Dog Club Advice on Behaviour

this stuff is from the 1960s, my WORD... talk about retro.
the author is Colette Kase - but there is no info on the referred site, petsense.net

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terry pride, APDT-Aus, apdt#1827, CVA, TDF
*wolves R wolves, dogs R dogs, + primates R us.*
tmp, sept-2007

What a load of codswallop! And she can't even spell. I mean "bourne in mind"? WTF!

I have had dogs for thirty years and never had one deciding that he has a place in the structure of the household. As far as I am concerned, these people dream up these signs of dominance because there is no such thing. Like a dog putting both paws on your legs is a sign of dominance. I believe he just wants a cuddle and that is precisely what he gets.

Trouble is there are still so many of these websites about talking this same old rubbish, than the general pet owning public is never going to get the right message, are they?

There is one very self important dog trainer who comes on this forum sometimes, but for all that he does debunk the pack leader idea. I'm not talking about a regular or anyone who has been on recently.

People who have raised their dogs with this daft idea are set on it and it is no good telling them; their dog is of a type that has to be treated that way, so they waste their time and energy eating first, when the dog doesn't even notice.

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http://www.gentle-newfoundland-dogs.com
http://www.royston-pet-care.co.uk



Will always miss you, my little Joshie Woshie xx

If you want real love, buy a dog

If you wouldn't use it on a child, don't use it on a dog

http://pettaxisg8.yolasite.com/
http://www.help-for-learner-drivers.yolasite.com/

Very funny article...

I was confused when asked - Are you a good pack leader??

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Puts on flak jacket... what's so wrong with this advice ?

"Are you a good pack leader? Dogs look to their leaders for safety, security, social structure and guidance. A good pack leader never needs to use physical reprimands to maintain his position. Fear does not help to build healthy relationships. To be a good pack leader, you need to be confident when handling the puppy. You need to be brave when your puppy is worried. You need to be vigilant, observant and quick when guidance is needed. Being gentle, kind, firm and consistent inspires puppies to respond. Being emotional, stressed or angry inspires fear and a lack of trust. If your puppy does not trust your abilities as pack leader, your puppy will have to make decisions for himself and he can’t be blamed if those decisions are incorrect."

What is wrong with it is the simple fact that the puppy does not and never will see you as his pack leader. Dogs do not live in packs and even if they did, you are not a dog and your dog knows this. The words are a throwback to an outdated and discredited theory.

The puppy or dog will look to you for his resources, for his food, his nice warm place to live, his walks and his guidance. That does not make you a pack leader, it makes you his source of all things good.

__________________
http://www.gentle-newfoundland-dogs.com
http://www.royston-pet-care.co.uk



Will always miss you, my little Joshie Woshie xx

If you want real love, buy a dog

If you wouldn't use it on a child, don't use it on a dog

http://pettaxisg8.yolasite.com/
http://www.help-for-learner-drivers.yolasite.com/

really, Dief -
and how about:
* only MALE pups have this supposed 'drive for supremacy'?
notice that wherever gender might be used, the pup/dog is male.

* "clearly defined hierarchies" - Wrong. Not one study of domestic dogs supports this
in human-households; dogs do not have linear hierarchies, even wild wolves lack linear hierarchies.

* pups strive for elevated status from the day they arrive? Really - at 56-days old? yeah, right.
how many puppies lock their resistant human-rebels in their bedrooms, cut off their phone-privileges,
send them from the dinner table without dessert, or freeze their Facebook accounts till they bring their grades up?

that's ONE paragraph, in the very beginning - how much more BS-dissection would U like?
frankly, i'm bored with it; anyone who can read at a 6th-grade level or better can find highly-reputable facts
from multiple sources which debunk every syllable of this, & much of the remainder.

__________________
terry pride, APDT-Aus, apdt#1827, CVA, TDF
*wolves R wolves, dogs R dogs, + primates R us.*
tmp, sept-2007

My problem with this is that the author implies that dogs actually see us as a leader. I understand and appreciate that for some owners, thinking of themselves as a 'pack leader' can be a good way for them to get into the mindset (training, taking a vested interest in their dog's behaviour etc.) but this is purely hypothetical and metaphorical- it stops there. I also have an aversion to these metaphorical wonderings due to the types of training methods that are generally associated, naturally.

I also do not like the anthropomorphic attitude. The view that a dog will try and take over the world, 'making their own decisions', is hilarious. The whole point of training is to teach a dog to make its own decisions- human-acceptable ones. A dog that doesn't make its own decisions is a dog most probably being man-handled, forced into Alpha rolls etc., and going into shutdown and states of learned helplessness frequently.

To summarise, I find it all very wishy-washy, contradictory and just simply not very helpful.

Really Leashed..... that's lovely but what has it to do with my post ?

By who's definition ? The dog behaviourist's or the common man's ? I think I'm a common man and my wife agrees. Let me try this instead...

"Are you a good owner? Dogs look to their owners for safety, security, social structure and guidance. A good owner never needs to use physical reprimands to maintain his position. Fear does not help to build healthy relationships. To be a good owner, you need to be confident when handling the puppy. You need to be brave when your puppy is worried. You need to be vigilant, observant and quick when guidance is needed. Being gentle, kind, firm and consistent inspires puppies to respond. Being emotional, stressed or angry inspires fear and a lack of trust. If your puppy does not trust your abilities as an owner, your puppy will have to make decisions for himself and he can’t be blamed if those decisions are incorrect."

I realise I've changed the words :-) This paragraph to me is about what the author intended to make a good "pack leader". I don't know about "social structure"... certainly there's some kind of structure in my household and I'm at the top ( the wife disagrees on that one ). Replace "pack leader" or "owner" with "widget". Is the advice good or not ?

And I do not like that I must now walk to the study and find my dictionary