Winter 2010 - PAWS Chicago

PET HEALTH & BEHAVIOR
Rank order is established and maintained
through a series of ritualized fights and posturing.
Wolves prefer this to physical confrontations.
Physical confrontations would
only serve to weaken the pack. Rank order
can shift constantly according to the needs
of the pack at any given time. Rank order
is only one of the many social traits used
to keep the pack running smoothly. Wolves
possess many ritualized behavior patterns
that are recognized amongst other pack
members to have a specific meaning.
In her book, “Aggression In Dogs”,
Brenda Aloff states that dogs also use ritualized
behavior patterns to determine without
resorting to violence, who gives in and
who prevails in situations where conflict
exists. Although developing our skills for
understanding a dog’s language is a subject
in itself, we need to understand how a dog
interacts with members of it’s own species
to understand how he is attempting to
interact with us.
By gaining an understanding of the complexities
of canine behavior we can bypass
the notion that every problem behavior we
encounter with our dogs is due to the dog
being either “dominant” or “submissive”.
Dispelling this notion opened the door for
a broader view of how we can relate to our
dogs. Dog training that relies solely on the
use of physical correction or the notion that
a dog needs to be physically dominated is a
thing of the past.
The American Veterinary Society of
Animal Behavior (AVSAB) warns against
the use of “dominance” based training techniques
explaining how they can damage the
human-dog relationship. The AVSAB goes
to great lengths to explain the difference
between leadership and dominance stating
that, “leadership is established when a
pet owner can consistently set clear limits
for behavior and effectively communicate
the rules by immediately rewarding the
correct behavior and preventing access to
or removing rewards for undesirable behaviors
before the undesirable behavior is
reinforced.”
Science based dog training methods,
spearheaded by the work of Karen Pryor,
are now being explored and widely used.
Pryor used psychologist B. F. Skinner’s
theory of operant conditioning to develop
the clicker training method in which a
small plastic noisemaker is used to mark a
behavior that will earn a reward. An animal
tends to repeat an action that has positive
consequences. The results are amazing.
Dogs learn with eagerness and gain a clear
understanding of the task at hand, unclouded
by the fear of making a mistake and
physical punishment.
Our relationships with our dogs continue
to evolve. In our present day urban environment,
dogs no longer perform tasks that
are needed for our survival. Still they are an
important part of our lives. We depend on
them for companionship and unconditional
loyalty and affection. They get us out every
day for walks and work as our partners in
agility class. They still function as playmates
for our children and companions for the
elderly. It’s a safe bet that man will always
have a place in his home for the family dog.
Joan Harris is a
regular contributor
to Angel Tales.
She serves as
Head Trainer at K9
University.