Dominance or Leadership?

The Dominance Controversy

"Virtually everyone who started as a dog trainer over 15-20 years ago started out using traditional dog training techniques: similar to those used by Cesar Millan (National Geographic's The Dog Whisperer). This is how most dogs were trained back then. As a result we have first hand experience as to why and when such punishment-based techniques might work, the pitfalls, and why and when other techniques work better.

Traditional training techniques are based on the idea that we must become the dominant leader and rule our pets the way a wolf would rule a pack. That is, they assume most misbehavior in dogs is due to the dog trying to be dominant and then they employ techniques that they think a wolf (since dogs are seen as having a social structure similar to wolves) would perform in a wolf pack. In order to evaluate whether this reasoning is valid, we must first understand what dominance is."  Read more from Dr. Sophia Yin   Great explanatory videos too!

Traditional Dog Training vs Leadership Without Force:  "Dominance is not the route of bad behaviour".  Do you want to know about better ways of training?  Read on...

Dominance and Dog Training :  This article from the Association of Pet Dog Trainers discusses dominance theory, its history and failings, and the alternative understanding of leadership.

Dominance Myths and Dog Training Realities: Discusses some of the myths associated with dominance theory, and presents an alternate, realistic, and compassionate understanding of certain behaviours.