Dog Training Myths...

Busted!

There are a lot of myths lingering around about dogs and dog training. Ruth Turner, an instructor at Dig It Dogs, is here to help sort out fact from fiction by looking into some of the myths surrounding dog training and dog sports. She wrote this article for the Dig It Dogs web site to educate people about the myths that are still commonly heard regarding dog behaviour and dog training methods.

• My dog is a wolf

Dogs are genetic descendants from the wolf and do share the majority of their DNA. However, the wolves that dogs were domesticated from have long been extinct and the wolves of today are a lot more human-wary.

New studies suggest that dogs descended from a range of different Canidae species and not one specific wolf species. Furthermore previous comparison studies on dogs and wolves were scientifically flawed and today we can firmly prove that it is inappropriate to compare a dog with a wolf.

•  I must be dominant over my dog

Dominance is defined as 'a relationship between individual animals that is established to determine who has priority access to resources such as food, resting spots and mates.' Dominance is, therefore, not appropriate in the human to dog relationships as there is no competition for resource as each individual has ample amounts of resource. We feed our dogs, we provide them with a bed and we do not compete with them for a mate.

Dominance is also out of place in human-dog relationships as we cannot communicate effectively with a dog as another dog can. Furthermore, most unruly behaviours from dogs do not occur because they are trying to gain higher rank, but because these behaviour have previously been rewards, knowingly or not. As well as all of this, the 'dominance theory' is from the study on wolves, and we have already learnt that we should not treat our dogs as wolves.

• My dog cannot sleep in my bed with me

This is your decision. If you have a kind and positive relationship with your dog, then allowing a dog to sleep in your bed should not create behaviour problems.

I should roll my dog on its back and pin it to the floor in an 'Alpha roll.' This theory comes from wolf comparisons which are unscientific and not appropriate for dog interactions. Furthermore dominant wolves do not do this to submissive wolves. In actual fact the submissive wolves voluntarily roll on their backs to show their submission.  My dog should work for me because it loves me Dogs do get a level of enjoyment from positive interactions with humans. However, they also need an amount of reward, such a verbal, touch, food and play rewards. A dog will repeat behaviours more willingly if they have previously been associated with a pleasurable outcome.

• Playing tug of war will make my dog aggressive.

We'll let Dr. John Bradshaw’s study answer this one.  'Dogs were allowed to win tug-of-war games played with a person, over and over again;. Understandably, this made the dog more keen to play with people than when they were forced to lose every time, but there were no signs indicating that any dog became 'dominant' as a result.'

• I must not let my dog win tug of war

See answer to previous myth!

• I should always eat before my dog

Yet another myth which comes from the dominance theory. Since we have now discovered that dominance theory does not apply to dogs, neither does this myth. In real life, isn't it better to eat either before or after your dog, depending on what's convenient for you? You have the opposable thumbs and make the decisions. After all is said and done, you have control of all the food resources, so you're in charge.

About the author...
Ruth Turner joined the Dig It Dogs instructor team in 2012, after graduating from Chester University with a BSc (Hons) Animal Management. She has taught puppy, obedience and rally classes at Dig It, but her main passion is Agility and and she now concentrates on her two Agility classes.

When she joined Dig It, she set up the blog and, together the Dig It Instructors, wrote a variety of articles, ranging from reports of agility shows to educational snippets. Some of the most common questions they've heard from clients are based on outdated understanding of dog behaviour.

First published 9 July 2014

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