If you are a large rescue or organisation please send the message out by promoting trainers and behaviourists with qualifications (academic) and FULL insurance. Verify all claims of certification and membership of associations or groups. Check out these associations with specific reference to how a member is assessed, who assesses them, how and why they are qualified to assess a person, what protocols are in place for colleagues assessing colleagues? What is the pass criteria, how is this documented and most important what is the code of ethics and what happens when a member breaks this code? Remember self regulation is no regulation.

Industry standard and regulated organistions include the Association of Pet Dog Trainers UK (APDT UK), Association of Pet Behaviour Councillors (APBC), Council for Professional Dog Trainers (CCPDT), Centre of Applied Ethology (COAPE). Good trainers are and want to me members of these groups.

For now and until this area is regulated please ask questions, do not do anything that makes you feel uncomfortable and always dig deep and find the meaning of titles, associations and certifying bodies.

In order to show your dog who is the boss we are told to do the following things:
- Eat before your dog by pretending to eat from their bowl
- Walk through doorways before your dog to show them that you are more important than them
- Don’t let your dog pull you on your walks as you should lead the hunt
- Show your dog that ALL items are yours by frequently removing toys and putting your hand into the food bowl
- Stand in your dogs bed
- Scruff your dog
- Stare your dog down
- Hold your dog down and only release when he “submits”
- Never let your dog in your bed, on the sofa or somewhere higher up than you may be

I should say at this stage NEVER DO ANY OF THE ABOVE

We hear that owners should be “calm and assertive” and all dogs should “submit” to their owners in all situations. This is all so wrong in my opinion and a distorted view of how dogs should be and how the should behave. This kind of attitude towards dogs can cause many problems. I firmly believe that thinking in this way will create a block between you and your dog or puppy. Thinking in this way can stunt the development of a puppy because the owner is so hung up on not giving the puppy an inch that they forget about the need for the puppy to develop coping skills, self control and important life skills.

The contradictions surrounding dominance theories are just too many for me. Firstly we are advised not to let the dog rule your life and in order to do this we are supposed to arrrange meal times around the dog, get crackers to eat in front of the dog, run through doorways in front of the dog, frantically keep the dog behind us on walks and so on. Now surely adhering to the latter means that your life is being controlled by owning a dog?

Personally I like for my dogs to walk on a loose lead, this can be in front off, beside or behind me. As long as the lead is loose the walk continues. I like to be able to feed my dogs when I am ready and this is frequently before I eat. I like my dogs to sit up on the couch with me, this is why I have dogs, for the company and to share my movie treats with them from time to time. Most of all I like when my dogs stay calm even when I may be loosing my marbles! They are independent and able to cope themselves.

So I for one won’t be eating out of my dogs bowl, I won’t be trying to project any calm assertive energy onto them. I like them just the way they are and they are testiment to the fact that canine submission is not a requirement for a happy successful human to dog relationship.

We have been conditioned to believe that waggy tails and roll overs are a sign of a friendly dog but we regularly miss the many distance increasing signals that dogs display. Dogs do ask for space, if we don’t listen they may ask louder by growling and if we ignore that or punish the growl without dealing with the root cause then the dog will skip straight to the behaviour that will work – a snap or bite!

A lack of understanding of canine body language is not ideal especially in a multi dog household or where there are children. So it is a great idea to sit down and educate yourself on the language of DOG!

How can I tell the difference between a tap out and a roll over?
The phrase “tap out” is a wrestling term and happens when an opponent taps the ground with an open hand requesting a release.

In dog terms a tap out is a distance INCREASING signal. The dog will roll over almost vertebrae at a time with stiff or uncomfortable body language often accompanied by lip licking, puffing of the cheeks and kicking out of the legs. Ultimately the dog will end up on his back. Generally the dogs muscles are tight and the tail can be tucked into the belly or stiff.

A roll over is more of an open body language gesture. A happy floppy lose movement. All of the muscles are loose, the body is limp and free with the tail free moving and not tucked into the belly of the dog. The legs are loose generally straight out and again floppy plus there is no kicking out or pushing away. The dogs face will be soft generally with tongue hanging loosely out and soft eyes.

