Comments: Dominance: Dog training's dirty word

“Wow, so much "Kitten With a Whip" and emotional conjuring being attached to this word by the APDT evangelicals.

Don't any of you study natural social structures and behaviors in animals outside of the lone critter inside the "Skinner Laboratory"?

Ever stop to consider that dominant and subordinant "beings", all play positions on the same team to help them survive?

These aren't necessarily oppositional positions, unless your talking about breeding rights or the best piece of meat from a kill.

Maybe you should spend some more time watching documentaries which involve higher social mammals, and are described by scientists doing research in the field.

Yikes!

Please, make an effort to understand the true (and various) definitions of a term before you start lobbing granades full of lies.

EW...” — chasorg, Jun 17 2008

“In a perfect world we would all train using only the positive gentle approach. The reality is that at times a dog who is a bully may need a taste of his own medicine. Having the ability to block unwanted behaviour is a key to being an effective trainer. The importance is that Discipline and not punishment is used. Discipline requires the restraint of human emotion to be effective. Then the dog is capable of adapting and accepting. Hence the removal of fear from the dog. I agree with Toby4Life, There is room for both, the problem is many dont have the technique.” — A Zelvys, May 28 2008

“this doesnt sound like dominaice but agression and agression only gets fear or fighting back ” — iluvdogs, Apr 22 2008

“Everytime this topic comes up it's always black and white. Why have I never heard anyone talk about the advantages of both and melding them together? I like positive reinforcement too (like in our agility training), but when my dog gets out of line I correct him (hard sometimes) to ensure he remembers who is the boss. Both techniques work and I don't understand why people always talk about the extremes; always using one method or the other.” — aaaaa, Apr 22 2008

“This has been the type of training we have used (positive reinforcement) and it has worked so much better than some others I have seen who use the negative dominance type. I don't want my dog to cower when I come near because it fears me. I love my dogs and I know that they love me back and our relationship and their behavior relys on a mutual respect. Positive reinforcement has always worked better for us. ” — smitte21, Mar 19 2008

“Benevolence characterizes the true goodness of the mind and spirit, the unbiased kindness to do good. It is the expression of agape love (greek word for unconditional love). -definition taken from Wikipedia

I think I want to be this kind of leader, and in return, you get this kind of follower...
” — cowgirlchick78, Mar 18 2008

“Bailey and her cousin Peaches started obedience training at the same time. I prefer the gentler approach of rewarding appropriate behaviour while my brother enrolled their large yellow lab. in what we called ... Puppy Boot Camp ... they would force her to the floor, stare directly in her eyes, bark out orders ... basically training through intimidation. Well ... as soon as Puppy Boot Camp ended so did the obedience ... what they ended up with was a dog that learned to fight and struggle. Poor Peaches never took to her training and now she's unruley, eats people's shoes, chews on furniture, generally a poorly mannered dog. Bailey's training stuck and she's still a well mannered and obedient dog that's eager to please and people enjoy being around her. Poor Peaches ends up being confined to her crate or put outside when they have company as she's difficult to handle ( hey, when a big ole dawg jumps on you ... you know you've been jumped on and sometimes end up on the floor. We much prefer the kinder, gentler approach. As far as we can see ... the training stays with the dog and you end up with a happy companion that's eager to please and well mannered.” — Bailey, Mar 18 2008

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