Wow! Now I realize that this is a hot subject in the dog training world. One thing that I want to say right off the bat is that I believe that many dog trainers argue unnecessarily over semantics. They may mean the same thing but insist that the words that they use are the correct ones and that they and they alone know the correct meaning of the words that they choose to delineate their methods (realizing that there is no authority like the Webster's Dictionary on dog terms). Leadership in the dog world as well as in the world of humans takes many different forms for practical purposes. Some types are more effective in one situation and other types in another.
For example, in the human world few would argue that the same type of leadership techniques would be equally effective in the United States Marine Corps boot camp where warriors are being trained to potentially kill people on the battlefield and in a kindergarden class in a middle class neighborhood whose goal was to teach 5 year olds the letters of the alphabet. Of course that is an extreme example but you see what I am saying about the difference in the implementation of leadership and the term leadership. Even a mother with a nursing infant has to show some leadership or she will have a spoiled child before he is off the breast!
Many people in the dog training world go "postal" when they hear the word dominance. Reacting as if the mere mention of the word in discussing dog training disqualifies a person from being a serious dog trainer. Now for this reason I generally use the term leadership in my articles and in my training sessions. I believe that when some dog trainers say dominance they actually mean leadership. For some reason there are those who find even that extremely objectionable and assume that when you use that term leadership or dominance you mean dominance in a physically aggressive sense. I realize that there are some who do mean this but more and more often I believe that they simply mean the establishment of who is going to lead or establish the rules and decide what we are doing at a given moment. Answering the question "Who is the leader?" can mean (and will for my purposes) simply "Who is the one with the resources and who will choose how the resources are distributed and when?". Which, as I said earlier, can take many forms. The following is my philosophy of dog training.
1) There are many ways to train a dog. If the dog is getting trained and the people and the dogs are safe, a lot of progress has been made and dog trainers everywhere should be glad that it is happening. If the human or the dog doesn't understand or can't do it in a sustainable way then it's not going to work for either of them. People are different and therefore good dog trainers can use different means to accomplish a similar goal.
2) Not everyone needs, or wants their dog to perform advanced obedience skills even though we might think the dog has the potential. The pet owner has the power, or the lack of it, to shape the dog into what fulfills the needs of the pet owner and the dog himself. The degree to which this happens is largely in the hands of the human who has possession of the dog and not the dog or the professional dog trainer he has hired.
3) Our main goal should be to help the humans to become good stewards of their dogs and to enrich the lives of dog and human alike. If the method of training accomplishes the purpose and the pet owner can sustain the training program then there has been success. If this is happening then we should be pleased as punch that dogs are being trained and cared for. We will not all agree on the particulars of what that means but we are all entitled to our various opinions and we should live at peace as much as possible. This, I believe, is they way to progress and communication between dog trainers in the professional world and pet owners who live with the dogs. If we are all shooting arrows at each other then we are not convincing each other that there is a better way to do things. We are too busy ducking to avoid arrows and stretching our bows.
4) It is my opinion (and world renowned Ian Dunbar's as well from what I have read) that there is no such thing as purely positive dog training. I have watched many dog trainers who claimed to use only positive dog training methods and I am convinced that it can't be done. Often people are not even aware of the times that they deviate from the positive training methods that they wish to adhear to. That being said, I believe that teaching a dog a skill that he doesn't know in the least is best taught in the most positive method possible for a particular handler/pet owner. It simply doesn't seem fair (or practical) to punish a dog for something when he has no idea for what he is being punished! It would be like a parent walking around behind a two year old child with a rolled up newspaper and not saying a word but just slapping him with a newspaper everytime he does something the parent didn't aprove of. It wouldn't improve the relationship with his child in the least, nor would it be much fun for either of them. Therefore it is not, in my opinion, a sustainable way of training a dog or a human.
5) Even a benevolent leader will need to be firm or even corrective at sometime in his relationship to the follower or things will eventually go south. It simply isn't real life (in my humble opinion) to think otherwise. It is not in balance with the way God created nature.
7) Why is it that we can insist on being so positive with dogs and totally reject the idea of being positive with people, especially other dog trainers! Try positive human training. See if that works for you as well as for the dogs the dogs!
8) So when I say "Be a Leader and Your Dog Will Follow", I mean that we should show a dog that no matter what, it is always in his best interest to do what you want him to do instead of figuring it out for himself entirely. That being said, I like a dog who has learned to think and figure things out for himself under controlled circumstances, while always respecting humans, especially their own human as their leader. Dogs have it in their DNA that a leader is required for survival of the pack! Some people think dogs are always striving to be the leader. This is not exactly how I see it. It is my belief that they simply know that their needs to be a leader and if we (the humans) are not acting in that fashion then the dog simply tries to fill the void so that we will all be safe! By "we" I mean the human/dog pack. It is my observation that dogs tend to become very nervous when they don't have a leader. Often times even neurotic. This is why we must lead our dogs, in the most positive way possible but also in the most understandable way to the dog and human.
Enjoy your dog training!
Enjoy your dog!
Mary
Power Paws Dog Rehabilitation and Training Contact us at:powerpaws@live.com or 321-302-4142