How can I learn more about canine body signals?
An excellent DVD on canine body language is available from www.dogwise.com online DVD and shop for canine related books.
Title: THE LANGUAGE OF DOGS – UNDERSTANDING CANINE BODY LANGUAGE AND OTHER COMMUNICATION SIGNALS DVD SET
by Sarah Kalnajs

Interesting reading from the American Veterinary Society of Animal Behaviour

To Quote:

While we can get ideas of the types of behaviors to study in dogs based on what we know about wolves, the best model for understanding domestic dogs is domestic dogs. Dogs have diverged significantly from wolves in the last 15,000 years. Ancestral wolves evolved as hunters and now generally live in packs consisting most often of family members (Mech 2000). Pack members cooperate to hunt and to take care of offspring. In a given year, generally only the alpha male and alpha female mate, so that the resources of the entire pack can be focused on their one litter. Dogs, on the other hand, evolved as scavengers rather than hunters (Coppinger and Coppinger 2002). Those who were the least fearful, compared to their human-shy counterparts, were best able to survive off the trash and waste of humans and reproduce in this environment. Currently, free-roaming dogs live in small groups rather than cohesive packs, and in some cases spend much of their time alone (MacDonald and Carr 1995). They do not generally cooperate to hunt or to raise their offspring, and virtually all males and females have the opportunity to mate (Boitani et al. 1995). Marked differences in social systems, such as those just described, inevitably lead to notable differences in social behavior.

And

The most common cause of aggression in dogs is fear. Pinning a dog down when he is scared will not address the root of his fear. Furthermore it can heighten the aggression (AVSAB 2007). In fact, a recent study of dogs (Herron et al. 2008) found that confrontational
techniques such as hitting or kicking the dog for undesirable behavior, growling at the dog, performing an “alpha roll,” staring the dog down, and enforcing a “dominance down” frequently elicited an aggressive response from the dog. The aggression may also be redirected toward inanimate objects, or other animals or people besides the owner. Even non-physical punishment, such as a harsh verbal reprimand or shaking a finger at a dog, can elicit defensive aggression if the dog feels threatened by it.

Read the full statement here:

http://www.avsabonline.org/avsabonline/images/stories/Position_Statements/dominance%20statement.pdf

DogStarDaily.com is a free website for dog lovers — a daily magazine with news, blogs and articles about dog behavior; a comprehensive digital dog training textbook, with everything you need to know about raising or training your puppy or dog and especially, how to prevent or fix most common behavior problems; plus a place to share photos and videos of your favorite canine companions. We so strongly believe that puppy husbandry and training information is so important that it should be freely available to all, with the hope that dogs (and their humans) will be happier and healthier because of it. dogstardaily.com is growing everyday, with new content and features added on a regular basis.

A great little book by Barry Eaton which explains it all. So increase your knowledge for only €12.50 and get the facts!

Dominance Fact or Fiction purchase it here www.dogtrainingireland.ie/shop/catalog/product_info.php?products_id=209

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Frequently the following problems are diagnosed as Dominance.

- Resource Guarding / Possession Aggression (growling around food or high value items)
- Pulling on the lead
- Jumping up on people
- Refusing to move off the couch
- Mouthing
- Sitting on your lap or on the couch
- Sitting in your way on a stairwell or landing etc

Firstly there is no such thing as Dominance or “Dominant Dog Syndrome” and to use this term is incorrect.

There are still many professionals whom advocate the “pack rules” and advise demotion techniques as a behaviour modification plan even though these have since been disproved. The problem is that demotion techniques only worsen problems such as resource guarding and possession aggression and frequently lead to bites.

So looking at this from a scientific and how dogs learn point of view and leaving aside human values (getting one up, jealousy, dominance, trying to lead, bullying etc) we must look at the dog and the individual behaviours that are being presented. We can then decide on an appropriate behaviour modification plan.

So we have the following:

Positive Punishment – Adding something unpleasant to an unwanted behaviour. The positive is + not positive as in good. EG of this would be adding a shock to a dog barking. We do not use positive punishment.
Negative Punishment – Removal of something the dog wants to reduce a behaviour. EG Ignoring your dog when they jump up.
Positive Reinforcement – Adding a reinforcer to a behaviour we want to repeat. EG using a piece of food to reward a sit.
Negative Reinforcement – Removal of something unpleasant to increase a behaviour. EG Loosening a choke chain when a dog sits. We do not use Negative Reinforcement.

