Dogs are not Teddy Bears

Story from Veterinary Economics...

Dogs react badly to aggressive training

A new survey finds that some dogs may bite first and not learn later when it comes to confrontational training techniques.
Mar 5, 2009
VETERINARY ECONOMICS


If a dog acts up, it’s time to show it who’s boss. Or maybe not. A new client survey from the School of Veterinary Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania found that many confrontational training methods elicit aggressive responses from dogs, not obedience.

Clients who brought dogs to the school for behavioral training filled out a 30-item survey that asked whether their previous training methods resulted in positive, neutral, or negative reactions from the dogs. Roughly 25 percent said their dogs reacted badly to confrontational methods, including:

> hitting or kicking the dog
> growling at the dog
> physically forcing the release of an item from the dog’s mouth
> staring at—or staring down—the dog
> rolling the dog onto its back and holding it (presumably to show the
dog you’re the alpha animal)
> forcing the dog onto its side
> or grabbing the dog by the jowls and shaking it.

Most owners reported they learned their methods on their own or from dog trainers. In addition, dogs brought to the hospital for aggressive behavior towards familiar people were more likely to respond aggressively to some confrontational techniques than dogs brought in for other behavioral reasons.

“This study highlights the risk of dominance-based training, which has been made popular by TV, books, and punishment-based training advocates,” says Dr. Meghan Herron. “These techniques elicit fear and may lead to owner-directed aggression.”

The study was published in the February 2009 issue of Applied Animal Behavior Science.

Got to love a good ground-breaking study that concludes some dogs don't like humans showing dominant behaviors toward them.

Duh!

That's exactly why we (humans in general) have developed management/leadership techniques like NILIF (Nothing In Life Is Free) and Rapport Skills, and (despite the articles inference) Cesar Milan.

The idea behind programs like these is to firmly establish with your dog, that you, the human are the pack leader, and he is not in a position to object to any display of "dominance". If the dog accepts his place in the pack, he is not likely to object.

AND, most importantly, these programs are designed to communicate leadership to your dog in a non-confrontational manner.

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Note: Ms. X uses the terms "dominate" and "leader" almost interchangeably, as she believes they are widely used in the common vernacular. Some people make distinctions, and Mr. Rafe gives a clear view of the perceived distinction here.