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Dominant Dogs
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They
Are
NOT Out To Take Over The World:
Dispelling general myths of the dominant dog.
Karen Peak
West Wind Dog Training & The Safe Kids/Safe Dogs Project
"Dominance Theory" is a big
topic in dog training. When you hear some trainers talk you would think
it explains every aspect of life with a domestic dog. "Why did my dog
do that?" "Well, he is just being dominant and you have to stop that!"
Let
us roll the dog, shake it down, grab its muzzle, and let us stop that
DOMINANT behavior. But wait!
How correct is this theory?
How did the current domestic canine dominance theory come about?
A number of short term wolf behavior studies. These studies were then
extrapolated to the domestic dog. The wolf studies focused on a very
small and structured part of wolf interaction. One example is the
so-called
"Alpha Roll". The Alpha Roll is based on the assumption that in order
to enforce relative position in the pack, a dominant, or Alpha wolf
would
roll a subordinate wolf onto its back and then hold it there until it
submits. Sadly, the erroneous data found its way into our domestic dog
owning culture as gospel and the myth still abounds in the dog
training, breeding and owning world even to this day.
To take the behavior from one species and apply it to the other simply
because they share a common background on the evolutionary tree is
inaccurate. Chickens and hawks share a similar evolutionary background.
Iguanas and Komodo Dragons share a similar evolutionary background.
Would it be accurate to study chickens and state this is how hawks
interact? What about studying Iguanas and applying the information to
Komodo Dragons? They are very
different animals. Why do we do this to the wolf and domestic dog?
Another
issue is because humans are a completely different species and do not
speak
dog, we can only guess at what is going on inside that fuzzy head
leaning
on our knee. Dogs are as different from humans as a Komodo Dragon is
from
a duck! Trying to extend the social interactions from one species to
another is as ludicrous as asking a duck to kill a mouse.
One researcher, Dr. Frank Beach actually studied dog packs for a
thirty-year study. During this research, many important behaviors were
noted including:
* Males have a less variable hierarchy amongst themselves than female
dogs (very basically, males are more predictable when in a single sex
group than females)
* But when the genders are mixed, the rules are mixed as well. There is
very little actual physical domination in mixed gender groups of dogs.
The others will rapidly quash the few dogs that may try to physically
bully. Lower ranked dogs do not try and "move up the ladder" - they
accept
their position.
* Lastly, "alpha" does NOT mean the most physically dominant dog. In
fact, "alpha" does not even equate directly to our notions of
"dominance". Rather, the "alpha" dog is the one in control of the
resources.
When we use force, rolling, etc on our dogs, what are we telling
them? We are implying that we are insecure in our position in the
family
unit. For a dog that needs someone to be in charge of ensuring needed
resources will always be provided, seeing that provider act in a manner
that indicates he (or she) in not secure can be very confusing to a dog.
In order to alleviate that perceived gap in leadership, the domestic
dog will often react in way totally unacceptable in human society but
TOTALLY acceptable in canine society. That dog is now assumed to be a
problem animal. In actuality, who is the problem? The answer is not to
act with equally inappropriate harshness or force intended to show the
dog that is in charge. Instead we have to take measures to alleviate
confusion.
Be
clear, concise, benevolent, firm when needed but never cruel or harshly
physical. A dog that is secure in his position in the house regardless
of if he is a self confident, middle ranking or lower confident will
not be a challenge. If we can get past the old school of having to
physically dominate our dogs to force them into submission, then they
and we will be
all the better for it. Confused dogs are more likely to react. They
want to alleviate that confusion. Why should we worsen it by acting as
though we are confused ourselves and squabble with our dogs?
I have butted heads with many a trainer, breeder and owner regarding my
growing views on dominance. I was trained in the "old ways." I have
been told and taught certain breeds MUST be managed a certain way or
with
certain aids like prong collars. In the years I have worked with dogs,
I
am shocked I have not been killed when I reflect on how I was
originally
taught to "take control." How many times in the past have I unknowingly
shown a dog that I was confused and challenging him? I have since grown
and expanded my understanding of canine dominance. Oh how wrong my
first
mentors were!
These days, I work successfully with everything from herding breeds,
working breeds, "bull" breeds, mastiff/molosser breeds, common breeds,
rare breeds, terriers, toys, and more by employing methods that are fun
but clear - concise, and firm when needed.
