Hespeler Animal Hospital

Dominance Theories De-bunked

The American Veterinary Society of Animal Behavior (AVSAB) is worried that many trainers are using the wrong methods to change behaviour in dogs and other animals. Some dog trainers believe that dogs try to dominate humans and that’s why they don’t listen to us. They believe that in order to correct this, our pets should be forced to submit to us. These trainers recommend we force our dogs to roll onto their backs, called an alpha roll, or make sure they never try to walk in front of us. There are even some very popular television shows that tell us so.

However, more recent studies on the behaviour of domesticated and wild animals have de-bunked many of the dominance myths. Dominance was thought to explain that some animals would act aggressive towards others to get first dibs at food, mates, and resting places. So, if our pets were acting out, it was supposedly because they viewed us as weaker and therefore needing to submit to them.

Some of the earlier studies on dominance behaviour were done on captive wolves. The way these wolves acted towards each other was very different than how their wild counterparts do. Watching how wolves in the wild, and how our domesticated dogs interact, has updated our knowledge in this field.

Behaviour specialists tell us that our pets usually misbehave not because they’re dominant, but rather because we’ve accidentally rewarded them for acting this way. Some dogs have learned they’ll get our attention when they bark, or beg, or jump up on us. They might not come when they’re called because something interests them more than we do. At that time, it’s more rewarding to ignore us than to stop what they’re doing. Or, perhaps they’ve learned that if they come when they’re called, we’ll sometimes hit them because they didn’t come fast enough.

Specialists also feel that most cases of canine aggression are not due to dominance, but because they’re fearful. They might be afraid of children, of other dogs, or (gasp) their veterinarian. They might even be afraid of their owners.

Why is using older dominance theories to train dogs a bad idea? By punishing a fear-aggressive dog, we may temporarily suppress certain behaviours, but we’re actually making these dogs even more afraid. If we increase their level of anxiety, we’ll eventually make them worse, not better.

For example, if I yank hard on Fido’s leash and “choke” him, to force him to walk calmly whenever he starts lunging at another dog he is afraid of, he may stop pulling and barking. After all, it hurts if he continues. However, next time Fido sees a dog, he will not only be afraid of the dog, but of me as well. He’ll have learned to associate something negative with seeing other dogs.

Secondly, some dogs will act even more aggressive when they’re punished. Training these dogs using dominance methods puts us at risk of getting badly bitten.

Instead of trying to dominate our pets, we need to act as leaders. We need to set clear limits to our dogs and cats. We need to let them know what we expect from them. We need to be consistent. We need to use praise and rewards rather than punishment.

And, if they misbehave, we’ll ignore them. So, they learn they won’t get our attention by barking or jumping all over us. We can teach Jack that we won’t pet him until he stops acting that way.

We can teach Fido that if he sits calmly whenever he sees an approaching dog, he’ll get treats, praise and lots of petting from us. He’ll learn to be happy when he sees other dogs, rather than nervous about what might happen.

For more information, check out these links:
AVSAB position statement on dominance
Why Not Dominance