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Teaching Your Dog to Think of You as Alpha
These simple habits will teach your dog that you are the pack leader:
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These techniques are genral know as status reduction exercise. The have been a number of studies on Status reduction exercise and they have all come to the same conclusion they have no effect on reducing aggression in dogs.
Debunking the Dominance Myth
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So-called dominance exercises were - and in some circles still are - widely recommended to prevent the dog from taking over the entire household. These exercises include not feeding him until after you've eaten, letting him through doorways only after you, forbidding access to furniture, and not playing tug-of-war.
In reality, there is no evidence that these procedures prevent dominance aggression or any other behavioral problem. In fact, one study found no correlation between playing tug-of-war or allowing a dog on the bed and the development of aggressive behavior.
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If You're Aggressive, Your Dog Will Be Too, Says Veterinary Study
Using 'Dominance' To Explain Dog Behavior Is Old Hat
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Contrary to popular belief, aggressive dogs are NOT trying to assert their dominance over their canine or human “pack”, according to research published by academics at the University of Bristol’s Department of Clinical Veterinary Sciences in the Journal of Veterinary Behavior: Clinical Applications and Research.
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This is not to say these exercise are without value. Some are great at controling pet hair if thats your thing, Or help instilling impulse control in a dog which does make it easier to live with. But to infer some convoluted heirarchal , status seeking on the part of dogs is projecting human values onto the dog.
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Ignore puppy "complaints" such as whining or barking for attention. You decide when to go for a walk, not the dog.
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another piece of age olds advice that is simply useless. While dogs are not children their can be useful analogies made. Dogs just like kids do not engage in attention seeking displays simply to amuse themselves. They do so because a basic need is not being met. Babies cry when hungry or have a wet diaper. Would you sugest we should ignore the crying of babies? Studies done on this prove just the opposite, Babies that have more atttentive parents that meet their needs when request in a more timely manner actual cry less than those who have parents that tend to ingnore them. This applies to dogs as well. It is best to anticipate their needs and meet them before they need to ask. but if they do ask meet the needs quickly if only for a breif moment in the long term creates a dog that ask for attention less often not more.
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Understanding The Structure Of Attention Seeking Behaviour
PROTOCOL FOR TREATING AND PREVENTING ATTENTION-SEEKING BEHAVIOR
Adapted from Clinical Behavioral Medicine for Small Animals, by Dr. Karen Overall
the premise you can eliminate attention seeking behaviors by ignoring them is simply wrong. The behaviors exist for two reason
1. some need of the dog is not being met.
2. the behavior the dog engages in has been demonstrated to get the humans attention
At best ignoring the behavior will eliminate that particular annoying attention seeking behavior but only after and excuriate extinction burst period, that if the human could not endure ignoring the behavior to begin with how does any sane individual expect them to be able to do so when the behavior becomes exponatential worse? and even if you do all that the basis for the behavior, an un met need exists so that just leaves the dog to find an even more obnoxious behavior to replace it. The only way to solve attention seeking behaviors rationally is to elliminate the cause in the first place.
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he or she must first understand that you are the pack leader
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There is no evidence of multispecies packs in the world. Further more there is no evidence that dogs think they are human or vice versa. They know the difference.
Dogs do what works for them, that is they are in it for their self interest. Therfore it is all about resource and control of resources, Manipulate the dogs access to desired resources and you have them eating out of your hand. What those resources are depends on the individual dog.