Years of TV watching and popular belief has lead dog owners to believe that dogs need a bit of discipline to behave. A few sharp tugs on the lead or even an electric collar have been advised by dog trainers worldwide. These ideas have been questioned by scientists recently who claim that dogs just need to follow good examples to learn.
Programs on dog training have been popular for many years. Ever since Barbara Wodehouse taught the nations dogs how to "Sit!", we have believed that choke collars and submission techniques were the best way to approach training. More recent programs such as Victoria Stilwell's, It's Me or the Dog and The Dog Whisperer with Cesar Millan, have continued this idea. Other programs include the BBC's Dog Borstal, where three trainers put the dog through a very "tough" regime.
They all focus on the idea that a dog is a pack animal and is looking for a leader to follow. They insist on leading the dog, eating before the dog and never allowing the dog to enter the house before you. Although they do not condone abuse of animals, they do believe in never allowing the dog to get the upper hand.
These training programs have been described by the Dogs Trust as useless and dangerous. The Trust had carried out research in conjunction with the University of Bristol and discovered that training involving the use of rewards was far more effective than the use of control and punishment.
Dr Rachel Caesy lead a team which spent 6 months studying dogs at the Dogs trust re-homing centre. They found that dogs could be cooperative and would model their behaviour on the behaviour of their owner. This means that being aggressive towards a dog may cause it to become more dangerous. Dr Casey stated that owners were often extremely upset to find out that their dogs were terrified of them, but could not blame the owners for following the techniques recommended to them on the television.
Victoria Stilwells spokesperson has spoken out against the use of dominance based techniques and says she believes in positive reinforcement. Cesar Millan's website also makes it very clear that he does not believe in animal abuse and simply in showing leadership.
Meanwhile, it seems that as a nation we still have an attitude towards dogs which insists on them being more human and learning skills which are not natural to them. If, as the research shows, a dog will want to copy behaviour, why must we insist on demeaning a dog and teaching it tricks in return for food? The most popular training videos on Youtube are almost exclusively those which show very young puppies being very cute. They run around in circles, roll over and sit on demand, but are they "happy" dogs? As happy as anyone who's happiness is solely reliant on the happiness of the one giving the orders in the relationship possibly.
We seem to love dogs to do as they are told and will use any technique to achieve this. But is this to the detriment of the natural behaviour of what is essentially just an animal? Maybe free-roaming farm dogs are the only true natured places for our canine friends.
Let's be honest, we all criticise the parent with the child running around Tesco throwing things off the shelf - but we always feel sorry for the pale looking child sat quietly, afraid to move without permission. Balance is hard to achieve, but everything in moderation is generally the best way.
Source: NCD News - http://tinyurl.com/ltbrt2