Though each dog is an individual and various breed drives must be
understood in order to effectively work with him or her, more often
than not I find that that the dog assumed”dominant" is not trying to
take over the world - he is just confused. Rolling, pinning, leash
correcting, yelling, etc just makes his confusion worse. Some dogs may
even interpret it as a challenge and decide to return more of the same.
Then what?
Dispel the myths; stop believing your dog is out to take over your
world. Chances are he is confused. We need to stop acting as an
immature, insecure, middle ranked beasts. We have to start acting like
the benevolent leaders our dogs need.
For more on this topic and
resources I have referred to with my own growth in dogs:
The History and
Misconceptions of Dominance Theory, Melissa Alexander, 2001.
The Macho Myth, Ian
Dunbar Ph.D., BVetMed, MRCVS, 1989,
‘Privileges Of
Status' For Wannabe Pack Leaders, Marilyn Bergeman, 1999,
On Talking Terms With
Dogs: Calming Signals, Turid Rugaas, Hanalei Pets, 1997
The Other End Of The
Leash, Dr. Patricia McConnell, Ballantine Books, 2002
Dogs: A Startling New
Understanding of Canine Origin, Behavior, and Evolution, by
Raymond and Lorna
Coppinger, Scribner, New York, 2001.
This may be
reproduced in its entirety for educational purposes.
©
2004, West Wind Dog Training & The Safe Kids/Safe Dogs Project
reprinted with kind permission from Karen Peak http://www.westwinddogtraining.com
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back to top
Dominance - Fact or Fiction?
Is
your dog
the pack leader?
Over the past few years, many leading
authorities on canine behaviour have started to question how a dog
perceives himself in a dog/owner relationship.
There have been a number of books and papers that have started to
dispel the idea that our pet dogs, given the chance, would try to raise
their status in their human "pack".
This booklet pulls together some the new research and theories, and
combined with my own ideas on the subject, produce an overview of an
alternative view of "dominance". In other words, do some dogs really
want to raise their status within a human "pack"? Is it fact or fiction?
The book costs
£7.75 including UK post and packing and is available by sending a
cheque made payable to Barry Eaton - (and please remember to include
your own name and address)
Dominance and Alpha Behaviour
"DOMINANCE" In the 1990s it
was believed that dominance problems in dogs usually meant that the dog
had
got ideas above its station and is
challenging the pack (the family) for top dog status. And that he
majority of difficulties with dominance were
man made, and resulted from a dog with too many privileges. We were
told
It was important to remember that there would be only one true pack
leader
per pack it being an Alpha Male or even female, with another one or two
dogs
waiting in the wings to take over one day. This meant that when we
choose
a dog the odds are that we will get a dog whose natural position is
from
the middle to the bottom of the pack.
This means that most dogs are gladly going to accept us as leader
without any problems and why so many people tell you that they have had
dogs all their lives without any of this 'behavioural' nonsense being
necessary!
It was assumed that difficulties were created through giving status and
privileges well above what would be normal for that animal. And that it
was the pack leaders responsibility to make the decisions not the
subordinates. He or she says when to eat, sleep, play and hunt. Dogs
are not supposed to approach him even to play, although puppies are
usually excused from pack manners and generally get away with murder!
Dominant behaviour can take many forms. and varies according to breed
and the natural character of the dog. It is not just a dog who growls
and barks at you or refuses to do anything for you, it could also be
the dog who makes all the decisions. Obvious bad behaviour could be
construed as the dog who growls at you when feeding or chewing a bone,
ie "food or object guarding" or takes no notice of your commands.and
suddenly acts the fool and starts reverting to puppy behaviour when you
ask it to do something.
This popular perception on the social behaviour of dogs sees the dogs'
behaviour as mimicking the social and biological pattern of the
structured hierarchy that has been studied and observed within wolf
packs. This view suggests that behavioural problems amongst dogs are
natural expressions
of conflict that occur when dominance, status, position, and hierarchy
are
contested.
This lead to the assumption that because dog’s distant cousins the wolf
behaved like this then it was fair to assume that the dog would also
have these instincts drives and responses. It is now confirmed by
Mitochondrial DNA tests that our pet’s common ancestor is without doubt
the wolf. These studies and findings gave birth to a completely new way
of looking at dogs and in the 70s the pack rule theory was born.
May I suggest that this belief and technique is somewhat flawed in two
main areas.
