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Date Posted: 16:32:31 08/22/09 Sat
Author: Rayna
Subject: Re: Puppy question on aggression
In reply to: Nikki 's message, "Re: Puppy question on aggression" on 22:39:24 08/21/09 Fri

Fear and anxiety are the most common causes of aggession and other behavior problems. The use of punishment exacerbates the problem by increasing the fear or anxiety. So lets correct a puppy while in this state of mind and see if we can add fuel to the fire?

"Dominance is defined as a relationship between individual animals that is established by force/aggression and submission, to determine who has priority access to multiple resources such as food, preferred resting spots, and mates (Bernstein 1981; Drews 1993)."

Sadly most trainers think they have to force their dogs into submission in order to gain leadership. However, getting your dog to obey your commands willingly is accepted as a form of leadership.

Trainers that rely on a dominance theory of training often have to threaten their dogs with force or aggressive displays. Because they think this is the only way to maintain leadership. Many dogs will react with aggression because of the owner's threatening display, not because they want to be the dominant one. To a dog, this is an unbalanced being that should not be followed or obeyed, and most times - feared. Especially young dogs.

A dog will follow a leader that has clear limits for behavior and can communicate the rules effectively by rewarding the correct behavior and preventing the bad ones. Leaders must only reinforce the correct behaviors consistantly enough until the correct behaviors become a habit.

Your website states "You will learn what it means to be a pack leader from your dog's perspective. Balanced and Fair." Doesn't really seem "fair" if you are correcting a dog for something it doesn't understand. And by correcting it, you are not getting to the underlying cause of the behavior. Is it really fear based? Or is the pup doing what is natural instincts of being a guard dog tells him? Instead of correcting the pup and hoping he understands why because you said "No" before the correction, perhaps a behavior prevention program should be done instead. With the use of positive reinforcement, desensitization, classical and counter conditioning.

The whole idea of the Alpha is very overrated. Humans should not refer to themselves by such. Alpha wolves do not "roll" others onto their backs. Instead, the submissive dogs offer up their bellies on their own out of a sign of respect. Alphas give fair corrections only when needed. Majority of the time, the Alpha is not the one leading the pack on the hunt. Instead the Alpha is surrounded by the pack. The Alpha is the Alpha because of his state of mind, not because he forces the pack to do what he says.

I personally prefer my dogs to work with me and obey me because they want to, not out of fear.

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