand.
Your dog can only react to YOUR leadership, so look to yourself to see why he is not convinced.
Don’t judge your dog by human standards – they are much more honest and uncomplicated than we are!
AUGUST 29TH, 2013 @ 12:36:44 UTC
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