I have to weigh in on the pro Cesar side. Alot of what he advocates is just good common sense- not letting the dog control your home, maintaining boundaries, and remembering that the dog is a dog, not a human baby.
I have no problem with what he does just the rational for it. Positive energy and negative energy is a but of crap. Many of those that have done extensive studies on wolfs and dogs are seriously question the whole "pecking order" "pack heirarchy" thing. One in the wild wolf do not form a traditional pack. The pack consists of a breeding male and breeding female and off spring 2 years and younger. When the off spring mature the go off and form there own for a lack of a better term family unit.
Alpha Status, Dominance, and Division of Labor in Wolf Packs
"The prevailing view of a wolf (Canis lupus) pack is that of a group of individuals ever vying for dominance but held in check by the "alpha" pair, the alpha male and the alpha female. Most research on the social dynamics of wolf packs, however, has been conducted on non-natural assortments of captive wolves. Here I describe the wolf-pack social order as it occurs in nature, discuss the alpha concept and social dominance and submission, and present data on the precise relationships among members in free-living packs based on a literature review and 13 summers of observations of wolves on Ellesmere Island, Northwest Territories, Canada. I conclude that the typical wolf pack is a family, with the adult parents guiding the activities of the group in a division-of-labor system in which the female predominates primarily in such activities as pup care and defense and the male primarily during foraging and food-provisioning and the travels associated with them"
Journal of Applied Animal Welfare Science - A Fresh Look at the Wolf-Pack Theory of Companion-Animal Dog Social Behavior
"A popular perspective on the social behavior of dogs in multiple-dog households sees the dogs' behavior as reflecting the sociobiological laws of the rigidly structured dominance hierarchy that has been described for wolf packs. This view suggests that aggression problems among dogs are natural expressions of conflict that arise whenever dominance status is in contention. One recommended solution has been for the owner to endorse and enforce a particular dominance hierarchy because, on the wolf pack model, aggression is minimized when the structure of the hierarchy is clear, strong, and stable. This article questions the validity of this perspective on 2 principal grounds. First, because it does not seem to occur in the wild, this article suggests the strong dominance hierarchy that has been described for wolves may be a by-product of captivity. If true, it implies that social behavior—even in wolves—may be a product more of environmental circumstances and contingencies than an instinctive directive. Second, because feral dogs do not exhibit the classic wolf-pack structure, the validity of the canid, social dominance hierarchy again comes into question."
Most of the studies of wolves that the heirarchy theories developed are artifical created packs of wild wolves in captivity. It is well known that captivity often does produce bizzare and unnatural behaviors.
He takes a behaviorist point of view
Hardly a behaviors cares not a wit why an animal does what he does because it can never be know for certain why. What is know is the behavior. They then set about changing the behavior generally using operant conditioning. see
Behaviorism
"Behaviorism is both a psychological movement and a philosophy. The basic premise of radical behaviorism is that the study of behavior should be a natural science, such as chemistry or physics, without any reference to hypothetical inner states of organisms."
An
applied ethologist studies the relationship between people and domestic animals. if you look at the link you will find pack order and heirarchies are products of Ethologist not behaviorist.
He doesn't actually pinch the dog-he does not advocate using pain or physical punishment
Whether you want to hear it or not a correction via a choke chain which occured in every episode I've seen is physical punishment and causes pain. This does not mean it is unsafe, unethical, inhumane or ineffect. Just calling a spade a spade.
Debunking the Dominance Myth
"Second, the researchers observed what are now known to be ritualistic displays and misinterpreted them. The bulk of dominance mythology comes from these misinterpretations. Take alpha rolls. The early researchers thought that the higher-ranking wolf forcibly rolled subordinate wolves to exert his dominance. Modern studies have shown that alpha rolls are part of an appeasement ritual offered voluntarily by the subordinate wolf, not forced by the superior. A subordinate wolf offers his muzzle, and when the higher-ranking wolf “pins” it, the subordinate rolls over and presents his belly. There is no force. Canine behaviorist Jean Donaldson, author of the award-winning book The Culture Clash, says, “The truth is, there is not one documented case of a wolf forcefully rolling another wolf to the ground. Nor is there one case of a mother wolf (or dog) ‘scruff-shaking’ her puppies.”
A wolf would flip another wolf against its will only if he were planning to kill it. The same goes for a mother shaking her pup by the scruff. Both are rare events."
The Macho Myth
"For example, snapping, pilo-erection, growling and lip-curling are often misconstrued as signs of dominance, whereas they are, in fact, more usually signs of fear"
Dogs displaying dominance use NO physical contact? I beg to differ on that!!!!
There is a big difference between a dominance disply and a fight. the purpose of the display is to avert violence/fight/physical contact
The Myth of Alpha (Part 1)
The Myth of Alpha (Part 2)
