Introduction
I think Cesar Millan may have lead me astray. “What can you possibly mean?”, I hear you ask. Let me explain.... I was an avid viewer of the ‘Dog Whisperer’ TV programme and being a new puppy owner found myself buying into his weekly requirement of me to be a ‘calm, assertive pack leader’. Why would I doubt what Cesar was telling me? His instruction was further reinforced by a trainer in a puppy class I attended who told me that I should ‘command respect’ from my dog.
The more material I have read in preparation for this course, the more arguments against ‘pack theory’ and ‘dominance strategies’ I have come across. The more I can see how the traditional rules of dog training theory can damage the social bonds between dogs and owners. I don’t want my dog to be scared of me. I don’t want to inflict pain on him if he doesn’t walk to heel on a lead. I don’t want to enforce strict rules for extinguishing perceived dog-dominance, so that over time our relationship diminishes to the extent where I have an unhappy pooch, who in turn has an unhappy owner.
So what are the strict ‘rules’ and how are they dealt with in a modern sense?
The ‘Rules’
Barry Eaton in his book ‘Dominance: Fact or Fiction?’(1) and Jean Donaldson in her book ‘The Culture Clash’(2), both list ‘pack rules’ that deal with dominance behaviour problems in dogs. The following are examples from both books:
1. When your dog demands affection, attention or games, he is showing dominance
2. Never let your dog eat first
3. Don’t allow your dog on furniture (especially your bed)
4. Jumping up is a display of dominance
5. Dominant dogs chew owners’ valuable possessions
6. Don’t let your dog lay at the top of the stairs
7. Never let your dog through a doorway first
8. Never let your dog win a game of tug
9. Dogs that pull on the lead are dominant
When your dog demands affection, attention or games, he is showing dominance
Traditional view: The pack rule states that the alpha dog is in control of the start and finish of games. Therefore we should not let our dogs initiate the start and end of games, or demand attention or request affection. After all, the human is the alpha - the pack leader.
Modern view: Dogs are social creatures and have a desire for social contact. This can come in the form of a lick, or a gentle nudge for a pat, but can escalate into a full blown ‘song and dance’ including pawing, jumping up and barking for attention if the owner allows this to get out of hand through inconsistent training. ‘Dogs need to learn good manners and … this comes through training. It has nothing to do with status or pack rules.’(3)
Never let your dog eat first
Traditional view: The alpha dog will always eat first, so it is important that your dog eats last in the family.
Modern view: It is more important that your dog has a regular feeding routine, regardless of whether he eats before you or not. Establishing a regular feeding pattern for a young puppy helps with his house training. In addition, your dog should not get into the habit of begging for food during your meal time. He needs to understand that he eats at his designated meal time, and is settled when everyone else is eating. Once again, this is achieved through consistent training.
Don’t allow your dog on furniture
Traditional view: If your dog rests where he likes and when he likes, this will naturally elevate his position in the pack.
Modern view: Having your dog sleep beside you on your bed or sofa can be very comforting - for both parties. Given the opportunity I don’t really blame a dog for wanting to be resting on a soft sofa rather than the hard floor - that’s what I’d do! This is not a problem as long as the dog doesn’t start to view the sofa or bed as a resource to guard. The dog should be trained to get up on and and down from all furniture on command.
Jumping up is a display of dominance
Traditional view: When a dog jumps up he is demonstrating dominance by making his body appear larger as he lunges forwards.
Modern view: The body language of a dominant dog is ‘stiff-legged, upright posture or slow, stiff-legged movement forward.’(4) Dogs that jump up are doing so because of a natural wolf instinct that we have bred out of domestic dogs due to its unpleasantness, i.e. food regurgitation. A mother dog may regurgitate food for her young during a puppy’s transition period (first 2-4 weeks of age). ‘The dog that jumps up... is really asking you to regurgitate a meal for it’.(5)
Dominant dogs chew owners’ valuable possessions
Traditional view: Dogs will display dominance tendencies by voluntarily destructing their owners’ possessions.
Modern view: Dogs do not possess any innate sense of morality. They are not aware of what is ‘right’ and what is ‘wrong’. Therefore, your dog will attribute no more ‘value’ to their owners’ antique furniture or £200 shoes than they do to their own chew toys or dried pigs ear. Your dog is simply exhibiting his natural tendency to chew, whatever that item may be. Chewing is a natural behavioural outlet for dogs, it is not a display of dominance.
Don’t let your dog lay at the top of the stairs
Traditional view: The pack leader is dominant because he is at a higher physical position than the rest of the pack. The dog can look down at his pack from his elevated place at the top of the stairs.
Modern view: ‘Dogs have their favourite resting places around the house where they are just content to watch what’s going on, chill out or have a nap.’(6) My dog likes to settle at the top of the stairs in the winter. It is a great spot for him as the gas central heating pipes run directly below the floorboards, thus keeping him toasty and warm. He’s not being dominant, he’s comfortably relaxing.
