For many years it was believed that dogs lived in packs made up of an "alpha" leader or dog who subdued others. Although experts confirmed that this is not the case, today, especially thanks to television, the theory of canine dominance has returned to light.
There are trainers who say that the human being has to impose himself on the dog, make him see that it is he who is in charge and that it is he who decides for the dog. If we want to educate our friend well, it is very important to know why canine dominance theory is outdated.
The dog learns out of fear
Every time they talk to me about this theory, I can't help but imagine a classroom full of children during the Franco era, when teachers were known for the punishments they gave to minors every time they did something wrong or did not like it. Those "punishments", based on blows, of course helped them learn to behave, but surely they went to class with fear.
With supposedly dominant dogs, there are certain trained dogs who do something similar: they don't beat them, but they do subdue them.. They throw them to the ground, give them "touches" and even kicks (although soft, they are still kicking). They don't learn well that way. So all they learn is to live in fear.
We are not dogs
On television we are told that we have to behave like real "alpha dogs", but I wonder How can we behave as such if, to begin with, we are not dogs and, finally, the theory of dominance has been discarded for years? And that is not to mention that the defenders of this theory totally ignore the signs of calm of the dog, such as turning his head to the other side when he does not like something or licking himself while he stares at you (for more information on this subject, I recommend reading the book "Signs of Calm" by Turid Rugaas).
Destroys their souls
Appropriating the words (in good faith 🙂) of a more than famous defender of animals, both from Thailand and the world, to subdue them in this way and get them to listen to you, you have to destroy their soul. You don't allow them to think for themselvesSo they will never learn as much as if positive training were used with them.
And you, how do you train your dog?