There are a lot of myths lingering around about dogs and dog training.
Dig It are here to help with a series of blog posts looking into the myths around dog training and dog sports such as agility and flyball, but firstly, dog behaviour and training technique myths!
- My dog is a wolf
Dogs are genetic descendants from the wolf and do share the
majority of their DNA. However the wolves that dogs were domesticated from have long
been extinct and the wolves of today are a lot more human-wary. New studies suggest that dogs descended from a range of different Canidae species and not one specific wolf species. Furthermore previous
comparison studies on dogs and wolves were scientifically flawed and today we
can firmly prove that it is inappropriate to compare a dog with a wolf.
- I must be dominant over my dog
Dominance is defined as "a relationship
between individual animals that is established to determine who has priority
access to resources such as food, resting spots and mates." Dominance
is therefore not appropriate in the human to dog relationships as there is no
competition for resource as each individual has ample amounts of resource. We
feed our dogs, we provide them with a bed and we do not compete with them for a
mate. Dominance is also out of place in human-dog relationships as we cannot
communicate effectively with a dog as another dog can. Furthermore most unruly
behaviours from dogs do not occur because they are trying to gain higher rank,
but because these behaviour have previously been rewards, knowingly or not. As well as all of this, the "dominance theory" is from the study on wolves, and we have already learnt that we should not treat our dogs as wolves.
- My dog cannot sleep in my bed with me
- I should roll my dog on its back and pin it to the floor (“alpha
roll”)
- My dog should work for me
because it loves me
Dogs do get a level of enjoyment from positive interactions
with humans; however they also need an amount of reward, such a verbal, touch,
food and play rewards. A dog will repeat behaviours more willingly if they have
previously been associated with a pleasurable outcome.
- Playing tug of war will
make my dog aggressive
We’ll let Dr. John Bradshaw’s study answer this one; "Dogs were allowed to win tug-of-war games played with a
person, over and over again; understandably, this made the dog more keen to
play with people than when they were forced to lose every time, but there were
no signs indicating that any dog became 'dominant' as a result."
- I must not let my dog win
tug of war
See answer to previous myth!
- I should always eat before my dog
Nice little article...and lovely picture :)
ReplyDeleteI know right, some amazing photographer took it :)
Delete