Never let your dog through a doorway first
Traditional view: Your dog pushing past you through a doorway or narrow gap is a dominance based activity - he is physically pushing you out of the way and is going first: making a statement of leading the pack and taking up the alpha position.
Modern view: Your dog will instinctively push past you through a doorway to try to get to whatever is at the other side of the doorway as quickly as possible because he is excited or because he is curious. This may not be good manners and safety based training can be used to overcome this behaviour, but your dog is not assuming a position of dominance.
Never let your dog win a game of tug
Traditional view: You should not play tug of war games with your dog, as it can lead to aggression and dominance problems. If your dog wins the game of tug he will consider himself stronger than you and hence reinforce his position as pack leader.
Modern view: Games of tug are a great way for your dog to burn off predatory energy, and can be good exercise for dog and owner alike. ‘The game doesn’t make the dog a predator: he already is one. The game is an outlet.’(7) It is important, however, to train your dog to ‘drop’ the tug toy on demand in order to ensure that resource guarding of the toy doesn’t occur.
Dogs that pull on the lead are dominant
Traditional view: The traditional rules states that the alpha always leads the pack and dictates where it goes. Therefore a dog pulling on the lead is exhibiting his dominance over the owner by taking charge of directing where the pack should go.
Modern view: A dog that pulls on the lead does so because he hasn’t been trained not to. Not because he is being dominant.
Dogs will naturally pull on the lead. They do so for a number of reasons:
- a desire to get to a specific smell, a retreating squirrel, or another dog as quickly as possible, regardless of what is on the other end of the lead
- they naturally walk at a faster pace than their owners
- the instant reward for pulling is that the owner moves forward too, thus reinforcing the pulling action
- they reflexively move into pressure on their necks or chests as soon as they feel it (opposition reflex)
The historical tradition of dog training for lead work initially stemmed from the practices used in the military for controlling extremely large and powerful military working dogs (usually guarding breeds such as dobermans, German shepherds and rottweilers). This incorporated the use of pain as a control mechanism usually in the form of choke collars or prong collars. Incredibly, these instruments of torture are still available to purchase today and their use is still recommended by ‘old fashioned’ dog trainers.
Thankfully for our dogs, the modern approach to dog training for lead work adopts a far more gentle approach.
It is important to start lead training early. Puppies do not inherently know how to walk on the lead and they will naturally pull. A puppy needs to learn that during his early walks he will not receive any rewards (praise or food treats) if he pulls on the lead. Older dogs who are already ‘practised pullers’, need to learn how to toe-the-line also, however it may take a bit longer to train them as the habit has been formed.
A useful method to help with lead training is ‘stop-go’. Starting from a calm, standing position with your dog next to your side and facing in the same direction, take a few steps forward (perhaps with the prompt “let’s go”). If your dog starts to pull on the lead making it taught, immediately stop walking forward. Don’t move again until the lead becomes loose. After time your dog will learn to understand that ‘taught lead equals no movement’ whereby ‘loose lead equals movement’.
Alternatively, the ‘turn-and-come-back’ approach can be used. In the same way as the scenario above, have your dog on a loose lead beside you (e.g. dog on your right, with lead in your right hand) and make sure you have some treats with you as a lure/reward. Take a few steps forward. If your dog walks along with you and then starts to pull, with the lead in your right hand and a treat in your left, lure him and walk backwards a few steps until he is back by your right side. Then walk forward again, with the treat in front of his nose. When he walks alongside you, praise him and give him the treat. Repeat this process until he starts to walk alongside you without pulling.
As well as training techniques, there are also products on the market which are useful in helping with persistent pullers. For example, head harnesses and anti-pull body harnesses. I found the head harness very useful when training my dog to walk nicely on the lead. It works in the same way as a halter on a horse - by turning the head and not pulling on the neck.
Conclusion
Consistent training is the key. Or should I say, consistent, positive reinforcement-based training, rather than dominating, punishment-based, potentially harmful training. Modern rather than traditional.
Works Cited
(1) Dominance: Fact or Fiction?, ch.4, p.22 (Eaton, Barry 2008)
(2) The Culture Clash, ch.1, p.19 (Donaldson, Jean 2005)
(3) Dominance: Fact or Fiction?, ch.4, p.31 (Eaton, Barry 2008)
(4) How To Speak Dog, ch.12, p.184 (Coren, Stanley 2000)
(5) The Dog’s Mind, ch.6, p.78 (Fogel, Bruce 1990)
(6) Dominance: Fact or Fiction?, ch.4, p.27 (Eaton, Barry 2008)
(7) The Culture Clash, ch.2, p.36 (Donaldson, Jean 2005)
Bibliography
Cesar’s Way (Millan, Cesar 2006)
Dominance: Fact or Fiction? (Eaton, Barry 2008)
How To Speak Dog (Coren, Stanley 2000)
Puppies For Dummies (Hodgson, Sarah 2006)
Puppy Behaviour and Training (Heath, Sarah 2005)
Take The Lead (Watson, Heather 1998)
The Culture Clash (Donaldson, Jean 2005)
The Dog’s Mind (Fogel, Bruce 1990)
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