By Niki Tudge
There are so many inaccurate facts that need to be
dispelled about dogs and the dog training industry. The use of dominance
theory and the necessity to be a pack leader using this dominance
theory is one of the more concerning inaccurate facts that as
professionals we have an obligation to educate pet owners about. Using
powerful, engaging and educational messages we need to encourage pet
owners to reconsider these outdated facts and misconceptions about their
dogs and their relationship with their dogs and look toward more recent
research and progressive knowledge as their source of dog training
information services. We do
not, however, have just the “Wolf Pack Hierarchy” studies to blame for
this “dominance pack leader” approach. Force methods using dominance
theory have been around since the 1800s, years before the misleading
wolf pack hierarchy studies were completed” (Shelbourne 2012).
So what do we now know and why do we, as
professionals, not want to be pack leaders? Well as David Mech, one of
the world’s top wolf biologists, says, “We got it so wrong”. As dog
training professionals we know that we do not need to act dominantly as a
pack leader to manage, train and build positive safe and empowering
relationships with our pet dogs. Research supports our position that
this “dominance theory” is not just flawed, it is wrong. Experts
acknowledge that the application of this “dominance theory” leads to a
training approach that not only damages our interspecies relationship
but can also create dangerous fallout behaviors that become a liability
for society and our pet’s welfare.
So if our goal isn’t to dominate what should we be striving for in our relationships with our dogs? In
all social settings dogs exhibit social behaviors. This is how dogs
interact and form relationships with each other and people. Not
through the use of “dominance hierarchies. Our social relationships
with our dogs are shaped during each of our interactions. Our dog’s
behavior dimensions are strengthened or weakened due to the situation
specific contingencies provided. During these social interactions
conditioned emotional responses are also elicited due to the history of
this conditioning. All canine communication behavior is social in
nature. In social settings dogs use behavioral sets to access
reinforcement or avoid aversive stimulation. The environmental
antecedents set the occasion for the behavior and consequences reinforce
or punish this social behavior.
Given this, how do we explain our dog’s behavior if
we no longer use the “dominance hierarchy or pack leader mentality”. As
professionals we use the behavioral approach, applied behavior
analysis, to describe and explain the behaviors that our dogs exhibit.
We know that behavior is a function of its environment. We use this
behavioral approach because it is an effective approach to describing
and explaining behavior because behavior is not an illness or disease
but rather a dependent variable within an environment and we must look
at the functional relationship the behavior has with its environment so
we understand its cause and then know how to work on developing a
behavior change program. Let’s not dominate, let’s understand and
relate. Full article here.
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