Dog Training: Animal Experts Debunk the Alpha-Dog Myth

[reportertype]

Our pets, who rely on us for their food and water, since we can withhold it from them, deserve it just for being part of our family, as well. When they can go to the fridge and make dinner or turn on the faucet for a drink, then we'll talk, otherwise, it's our responsibility (and the law) to make sure they always have those things.

They always get fed and watered, they just have to sit first. Sort of like kids who have to wash their hands.

 

[Dark Knight]

They always get fed and watered, they just have to sit first. Sort of like kids who have to wash their hands.

lol, making them sit first isn't so bad, hehe. I was imagining something more complex. :crazy:

 

[cuppy199]

They have to "earn" basic necessities such as food and water? There is something wrong, there.




Milan believes in working the dog to death, especially problem dogs, until they are too exhausted to be disobedient. He has talked about the tread mill discipline numerous times, and was recently sued by the owner of a dog who was injured from being worked too hard. Milan also says the same thing about his kids. When they misbehave, they need to run around the block several times until they are too tired to misbehave. He is no "whisperer" he is borderline abusive. There are Facebook pages protesting his methods.

I have to agree to dissagree with you on this one. We all have are own believes and what might work for some might not work for others.

 

[PorcineGranny]

My dogs all earn their keep. By protecting our goats, who provide yard care and will provide milk and my dogs inside provide companionship and protection. Its not a free ride for anything. In turn, for their natural abilities, I provide food and water and love. Its a wonderful trade off. Every thing needs to feel worthy and needed, but just my opinion again.

I also have a cat to deter mice, and for his protection, I provide food and a clean litter box.

I guess its just the way you view things in life but thanks for pointing out another view.

 

[mimimama5]

I quite enjoyed the article.about the submission rolling nonsense, thats all it is, nonsense. You cannot dominate a dog by rolling them on their back and holding the throat. The dog is smart enough to know that you arent a dog! You are a human, and humans are on top of the heirearchy. The part that stuck out the most for me what the 'Inadvertent rewarding bad behavior". I know I am guilty of this with my own pack, and I work hard to try and correct my own actions. We have a jumper in our pack, and it is so hard to walk across the dogs yard, and get jumped on and NOT react! Everything in me wants to give her the Off! command, because she knows it, and responds to it when she is not in jump mode.I am retraining myself to ignore the jumping behavior and say nothing, but to instead have rewards ready when she does not jump. We're not talking little dogs here, we are talking big old black and tan rottweilers, so jumping is a serious issue that must be corrected quickly. Disclaimer* I admit to being hyper vigilant about any fault in my dogs' obedience, becase they are large powerful animals and because they have a bad reputation. I feel like its my responsibility to make certain that my dogs' are fully trained and obedient the first time I ask them for a command. I do not strike my dogs, by the sheer number and nature of my dogs that would be a very reckless move on my part. I havent ever had to strike a dog to get them to do as I asked. They are willling and intelligent, and want to keep it calm and status quo.

 

[Cypros]

I agree that positive reinforcement is the best way to get the desired results. I don't have dogs, but I never use physical punishment on my cats to train them. They get a lot of praise and affection (and the occasional treat) when they do the right thing. I used time outs (placed alone in a quiet room for 15 minutes) when they were young to teach them not to be aggressive and to stop undesirable behavior. It works amazingly well! With one of my cats - a true free spirit - I had to resort to the spray bottle to stop him from scratching the furniture. He knew better but would forget in the excitement of the moment (LOL!) and time outs were not cutting it. It only took two squirts for him to figure that one out and he is now an avid and dedicated scratching post scratcher.

 

[Kat]

I have housebroken my puppy and am still working on it but he has had no accidents in the house yet.

I take him outside every two hours. At night I crate him but keep him in my room so that I can hear him and he wakes me up once during the night to take him outside.

Using a crate takes time. You have to get them to relate to the crate as a positive thing.

He gets praise and I pet him after he does his business in the yard. He eats that up. In fact, after he does his diddle or piddle he comes to see if I'm going to act happy LOL.

I'm introducing him to a leash next week or so. I will use treats to get him to sit and have his leash attached so he can go for a walk.

I don't use food or water as training materials. I use only treats and praise. I have yet to have a dog that had behavior problems if I made sure that they got enough exercise during the day and using positive reinforcement through praise and treats.

If they do misbehave, I immediately use a soft but stern no. I also will redirect them away from chewing on furniture etc...it just takes a lot of attention and patience IMHO.

In reference to the dog whisperer. I think he retrains dogs that have not been trained correctly in the first place or not at all. I can't say whether he is right or wrong, but I, myself, would never use my physical presense to intimidate an animal if that is what he does. I don't know, the few times I have watched the show he's pretty good at what he does. JMHO.

 

[impatientredhead]

I work with a rescue group for Malamutes and one of our main rules for handling these dogs (who can be very hardheaded) is we do not alpha roll dogs.

In my opinion if it does "work", the dog didn't think he was dominant over you to begin with and there was a much smarter approach to be used.

Or if the dog won't submit to you, rolling a 120lb dog you don't know is a really good way to get hurt, get the dog put down, and there was a much smarter approach to be used.

Alpha rollers are removed from working with our dogs.

I think CM does a good job with assertive and aggressive dogs, in most cases. I cannot stand the way he deals with scared dogs. I watched him drag a St. Bernard that was so afraid of the stairs he was drooling bile and I PROMISE you I could have gotten him up the stairs in a day with shaping and positive reinforcement, not dragging his drooling dead body weight up the stairs repeatedly until he gave in.

 

[LookingUp]

Thanks for the article. I like watching both Victoria and Cesar demonstrate their techniques for correcting bad behavior in canines - each have their own merits.