Firstly: this behaviour does not actually appear in the wild, the
powerful dominance hierarchy described and observed in wolves is
probably a by-product of captivity. That is like observing Prisoners in
a high risk risk gaol
and relating that to all human reactions and conflict. If true, it
implies
that social behavioureven in wolvesmay be a product more of
environmental
circumstances than an instinctive behaviour.
Secondly: feral dogs do not exhibit the classic wolf-pack structure,
the validity of the canid, social dominance hierarchy again comes into
question. Ray Coppinger who has written a book called "Dogs" (A New
Understanding
of Canine Origin, Behaviour and Evolution) probably one of the most
important books on dogs published in the last 50 years, The Coppingers
studied feral dogs all over the world, and found that all the feral and
village dogs
he studied did not form packs as we know them, they were more semi
solitary animals, who predate on our waste middens and latrines. There
are still
parts of the world where when a new baby is born, they will get a puppy
which is then used as a botty wipe for the child.
Rather than a rank reduction program for dominance related issues you
would better advised to follow the following program.
The NILIF
Program
NOTHING IN LIFE IS FREE
The NILIF program is remarkable because it's effective for such a wide
variety of problems. A shy, timid dog becomes more relaxed knowing that
he has nothing to worry about; the owner is in charge of all things. A
dog
that's pushing too hard to become "top dog" learns that the position is
not available and that its life is far more enjoyable without the
title.
It is equally successful with dogs that fall anywhere between those two
extremes. The program is not difficult to put into effect and it's not
time consuming if the dog already knows a few basic obedience commands.
I've never seen this technique fail to bring about a positive change in
behaviour; however, the change can be more profound in some dogs than
others. Most owners use this program in conjunction with other
behaviour modification techniques
such as coping with fear or treatment for aggression. It is a perfectly
suitable technique for the dog with no major behaviour problems that
just needs some fine tuning.
ATTENTION ON DEMAND
The program begins by eliminating attention on demand. When your dog
comes to you and nudges your hand, saying "pet me! pet me!" ignore him.
Don't tell him "no", don't push him away. Simply pretend you don't
notice
him. This has worked for him before, so don't be surprised if he tries
harder
to get your attention. When he figures out that this no longer works,
he'll
stop. In a pack situation, the top ranking dogs can demand attention
from
the lower ranking ones, not the other way around. When you give your
dog
attention on demand you're telling him that he has more status in the
pack
than you do. Timid dogs become stressed by having this power and may
become
clingy. They're never sure when you'll be in charge so they can't
relax.
What if something scary happens, like a stranger coming in the house?
Who
will handle that? The timid dog that is demanding of attention can be
on
edge a lot of the time because he has more responsibility than he can
handle.
Some dogs see their ability to demand attention as confirmation that
they are the "alpha", then become difficult to handle when told to
"sit"
or "down" or some other demand is placed on them. It is not their
leadership
status that stresses them out, it's the lack of consistency. They may
or
may not actually be alpha material, but having no one in the pack that
is clearly the leader is a bigger problem than having the dog assume
that
role full time. Dogs are happiest when the pack order is stable.
Tension
is created by a constant fluctuation of pack leadership.
EXTINCTION BURSTS
your dog already knows that it can demand your attention and knows what
works to get that to happen. As of today, it no longer works, but your
dog doesn't know that yet. We all try harder at something we know works
when it stops working. If I gave you money every time you clapped your
hands together, you'd clap a lot. But, if I suddenly stopped handing
you money, even though you were still clapping, you'd clap more and
clap louder. You might even get closer to me to make sure I was
noticing that you were clapping. You
might even shout at me "Hey! I'm clapping like crazy over here, where's
the
money?” If I didn't respond at all, in any way, you'd stop. It wasn't
working
anymore. That last try -- that loud, frequent clapping is an extinction
burst.
If, however, during that extinction burst, I gave you more money you'd
be
right back in it. It would take a lot longer to get you to stop
clapping
because you just learned that if you try hard enough, it will work.
When your dog learns that the behaviours that used to get your
attention don't work any more its going to try harder and it’s going to
have an extinction burst. If you give him attention during that time
you will have to work
that much harder to get him turned around again. Telling him "no" or
pushing
him away is not the kind of attention he's after, but its still
attention.
Completely ignoring him will work faster and better.
YOU HAVE THE POWER
As you are his owner you have control of all things that are wonderful
in his life. This is the backbone of the NILIF program. You control all
of the resources, playing, attention, food, walks, going in and out of
the
door, going for a ride in the car, going to the park, anything and
everything
that your dog wants comes from you. If he's been getting most of these
things for free there is no real reason for him to respect your
leadership or your ownership of these things. Again, a timid dog is
going to be stressed by
this situation, a pushy dog is going to be difficult to handle. Both of
them
would prefer to have you in charge.
