With how much Shimmer likes to chew, I’m constantly looking for a great deal on chew toys. Luckily, my local Humane Society has really great prices and they don’t charge sales tax. I don’t know how they can do it, but they’re normally about $2 cheaper than PetSmart. At 2 new toys a month, at $15 a toy, this adds up.
My mom was in town for the weekend so we went to the store together. We took our time looking around, checking out the dogs and cats they had there. We also like to people watch and eaves drop. The things people say about their pets are really endearing, even if they are over the top.
We heard a woman talking with the employee at the store about a dog she just inherited from a deceased family member. The customer was asking for training advice because she has no idea what to do about the dog as it was causing problems in her life. She listed problems with nipping and aggression. These sounds like standard problems from an older shepherd mix with no previous training. What I heard next astounded me.
The employee suggested that the woman “grab the dog by the scruff, pin him to the ground with your elbows, and stare him straight in the eyes. You have to show him who is in charge.” To the customer, a mom of at least 2 children under 10 (they were with her in the store) this sounded like an amazing solution to her problem. She was so excited to go home and show her new dog who is in charge.
I’ve been trying to avoid speaking about the usefulness of dominance theory in dog training. I feel like the topic has been spoken about so much that I’d be beating the dead horse. Dominance based training is dangerous and unsafe and can border on animal abuse when used improperly. I guess my concern for the safety of the mom and her kids inspired this.
Here is a list of all the problems with what the employee said to the customer:
1) She is a storefront manager, not a dog trainer. Even if she was a dog trainer, she was giving advice outside of a dog training setting. The liability of giving information is one of the reasons why doctors don’t give medical advice outside of their office/appointment. This situation is no different. Why do you think most trainers carry some sort of insurance? We’re protecting ourselves.
2) The customer is going to get bit. Or her children will get bit. At her new dog’s current state, the dog is dangerous and already proven liable to bite. What’s going to happen when the mom acts violent towards an already violent dog? The dog is going to become more violent. It’s only going to inspire an angrier dog that’s going to bite more. This is going to lead the mom to call the dog aggressive, when it is just defending itself, and she’ll end up putting the dog down for “safety” reasons.
3) The advice of pinning the down is abusive. When I have problems with my friends or family I don’t get to just hit them in the face and expect everything to solved. The world doesn’t work that way. I’d get the cops called on me and my friend wouldn’t speak to me ever again. What I did was abuse my friend and what the employee is telling the customer to do is that same thing. And it becomes even worse when pushing the dog around is used more to relieve frustrations than it is to train the dog.
And finally… 4) Dominance style training blames the victim. Very rarely is a dog born inherently violent or just mean spirited. Those sorts of traits have to be bred for, more often than not. Dogs acquire these less than desirable behaviors because, even without the person knowing, they are rewarded for it. The customers dog, somewhere down the line, was rewarded for biting at people. The dog was trained that way and, if the employee had her way, would punish the dog for doing what it was trained to do. Imagine getting smacked in the head for using the toilet. You were trained to do it all your life, but now, all of a sudden, it’s not okay and you must stop.
If you have any questions, comments, or concerns about dominance style training, leave a comment here, on my Facebook, or send me an email at Michael@concentricdog.com
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