Dominance Theory Debunked!

[maryellen]

i am squished between my 2 dogs every night like a burrito, they squish next to me in bed and i guess that means they are dominating me too lol...

[PitLovinMama]

Well I have a seizure disorder and during a seizure (according to my husband) is the only time my dogs show any type of dominance. I'm not sure I would call it domanince I call it guarding and bing a damn good dog. Heres a scenairo...you can tell me what you think. I learned early on that JuneBug can tell befroe I can when a seizure is coming on he will howl and run into me over and over until I sit down, he will then place his body on top of mine and pin me to what ever I'm sitting on or the floor if I had a fall out seizure...my wood floor has claw marks on it from him pinning me to the floor during a grand mal seizure. JuneBug himself has sustained injurys proteceting me nothing serious a few cuts and scarps from me thrashin around and slammin him in to the side of our bed. He will not let anyone near me when my seizures are happening he will allow my husband to assist him but if you try to run him out of the room you better hope it's metal door oyu put him behind. On the rare occasion that my husband has to call the ambulance JuneBug has to be put outside or crated he will not allow the permedics to get close to me. You tell me what you think IMO he's tryin to kep his mama safe.

[AmyJo27]

I agree with you PitLovinMama, he's watching out for you.

When you go into a seizure it is something strange to him so he wants to keep you safe!

What a sweet boy!

[maryellen]

that is not dominance, that is him protecting you from hurting yourself with the seizure. you should really train him to be your service dog since you have seizures.....

[PitLovinMama]

I wouldn't even began to know how to go about that......I'm sure he'd do well though he loves training of any kind. Can you send me a link or a web page to look at ME. It's crazy how intune with me he is. I never in a million years would have expected this from him.....my seizures are late on set they started in September of this year. THe Dr can't really give me an answer but sure love taken my money. So it's not like I've had seizures since JuneBug was a pup it's all new to him and Biggens well he just falls right in line with JuneBug. It's so truly amazing to have such loving pets.

[maryellen]

here you go pitluvin

www.servicedogsamerica.org/
wolfpacks.com/products/servicedog/trainers.html
www.iaadp.org/
www.adionline.org/

[loverocksalot]

Train them to dial 911. I have heard about a pit bull that has done this for owner having same issues.

[adoptapitbull]

Do you also think the whole "dominance" idea is exaggerated by control freaks who feel the need to show their "power" over dogs/people? The people I know who are big on "dominance" are also very controlling of their wives or children. I'm not saying that this is always the case, but those who I've seen really go head over heels into dominance training really give off that feeling.

I think dogs are like children. You give them an inch, they take a mile. My dogs know who to go to for treats, or who to sit next to at meal time. Are the dogs dominant over those people? No. They've learned that their Nanny will slide some food under the table for them.

My dogs also race out of the door when they see birds in the yard. Am I really going to try to step out the door first? It's not necessary.

The only "dominant" things I suppose we do is that we have our dinner before we feed the dogs theirs. I don't think that if they ate first, they'd try to alpha roll me! It's just what works for us.


Also, I ran into a man at CVS who had a pretty severe seizure disorder. He was unable to speak, so he wrote on a pad. He wrote that his Pit had saved his life twice. She's trained to give someone his medicine pouch if he seizes. That person will then administer the meds the man needs. I thought that was pretty darn great!

[RealPitBull]

I don't really want to generalize, because I am sure there are some control-freak positive trainers that don't believe in dominance theory, too - but yes, I have found that those who really go for the dominance theory seem to have this certain personality type. I have also noticed that those who go the whole wolf-pack/alpha/dom direction seem to get some kind of rise out of the idea that they are in 'total control' of a 'domesticated wolf'.

There are a lot of dom-theory people who talk in very abstract, non-scientific terms, alluding to some mystical/magical knowledge and mind-reading ability. I think this is appealing to people - the idea that there is something intangible that they can get clued-in on, and then learn and practice. See: Millan's constant talk of 'energy'.

The funny thing is that these are the same people who will also throw the words, "dog psychology/ist" around while blatantly ignoring current research into psychology/learning, particularly as it pertains to dogs. And as an aside, many of these people are charging insane amounts of money to 'rehabilitate' dogs and teach 'pack theory', which is totally bogus science. But when these people are scoffing at science anyway, I suppose the fact that what they are teaching isn't scientific doesn't really matter to them.

[RealPitBull]

A good article on the subject:

www.bristol.ac.uk/news/2009/6361.html

[fureverywhere]

I think it depends on the dog and owner. A male pitty and milquetoast owner might have some issues with dominance. My girl is totally submissive to me. When we walk I let her run on a long leash ahead , easier than trying to keep up with her speed walking. There's no reason to demand submission if your dog is easygoing to begin with.

[adoptapitbull]

I also think "dominance" gets thrown around a lot with people who have out of control dogs. They think the dogs are dominant, when really they are just not well trained. When my dogs jump on people and get crazy excited when visitors come, it is not because they are dominant, it is because their mommy (yes, me!) has not trained them enough to not do so. I admit it; I did not train my dogs to not jump on people. I don't think they are dominant because of it. It's just that they were never properly trained not to. Any dog not properly trained to listen perfectly immediately gets the "he's trying to dominate me!" label by his misinformed owner. I think people are trying to make excuses for bad behavior by saying "dominant" instead of "not trained".

Call a spade a spade and tell it like it is, darnit!

[catstina]

Very well put, adoptapitbull!