To implement the NILIF program you simply have to have your dog earn
his use of your resources. He's hungry? No problem, he simply has to
sit
before his bowl is put down. He wants to play fetch? Great! He has to
"down"
before you throw the ball. Want to go for a walk or a ride? He has to
sit
to get his lead snapped on and has to sit (2) while the front door is
opened.
He has to sit and wait while the car door is opened and listen for the
word (I use "good") that means "get into the car". When you return he
has
to wait for the word that means "get out of the car" even if the door
is
wide open. Don't be too hard on the dog. It’s already learned that it
can
make all of these decisions on its own. It has a strong history of
being
in control of when it gets these resources. Enforce the new rules, but
keep
in mind that your dogs only doing what it’s been taught to do and its
going
to need some time to get the hang of it all.
You're going to have to pay attention to things that you probably
haven't noticed before. If you feed your dog from your plate do you
just toss it a treat? No more. He has to earn it. You don't have to use
standard obedience commands, any kind of action will do. If your dog
knows "shake" or "spin around" or "speak" use those commands. Does your
dog sleep on your bed?
Teach him that he has to wait for you to say "good" to get on the bed
and
he has to get down when you say "off". Teach him to go to his bed, or
other
designated spot, on command. When he goes to his spot and lays down
tell
him "stay" and then release him with a treat reward. Having a
particular
spot where he stays is very helpful for when you have guests or
otherwise
need him out of the way for a while. It also teaches him that free run
of
the house is a resource that you control. There are probably many
things
that your dog sees as valuable resources that hasn’t been mentioned
here.
The NILIF program should not be a long, drawn out process. All
you need to do is enforce a simple command before allowing him access
to
what he wants. Dinner, for example, should be a two or three second
encounter that consists of nothing more than saying "sit", then "good",
then putting the bowl down and walking away.
ATTENTION AND PLAY
Now that your dog is no longer calling the shots you will have to make
an extra effort to provide him with attention and play time. Call him
to you, have him "sit" and then lavish him with as much attention as
you want. Have him go get his favorite toy and play as long as you both
have the
energy. The difference is that now you will be the one initiating the
attention
and beginning the play time. He's going to depend on you now, a lot
more
than before, to see that he gets what he needs. What he needs most is
quality time with you. This would be a good time to enroll in a group
obedience
class. If his basic obedience is top notch, see about joining an
agility
class or fly ball team.
NILIF DOES *NOT* MEAN THAT YOU HAVE TO RESTRICT THE AMOUNT OF ATTENTION
YOU GIVE TO YOUR DOG. The NILIF concept is about who initiates the
attention (you!), not the amount of attention. Go ahead and call your
dog to you
100 times a day for hugs and a fuss! You can demand his attention; he
can
no longer demand yours!
Within a day or two your dog will see you in a whole new light and will
be eager to learn more. Use this time to teach new things, such as
'roll over' or learn the specific names of different toys.
If you have a shy dog, you'll see a more relaxed dog. There is no
longer any reason to worry about much of anything. He now has complete
faith in you as his protector and guide. If you have a pushy dog he'll
be glad that the fight for leadership is over and his new role is that
of devoted and
adored pet.
Note from Stan: this program has been in use since the mid 90,s
it has survived because of its success, many of the UK ’s and the USA
’s top dog behaviourists recommend this method, as do I. However, it is
not a magic wand, just a tool and like all tools it takes time to get
used
to using it correctly. Your dog will probably show signs of getting
worse
before it gets better, this is normal it is the extinction behaviour,
so
do not worry it will only last a short while. The important thing is to
be consistent.
The NILIF program is not something you use until your dog changes and
then stop, it is a lifestyle change, you must maintain it throughout
your dogs life, but don’t worry because as the dog gets used to it so
will you and it will become second nature. It is a known fact that if
you do an action consistently for 14 days it becomes second nature. So
don’t lapse or give in, see it through.
NILIF program Courtesy of Deb McKean
http://k9deb.com/nilif.htm
This article was written by Stan Rawlinson, a full time Dog
Behaviourist. You can visit his website at
www.Doglistener.co.uk for more
articles and training information. You may freely distribute this
article or save to any electronic media as long as it is left intact,
including this copyright box.
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