Jamesw2

Link that bring down the leader of the pack theory http://www.mnforsustain.org/wolf_mech...

Jamesw2

http://www.tampabay.com/news/perspect... The Social Organization of the Domestic Dog; A Longitudinal Study of Domestic Canine Behavior and the Ontogeny of Canine Social Systems Abstract Semyonova, A. 2003, The social organization of the domestic dog; a longitudinal study of domestic canine behavior and the ontogeny of domestic canine social systems, The Carriage House Foundation, The Hague, www.nonlineardogs.com , version 2006. Introduction The theory of a linear hierarchy based on dominance relations, originally developed from observations of ants, was one of the first models used in ethology to describe or account for the behavior and the social structure of wolves and the groups they live in (Mech 1995, 2000; Sax 1997). The dominance hierarchy model was adopted by others to explain the behavior of canis familiaris, and is still broadly in use today among both scientists and laymen who deal with domestic canine behavior. This model as applied to wolves was from the beginning, based on dubious evidence (Mech 2000). Furthermore, http://www.stltoday.com/stltoday/life... Appearing later the same night on my radio show, Dr. John Ciribassi, a veterinary behaviorist based in the Chicago area and immediate past president of the American Veterinary Society of Animal Behavior, said, "The reality is that the pack explanation, the need to fight for dominance (in a home) is an arcane theory. The idea of dominance and need for it implies the need to, in fact, dominate our dogs. There is a need to communicate and to motivate but not to dominate. (Millan) uses the word 'leader' (for the owner); perhaps the word 'teacher' is better." "My emphasis is on getting the behaviors you do want," added Dr. Barbara Sherman, president of the American College of Veterinary Behaviorists (veterinarians board certified in animal behavior) and professor in the Department of Clinical Sciences, at North Carolina State University's College of Veterinary Medicine. "It's the over-riding rule of animal behavior: Encourage the behaviors you want; ignore the behaviors you don't. Also, punishment doesn't make clear what you want the dogs to do. And punishment, like rollovers (rolling a dog over and/or pinning a dog) can be very frightening. You may get a backlash of aggression because the dog is scared and doesn't know what is going on. This can worsen behavior The theory that a hierarchy based on dominance relationships is the organizing principle in social groups of the sort canis lupus is a human projection that needs replacing. Furthermore, the model has unjustifiably been transferred from its original place in the discussion of the behavior of wolves to the discussion of the behavior of domestic dogs (canis familiaris). This paper presents a new, more adequate model of how familiaris organizes itself when in groups. This paper is based on a longitudinal study of a permanent group of five randomly acquired dogs living in their natural habitat, as they interact with each other within the group, with newcomers of various species who joined the group, and with fleetingly met individuals of various species in their outside environment. This study shows that the existence of the phenomenon "dominance" is questionable, but that in any case "dominance" does not operate as a principle in the social organization of domestic dogs. Dominance hierarchies do not exist and are in fact impossible to construct without entering the realm of human projection and fantasy. The hypotheses were tested by repeatedly starting systems at chaos and observing whether the model predicted the evolution of each new system. The study shows that domestic canine social groups must be viewed as complex autopoietic systems, whose primary systemic behavior is to gravitate as quickly as possible to a stable division of the fitness landscape so that each animal present is sitting on a fitness hill unchallenged by other group members. Aggression is not used in the division of the fitness landscape. It is not possible for an observer to measure the height of respective hills. There is no hierarchy between or among the animals. The organization of the system is based on binary relationships, which are converted by the agents as quickly as possible from competitive to complementary or cooperative binaries, through the creation of domains of consensus. The production processes by which this is done are twofold. The first is an elegant and clear, but learned, system of communicative gestures which enables the animals to orient themselves adequately to each other and emit appropriate responses in order to maintain or restore the stability of their fitness hills and the larger social landscape. The second is learning. It is the learning history of each animal, which determines how adequately the animal can operate within the system and what the components of its individual fitness hill will be,

traininglabs

What sort of methods are you referring to? If used correctly, none of these methods will do any harm to your dog or even cause pain. These actions are based on the ways wolves and other wild dogs behave (and have behaved since their creation) in the wild-- thus they are engrained deep within every dog's understanding and I would argue that they will always be the most effective. But I'd love to know what methods you're referring to.

Jamesw2

Alpha dog training concepts in this article are dated. Better methods where you establish a master/dog relationship using positive reinforcement are more effective and more humane.

traininglabs

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