SOME DOG MYTHS ARE NONSENSE!

**Dominate your dog and he'll respect you.** Frankly, this is a dangerous way to think. People too often equate dominance with physical intimidation (i.e. physical punishments like hitting or whipping) of a dog. It Is unnecessary to dominate a dog to earn its respect. Dominance generates fear not respect.  Physical intimidation damages the relationship between you and your dog and can make a situation worse as a dog in fear of being hurt, cornered or injured may bite in self-defense to protect itself. Respect is earned by the use of fair, consistent treatment and training, which create a "bond" between you and your dog. Good training techniques employ consistency, fairness, and timing. Animal behaviorists have learned using aggression to address an aggression problem may actually make the aggression worse.

** Dogs view eating order as an indicator of pack status. Feed your dog last, after you eat, to establish your leadership.** Although there may be some truth to it because dominant animals eat when they want to eat, it is not necessarily true that dominant animals always eat first or that the eating order has any relationship to pack order. When a pack has sufficient food (which is usually the case in a human household), puppies and adolescents may eat first and adult dogs may regurgitate food and standing patiently by while puppies eat.

** Pack leadership, once established, is forever.** Pack leadership is flexible, it has to be for the pack to survive. In the wild, pack leaders get old, sick, injured or die and the pack leader is frequently even attacked, driven away, or killed. A younger, stronger pack leader then takes control of the pack, the canine version of, "The King is dead. Long live the King."

Probably the most serious problem with the dominance approach is that the pack leader must be present to control the pack. Behavior in the presence of the pack leader is different than behavior when the pack leader is not present. You may have heard some dog owners say their dog is well-behaved when the man of the house is home but totally out of control when the woman of the house or children are there alone. A well-trained dog behaves regardless of who is or is not home.

** Behave like a dog and your dog will respect you.** Dogs never think of us as dogs. While we can communicate with dogs through body language, facial expression, and vocalizations, they know we are not dogs. It is potentially dangerous to act like a dog, as our dogs may react in kind. For instance, an infant crawls up to a dog that is eating, the child is playing and growling and "talking dog". The dog thinks of the child as a potential thief and reacts. How? If you are lucky, with a only a warning snarl and growl, but potentially with a disciplinary "put down" or "roll" involving teeth and biting. What is not dangerous for another dog could result in serious injury to you or a child.

It is interesting to learn about our dog's behaviors; however, we have to be cautious in applying what we have learned about those behaviors to the human/dog relationship. Although understanding dog behavior can be useful in creating a more positive relationship with our dogs, and solving problem behaviors when they do arise, learning how to use that knowledge appropriately and correctly is necessary.

People who would never even consider letting their children grow up without guidelines and unsupervised, often believe that they should let their dogs "act naturally." "Natural" for dogs involves fighting and dominating lesser members of the pack (maybe your children or you), having a "scapegoat" in the pack (again maybe your children or you), and running wild and playing behaviors (i.e. chewing, digging, nipping, growling, barking and maybe howling), does this sound like a dog you want to LIVE WITH? Probably not. Set guidelines, obedience train, and start early, it will increase the probably that your human/dog relationship will be a good one. If you have problems, seek professional help as soon you realize a problem exists. The sooner a problem is addressed the easier it is to correct. DO NOT WAIT TO SEEK ASSISTANCE as the longer a problem is allowed to continue the more difficult it becomes to resolve. Seek assistance from someone qualified to help.

Call Responsible Animal Owners of Tennessee @ (901) 432-7268 for both behavioral counseling and referrals to behavioral specialists and trainers qualified to help you.