Since I adopted my dog - Sasha, a mixed breed - a few weeks ago, several people have told me I need to teach her who’s the alpha dog and make sure she doesn’t dominate me. She’s a sweet dog. What can you tell me about dominance and dogs?
The idea that dogs instinctively seek to dominate their owners has been around for decades, but animal behaviorists have recently started rethinking the notion. The same behaviorists who promoted the idea of canine pack behavior as a top dog, top down power structure are now saying they were wrong, according to the May issue of Your Dog.
New studies show no evidence that dogs have fixed hierarchies or group structure. In fact, researchers now think the dominance theory on which many professional trainers (notably celebrity trainer Cesar Millan) have long based their methods is wrong. They no longer believe that if youd on’t assert dominance over your dog, he’ll never come when called or follow any other basic obedience commands.
The alpha dog concept arose from studies of wolves in captivity, but it was flawed because the wolves were thrown together in an artificial environment where they could not get away from each other. Their environment affected how they related so their behavior wasn’t typical. The wolves’ man made community “led, not surprisingly, to physically pushy and sometimes violent behavior.” Because they believed dogs were descended from wolves, the researchers concluded that domesticated dogs must possess a similar desire to dominate. They decided that when a dog misbehaves - or doesn’t do what an owner wants - he must be consciously trying to pull rank. Today, however, behavior experts say that’s not true.
“The fact of the matter is that dogs do not spend time striving for dominance. Dominance in the dog world is simply about which dog has first dibs on resources: food, the comfy chair in the sunlight, the female dog in heat and so on. And it very, very rarely involves physical coercion,” according to Your Dog.
The notion that dogs, when they jump on their owners or guard their food, are doing so to dominate their owners has led some people to “treat their dogs unkindly, even cruelly, in order to tamp down on their so-called alpha tendencies.”
What people often interpret as a dog trying to take control often is simply behavior rooted in anxiety or fear. Nicholas Dodman, director of the Animal Behavior Clinic at Tufts University in Medford, Mass., says the primary reason for aggression in typical pet dogs (not those bred for their violent tendencies) is fear or anxiety as well as uncertainty over what’s expected of them.
When a dog is punished for doing things like guarding his food dish, he doesn’t change his behavior but instead becomes more anxious. Threatening, confrontational tactics by an owner (hitting the dog with a rolled-up newspaper, for example) leads to an “erosion of trust” between owner and dog, which can lead to more fear-based aggressive actions.
Dodman suggests that owners not try to make their dogs see them as the alpha in the relationship. Instead, an owner should train his dog in basic obedience and guide him toward appropriate, acceptable behavior. You want your dog to look to you for guidance and assurance that you’re in control of a situation.That removes stress from the dog and makes him feel more secure. Security is confidence and a confident dog is happy to follow his owner’s lead.
Enroll yourself and Sasha in an obedience class to learn commands such as sit and stay and strengthen your relationship. Then the two of you can sashay forth with confidence.
Do you have a question about
pets? We’ll get you an answer
from an authority. Send your question to Rhonda Owen,
Arkansas Democrat-Gazette, P.O. Box 2221, Little Rock, Ark. 72203 or e-mail [email protected]
Family, Pages 32 on 05/29/2013