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Dog Training Myths...
Busted!
There
are a lot of myths lingering around about dogs and dog training. Ruth Turner, an instructor at
Dig It Dogs, is here to help sort out fact from fiction by looking into some of the myths
surrounding dog training and dog sports. She wrote this
article for the Dig It Dogs web site to educate people
about the myths that are still commonly heard regarding dog behaviour and dog training methods.
Dogs
are genetic descendants from the wolf and do share the majority of their DNA. However, the
wolves that dogs were domesticated from have long been extinct and the wolves of today are a
lot more human-wary.
New studies suggest that dogs descended from a range of
different Canidae species and not one specific wolf species. Furthermore previous comparison
studies on dogs and wolves were scientifically flawed and today we can firmly prove that it is
inappropriate to compare a dog with a wolf.
- I must be dominant over my dog
Dominance is defined as
'a relationship between individual animals that is established to determine who has priority
access to resources such as food, resting spots and mates.' Dominance is, therefore, not
appropriate in the human to dog relationships as there is no competition for resource as each
individual has ample amounts of resource. We feed our dogs, we provide them with a bed and we
do not compete with them for a mate.
Dominance is also out of place in
human-dog relationships as we cannot communicate effectively with a dog as another dog can.
Furthermore, most unruly behaviours from dogs do not occur because they are trying to gain
higher rank, but because these behaviour have previously been rewards, knowingly or not. As
well as all of this, the 'dominance theory' is from the study on wolves, and we have already
learnt that we should not treat our dogs as wolves.
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My dog cannot sleep in my bed with me
This is your decision. If you have a kind
and positive relationship with your dog, then allowing a dog to sleep in your bed should not
create behaviour problems.
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I should roll my dog on its back and pin it to
the floor in an 'Alpha roll.'
This theory comes from wolf
comparisons which are unscientific and not appropriate for dog interactions. Furthermore
dominant wolves do not do this to submissive wolves. In actual fact the submissive wolves
voluntarily roll on their backs to show their submission.
- My dog should work for me
because it loves me
Dogs do get a level of enjoyment
from positive interactions with humans. However, they also need an amount of reward, such
a verbal, touch, food and play rewards. A dog will repeat behaviours more willingly if
they have previously been associated with a pleasurable outcome.
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- Playing tug of war will
make my dog aggressive.
We'll let Dr. John Bradshaw’s study answer this
one. 'Dogs were allowed to win tug-of-war games played with a person, over and over
again;. Understandably, this made the dog more keen to play with people than when they
were forced to lose every time, but there were no signs indicating that any dog became
'dominant' as a result.'
See
answer to previous myth!
Yet another myth which comes from the
dominance theory. Since we have now discovered that dominance theory does not apply to dogs,
neither does this myth. In real life, isn't it better to eat either before or after your dog,
depending on what's convenient for you? You have the opposable thumbs and make the decisions.
After all is said and done, you have control of all the food resources, so you're in charge.
About
the author...
Ruth Turner joined the Dig It Dogs instructor team in 2012, after graduating
from Chester University with a BSc (Hons) Animal Management. She has taught puppy, obedience
and rally classes at Dig It, but her main passion is Agility and and she now concentrates on
her two Agility classes.
When she joined Dig It, she set up the
blog and, together the Dig It Instructors, wrote a variety of articles, ranging from reports of
agility shows to educational snippets. Some of the most common questions they've heard from
clients are based on outdated understanding of dog behaviour.
First
published 9 July 2014
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