Apparently, this is how the day looks through the eyes of our power hungry, rule the world canine friends…
6:30am ~ aha, the door on the box has been opened, now my conquest shall begin…watch out humans, I shall claim my rightful place at head of the realm today.
6:45am ~ bwahaahaa it begins already, these simple fools have provided me with my breakfast before they ate…oh, no wait…He has eaten already, guess he rules me…but I own the rest, oh yes, I own the rest
6:55am ~ I will allow him to put on my leash, because the real test comes up now…door opening…opening…and GO!!! hahhaaaahaaa I was out first! yes! score 1 for the dog
7am ~ pulling here, pulling there, twisting here, smelling there, tugging here, almost tripped Him there…control is mine, all mine!
7:30am ~ clearly I won, they all left from fear of my master plan and ruling the house. They are likely plotting to rule the world, I will need to be on alert when they return.
4:30pm ~ aha…they return….I better stake my claim quickly by jumping all over them. Mine! Mine! Mine! My house!
6pm ~ fools. simple fools. I’m eating on the kitchen floor and not in my box. I am making them weaker. They are slowly bending to my will.
8pm ~ perfect…they are on the soft thing. This is where my victory will arise. Fall humans, fall. Fall to your own demise by making such weak and foolish choices. Watch me raise myself to the head of the house by climbing onto this soft thing next to you. See…I am now at level with you. I own you. Kneel before your righteous king.
9pm ~ back in the box. Back to the drawing board. Maybe tomorrow I will try sitting on them when they are on the floor….
The actual, much simpler truth:
6:30am ~ woohoo, I’m out! Hi human, Hi toys, Hi door, Hi window, Hi everything!!!!
6:45am ~ food, nom nom nom nom nom nom nom, crunch crunch, nom nom
6:55am ~ Leash! Walk! Door! Outside! YAYYYYYYY
7am ~ good smells here…who was here…whats over there…smell smell smell smell
7:30am ~ snore
4:30pm ~ yayyyyy people!! hi! hi! hi! hi!
6pm ~ food, nom nom nom nom nom nom nom, crunch crunch, nom nom
8pm ~ oooooooo soft thing! tummy rubs!!
9pm ~ bed. night time.
Despite the determination of some, the theory that dogs are out to “dominate” us, or be “leader of the pack” is absolutely preposterous. There has yet to be any evidence that even remotely backs up this claim. It is one of those beliefs that just won’t die: I believe because it is much easier to use this theory to justify any punishment based methods, and it is often much easier to use such methods then to commit to positive reinforcement training.
For example; take a dog that gets comfortable on the couch, only to be removed by a human by being pushed off or having their space invaded rudely enough that they finally get up and go. After repetitions of this, the dog realizes that the human approaching is a precursor to something unpleasant for them, and so they growl. It is all too often that the human in this case interprets the growl as the dog trying to assert his dominance over being on the couch, which serves to fortify their belief that being allowed on the couch teaches a dog he is higher in a pack. In fact, and a much simpler explanation, the dog is only reacting due to anticipation of an unpleasant event. But the human, believing his dog is out to rule the world, takes it as a sign of dominance and therefore punishes the dog further. This increases the dogs anxiety about the presence of the human. It becomes a snowball effect until the dog is described as aggressive and dominant, surrendered to a shelter…etc etc.
It is a dangerous and slippery slope to inject our own perceived motivations onto our dogs behaviour. A dog rushing out the door is just excited to get outside, he is not claiming leadership. Think simplicity. Don’t overcomplicate things by creating something that isn’t there. The old saying…when you hear hoofbeats think horse, not zebra. A dog pulls on the leash because it gets him where he wants to go, he hasn’t been taught not to. It is not a quest for world domination. Yes these are all behaviours that we don’t want a dog to participate in, and yes good manners is very important. I am not saying a dog should pull you out the front door. But we need to stop thinking of them as mini Trump’s.
Carrie Castaldi ~ Positive Paw Dog Training ~ positivepawdogtraining@gmail.com
Positive Paw Dog Training 