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Your words might be too easily misinterpreted by other people, or accidentally repeating myths that have been debunked by dog scientists without most dog owners knowing about that. Please read on to find out how this terminology works and how to avoid inadvertently breaching Rule 1 of the subreddit. Dominance - is it a real word?Is it the hidden agenda behind your dog's every move? Completely made up nonsense? It's a little of both. Dominance is a real world phenomenon in dog-dog interactions, with a well defined meaning (probably different from the meaning you've always heard!). However, it generally isn't the driving factor in dog-human relationships. Trainers who claim success through becoming dominant or becoming the alpha are misunderstanding dog behavior and spreading false information about why their strategies work when they work - and potentially misdiagnosing problems when they don't work. It's important to understand how the definition of dominance is used in dog science, so that you can spot when other people are misinterpreting dog behaviour and providing poor explanations. What dominance isResources are very important to dogs. Actually, resources are of prime importance to most animals. So it makes sense that dogs (and other animals) have methods to determine who gets which resource. A dominance relationship refers to a relationship between a pair of animals with respect to a specific and generally scarce resource that they both are competing for. The relationship may flip with different animals or a different resource. For example, Fido might always take the bone you dropped before Rex gets a turn. Fido holds the dominant status with bones. It could be that Rex always insists on the couch spot first. Rex is dominant where couches are concerned. Perhaps there is a Spot in the picture, Rex has decided that Spot isn't much of a threat and for some reason isn't worried about the scarcity of couch cushions when Spot is over, there isn't a clear dominance relationship between Rex and Spot. Of note:
What dominance isn't
How we can (and can't) apply what we know about dominanceFirst, when we aren't competing over a resource there is no reason to act like we are. Don't try to take your dog's food, bones, toys etc. away from him unless you are doing well-thought-through training against resource guarding. When you see one dog taking exclusive possession of a resource from other dogs, such as stealing food, toys or resting locations, remember that trying to forcefully share the resources between the dogs is likely to introduce additional conflict and tension into the situation. Instead, try to set up the environment to allow the other dogs a share of the resources without competition coming into play (additional distance or physical barriers such as baby gates). Similarly, trying to ensure a specific dog always gets resources first isn't meaningfully going to affect their relationship to each other in a "dominance" sense, and can increase frustration depending on how you do it. Don't assume that if you do one thing (always walking in front of a dog through doorways) that it will magically transfer across to everything else (dog biting you/barking/pulling/ignoring your cues etc.). If you have a problem in a specific situation, you will need to manage and/or train that specific situation. Similarly, don't assume that a dog being dominant in one situation means the dog wants to or is capable of being dominant in all situations, or that this has any bearing on the identity of a "pack leader" or "alpha". Describing a dog's behaviour with the label "dominance" is a type of mental shortcut that can accidentally blind you to the most effective solutions. Instead, try to describe the behaviour with verbs and then apply an ABC analysis to it.
Resources :
I have such a strong bond with my dog, and we have so much trust in each other. We take turns and negotiate to make decisions that work for both of us. I never force him to do anything he doesn't want to do, I figure out why he doesn't want to do it and we figure out a solution together. We both understand each other and are even able to communicate to an extent even if we can't talk to each other the same way two humans can. I love him so much and I know he feels the same way about me. I just can't imagine having this kind of relationship if I viewed our relationship as one of a master and a subordinate. When I see people talk about needing to be "alpha" and dominate their dog, it just makes me feel sad because I know them and their dog probably aren't getting to experience the same kind of close relationship I have with my dog ☹️ kind of like when you know someone that's in a bad relationship but you can't really tell them to end it so you just have to watch them both suffer knowing they could have it better. Edit: I don't let my dog run wild, he's very well trained and we frequently get comments from strangers about it. I just view training as mutually beneficial, where if I expect him to do something for me I need to make sure it's worth his while, rather than expecting him to behave just because I said so. |