Bad Rap for Good Dogs – dissing Dominance and doing Deference by Nina Bondarenko – the Dog Guru from Oz

Watch any of the more popular TV shows of dog trainers – whether they call themselves Listeners, or Whisperers, or Alphas, and the message is the same – dogs are out to rule the world.  Dogs dream of being in charge, of “Leading the Pack”, of bossing people, of being Alpha Animal… No matter how small or large, dogs cannot think of any other way to relate to each other or humans except as being Dominant.  Even though our own experience tells us that this is nonsense, we allow ourselves to be seduced by this idea and rush to find ways to make our dog’s life a misery. We will watch video clips of dogs riding bicycles, surfboards, skateboards, and being trained by children all over the world, and yet we still believe that, if a dog barks or growls or doesn’t do what we say, that it is desperate to send us packing and so we should punish it. 

 Especially in London, we see mainly children, young people or young mothers pushing prams, with various of the Bull breeds (Staffies and Pit Bull mixtures) on lead trotting at their side. These dogs would have no trouble being the so-called “Alpha Animal” if that’s what they wanted. Dogs have powerful jaws, sharp tearing teeth, lightning speed and reactions, and great agility, and could wait until we were sitting on the couch or lying on the floor, pounce on us and tear our throats out. If a dog really did want to be Boss, it would be easy. But they don’t.  In fact, even when owners beat them, injure them, torture them and abuse them, they don’t. Even when children drag them around the yard, or smack them, or pinch their ears, dogs choose not to run for President or launch a civil war. Children die every year, but they almost never die from dog-attack.Dog’s bite, and biting dogs are destroyed every year in the hundreds in the UK. So they are using their teeth for something, but is it really Dominance?  Or could something else be happening in these situations?

MY OWN EXPERIENCE

I bred Rottweilers for many years as working guard dogs, and one year I was standing in line at the Royal Melbourne Annual Show, waiting to go into the ring to participate in an Obedience Demonstration with one of my dogs. She was a working security dog who also competed in Obedience and Agility. As I chatted to the person in front of me, I felt her pull slightly on the lead, which was unusual for her. But when I turned to see what she was doing, I was speechless with shock, because she was being dragged away from me by her lip. A baby in a passing pram had reached out and pinched her lip between two fingers and wouldn’t let go, but the mother was oblivious – gazing around her at the exhibits. I ran to the pram and freed my dog – the mother just looked irritated. Anyone who has felt a baby’s pinch will know just how painful it can be, and my dog had every reason to defend herself and “dominate” this baby. But she didn’t - she just waited for me to help her. This was a powerful, experienced dog trained to tackle armed intruders, but who allowed a baby in a pram to drag her by her lip.  

Dogs have the capacity to show enormous self-control and judgement with humans. So for them to snarl, snap at or bite a person, means that something very different from a desire to dominate is triggering this behaviour. We need to examine the motivation more closely, and not rush to judgement.

                                                                                                                   PART TWO coming up