Have you been told any of the following:
"You need to be the leader of your pack!"
"Your dog is trying to dominate you!"
"You are the alpha, not your dog!"
This has all come from the theory of how wolves packs are thought to be.
But this is all a load of rubbish, because firstly, dogs aren’t wolves.
Secondly, wolves don’t even act like that anyway!
Why is this such an issue?
The main issue is that by using the ‘Alpha theory’ and all the techniques that come along with it, is that it is violent, scary, and horrifically inhumane. There are tons of studies that show that using these methods will...
Cause behaviour problems in your dog
Slow down the learning
Cause fear and a lack of trust
Increase fears, anxiety, and stress.
In addition, it affects how you live with your dog. According to the people who use this training, you are not allowed your dog on the sofa or your bed, you have to walk through doors first, eat first, and god forbid your dog takes even a step ahead of you on a walk, as all this means your dog is trying to ‘dominate’ you.
I have always allowed my dog on the sofa and she loves to sit on my knee with her paws on my shoulder. That doesn’t mean she is trying to dominate me, she just adores a cuddle! I've added a photo so you can see, but lets hope no 'alpha theorists' see this, because Molly is above me, so this would indicate she is trying to dominate me. In fact, no, Molly is just a large lapdog who thinks she is smaller than she is.
In fact, dogs don’t ever try to dominate us, as they understand that we are a different species. They also do not understand what is dominating them means.
We can’t think of dogs like wolves. Although they share much of their DNA with wolves, and some breeds look similar, wolves and dogs diverged from their common ancestor around 40,000 years ago. Plus, we share most of our DNA with chimps, but you don’t see people eating the bugs from their family’s hair, do you?
While it’s true that there is a rank among dogs living together, it is incredibly complex and can change based on the context.
But even if we are to compare our dogs to wolf packs, there is still no reason to be ‘alpha’. Wolf packs are simply families, and the head of the family is the head of the pack - simple as that. Unlike previous thoughts, The head of the family / pack does not dominate the rest. They do not walk at the front, nor do they eat first or sleep higher up.
Did you know that scientists studying wolves don’t even use the term ‘Alpha’ anymore?
So, not only is using the ‘Alpha theory’ damaging to your dog’s physical and mental health, but it is also completely based on false information.
Throwing the words ‘Alpha’ and ‘dominate’ around will only lead to us thinking about our dogs in this way, and that’ll affect how we treat our dogs. Our dogs are our family, they don’t want to be our boss, they want to be your friend.
Make sure you are choosing positive reinforcement trainers, force-free trainers, and science-based trainers!
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