With training we use Cue’s also referred to as commands and we apply those cues to behaviours that we want from our dogs. So for example we do the following to train

- Get the behaviour
- Mark/Reward the behaviour
- Add the cue to the behaviour

Dominance and Pack theories suggest that dogs have a pack structure, which includes humans and family members. Therefore we MUST be alpha in this pack in order for harmony to be present. This statement alone is seriously flawed since dogs understand the difference between themselves and cats, horses other animals so why would they see us as the same as them? Also there have only ever been a handful of scientific studies in the area of Dominance however there are thousands of studies to counteract the Dominance Theory.

Pack theories suggest we should do the following. I will explain why each one is flawed in each point.

1. Eat in front of the dog/Eat first.
This is supposed to show the dog that you are alpha since the dog sees you eating first and knows his place.
The reason this is incorrect is because when studying wild wolves it is NOT the alphas that eat first but the females in whelp or the vulnerable young. Also a dog is a dog so they do not have to hunt for their food so this does not have any effect at all.

2. Lead the hunt.
This part of the theory suggest that we should always walk in front of dogs, we enter doorways first, lead training should mean the dog is at the side of or behind the human.
So why then do working dogs work ahead? The study of wild wolves hunting shows that is it not the Alpha’s who work ahead and lead the pack.

3. Alpha Rolls or physically holding down the dog in order to teach it to be submissive. Scuffing the back of the neck until a puppy submits etc…
This is the dangerous part of dominance theories and where most people and children suffer bites. This displays a pure lack of understanding of canine body language especially when the dog is displaying high levels of fear and stress while being held. Of course fear and stress are displayed in such a way that the human will interpret this as further dominance so you can see where I am going with this.

Remove, control high value items
This is also dangerous if the dog is suffering from Resource Guarding as we are ignoring the warning signals and pushing the dog to increase his distance increasing signals. If we ignore warning signals then we will be bitten. Therefore it is vital that all cases of Resource Guarding are referred to us.

Terminology
Everyone understands the term ‘dominant’ differently. Therefore we do not use the terms dominant, assert yourself over your dog, submissive, trying to rule the roost etc when training as it is not useful at all.

Dogs who are termed ‘dominant’ are generally not helped by being pigeon holed. The term ‘dominant’ is often a get out clause for trainers. So what now? Being dominant is not a solution and will not help the dog or the owner with problems that they are experiencing. I get particularly annoyed when resource guarding dogs or aggressive dogs have been termed dominant and treated using demotion techniques. Of course the behaviours have become worse and now by the time the owner comes to us we are dealing with a far more dangerous dog. In many cases the dogs are pts as the previous prescribed treatment has failed the dog and created further behaviours that are too dangerous now to modify.

Reactive dogs who get held down and made to submit can become quiet. The dog is man handled to the point of exhaustion, chokers are used and the dog finally goes quiet. This QUIETNESS some call calm submission or a calm submissive state is incorrect. That is not an opinion but a fact. The dog displays exhaustion, fear, stress and anxiety. So now the dog does not react but all that has been done here is that the dogs voice and warning has been removed. Until one day when the dog gives NO warning and another dog, person or child approaches and bang… one heck of an attack happens. So that’s 2 dogs dead for the price of 1 IMO. I get very angry watching this.

Ian Dunbar and Jean Donaldson have an excellent DVD called “Fighting Dominance in a Dog Whispering World” and it explains so much including the studies done that support the dominance theory (I believe and the study was not completed) and the studies over 10 or more years done that support Animal Behaviour as it is without the dominance rules.

I believe anyone who is training dogs has a huge responsibility to the owner, the dog and other dogs and owners. Everything that comes out of your mouth is taken as the truth and they way it is. Therefore if trainers believe in the dominance and pack theories they should at least be aware of the studies behind these and the NEWER theories. It is never to late to change your opinion based on these newer studies.

As Barry Eaton says
“We don’t have to be Alpha, dominant or pack leader, and neither does our dog. All we need to be is an owner responsible for guiding our dog, shaping and influencing its behaviour through correct socialisation and training so they can live in harmony with us”

I hope this information helps. For more info google “dominance” and the authors names below:

Ray and Lorna Coppinger
Ian Dunbar
Jean Donaldson
Barry Eaton

Or watch this DVD available from Amazon.com
[url=http://www.amazon.com/Fighting-Dominance-Dog-Whispering-World/dp/B0011CW4L4/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1?ie=UTF8&s=dvd&qid=1215356936&sr=8-1]Dominance DVD[/url]