Enough with the Alpha Rolls already!
Why is it that many dog owners I come across pride themselves on being the next Cesar Millan?
It frustrates me no end to hear how successful they are at being ‘pack leader’ and how they always, always, ALWAYS go through doorways first and eat before their dog - because if you don’t, he might just usurp you and take your place as ‘dominant dog’…
Even yesterday, my other half was speaking to one of these ‘alpha leaders’ and told her quite bluntly what a load of old codswallop it all is. Quite clearly she loves her dog, but she’s not doing it any favours trying to manhandle and dominate it.
At agility last week, one of the owners pinned their dog to the floor after it jumped up at them (because it was excited, nothing at all to do with dominance!) - ok the dog wasn’t hurt but why not just ask the dog for a sit instead before giving attention?
I know this is another blog post joining the other rants about people implementing dominance theory into their training but you have no idea how frustrating it is to see, especially when positive reinforcement is so bleeding effective!
In simple terms, dogs learn through positive (or negative) experiences. So, if they behave in a certain way, and as a result, something good happens, they are likely to repeat the behaviour.
Ok so we have to reinforce the behaviour but if you find out what motivates your dog then the training world is your oyster!
If you want to find out more about positive reinforcement (and leave the barracks of the Dreary Dominance Camp) have a look at:
Karen Pyror at ClickerTraining.com
Or alternatively get in touch here and I can point you in the right direction!
There’s no excuse for bad training with the wealth of resources and knowledge from the experts that we have available to us.
Be kind to your dog!
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