Is dominance in dogs just a few simple positions and postures … or is it something that goes deeper, something that is not visible to the human eye? For many years we have heard of training techniques that involve the owner acting like a dominant dog. This implies that the person does things like eat first, walk with your dog next to you or behind you, instead of pulling in front of you, not letting him sleep in high positions in the house such as the bed or the sofa, etc.
Although these techniques can help build rapport with your dog, especially when used by novice owners, they don’t always work. From my experiences not only with dog training but with observing my own dogs, I have seen inconsistencies in this theory. I have found that in many cases, all these so-called dominant positions mean nothing and, more importantly, they don’t work all the time.
For example, my 4 year old Belgian Malinois is a fairly dominant female and for the last 3.5 years she has only been submissive to an older female hog hunter in my yard. Any other woman I bring into my garden, no matter what dominant positions they take. Not how big they are, he will want to dominate them and if he allowed it he would fly towards them and attack them without hesitation. The same is true if I keep these females in my garden for many years, there will always be a struggle for dominance between her and the other female. This is regardless of the dominant behavior the featured female attempts.
About 6 months ago something interesting happened in my garden. This Malinois was put under an 18 month old female Bulldog that I raised in my garden. This Malinois has dominated the female Bulldog all her life. Now this female Bulldog strikes the same dominant pose that all the other females have attempted. But … for some reason it worked for her and the female Malinois submitted …
Another case I can think of is when a friend of mine came from Sydney to visit us. I had my dog training class and in the end I needed one of my new clients to fill out some forms. This husband and wife client had a 12-month-old German Shepherd over which they had absolutely no control. Upon completing the forms, the husband, a large guy, handed over control of the dog to his wife, who is a much smaller person. I asked my friend who has had dogs for many years to help her if she had problems with the dog.
It was only a minute before this dog started jumping on the lady. My friend correctly instructed the lady to check the dog on the leash. She did it correctly but the dog kept jumping on her. Seeing this, my friend took control of the leash and checked the dog. To her astonishment and hers, this crazy, out-of-control woman fell to the ground and looked at my friend intently. She had submitted with the exact same method that did not work for the lady …
When making house calls for people with problem dogs. Too often people have commented on how calm and well behaved their dog is around me. I hear things like, “I can’t believe it, he usually throws himself at whoever walks through the door.” Or it’s not doing it now for some reason. “How can this be if all I’ve done is walk into your house or yard?
I think there is something that dogs can see or feel that makes them submit to another animal or obey a human. And all these so-called dominant positions are secondary to this “VIBE” that someone or some dog emits. Why else would my Malinois female submit to a younger female who has been doing dominant positions her entire life and never submitted to other females who would do the exact same thing? Why did the shepherdess submit to my friend and not her owner when she used exactly the same technique as the owner? Why do runaway dogs act differently when I enter the house?
Relating this “VIBE” to dog training, I think “VIBE” can also be called “respect”. A dog won’t listen to you if he doesn’t respect you. Now to make it clear. I believe that not letting your dog sleep in your bed will create a degree of respect. And feeding your dog the right way will lead to your dog respecting you. Having your dog walk beside you rather than in front will also increase the respect your dog has for you. So all these things will go to the respective bank account and affect the relationship you have with your dog. But what I also want to clarify is that if your dog has the greatest respect for you, or you have the “VIBE”, you can let your dog drag you on the leash, or feed it however you want, or let it sleep in bed and it will remain obedient to you. Because, as I said at the beginning, all these dominant positions / techniques are only secondary to the “VIBE” that emits.