4 ms·

Dominance theory and the alpha pack stuff is very outdated. It sounds like you had a great relationship with your dog though. Giving them a job (warning), redir

• spdustin 8y ago
  It may be so—as I suggested. :) FWIW (anecdata warning) two of my friends have since owned dogs, training them using the same concepts. Perhaps it's a combination of breed (some breeds may retain more of their evolutionary pack awareness than others) and the specific sorts of training exercises (e.g. make them sit and wait when a door is opened, allowing the humans to go first and then say "okay" when the dog can go through), but their dogs are always held up as exemplars of "good dogs" when the topic comes up. No anxiety, no destructive chewing, no excessive barking, o impatience, no bolting… Every lesson and interaction was predicated on the dog's position in the hierarchy of the human family ("pack"), and the only "tool" used outside of verbal and hand commands was a tasty treat (no clickers, no shock collars, no halters, no spray bottles, no physical discipline, etc.) Crates were used, but never as a form discipline or "convenience holding". That was their safe place to sleep and eat, and that's it. I guess what I'm saying is: if the theory is outdated, a lot of the concepts that informed the training regimen that I learned back are effective today. "They're good dogs, Brent."