Act Like a Mother Dog
What’s old is new again, or as I like to say, those pretending to have knowledge about dogs are regurgitating outdated and idiotic advice to pet-parents on how to raise and train their puppies or adult dogs.
As always, I will digress…David Mech, a biologist who researches wolves, wrote a book in 1970, most of which was based on information from a 1947 study of wolves in captivity! While Mech recently said that looking back, most of the information was wrong, it hasn’t stopped the use of terms like “alpha" and “dominance” by humans to describe groups or conflicts, which unfortunately are also used to rationalize having an adversarial relationship to maintain higher rank over the family dog who, as we all know, has a nefarious agenda!
I’m sure you’re wondering why I’m bringing up this nonsense, after all, we now know that current research tells us that when dogs evolved from wolves thousands of years ago, they stopped developing at the juvenile stage. Today’s dog is the equalivent of a human toddler; moreover, not only was the original wolf study faulty, but, news flash, dogs are NOT wolves!
Unfortunately, the science has fallen on deaf ears of a certain segment of the population, who love to revel in their ignorance. The tragedy is that the average pet-parent must rely on solid information to guide them, however, with the seemingly unlimited amount of information available through the Internet, they have no way to separate fact from fiction, so they hire a professional who echos familiar information that they’ve heard, much like urban legends!
When I asked a new client why they were using a prong collar on their dog, they explained that the collar mimics the mother dog’s mouth when she picks up her puppies. Or here’s another answer I heard from a client who was told to hold the dog’s muzzle closed, much like a mother dog when she is correcting her puppy’s “bad” behavior. But my favorite is this gem from a client who had worked with one of those franchise dog training companies, and was told to growl in her dog’s face anytime the dog did something inappropriate. The rationale, yes you guessed it, is because the mother dog growls in her puppies’ faces when she wants to teach them a lesson!
So I guess the take home message is to be like the mother dog and you will have a well trained dog. Or perhaps you won’t have a face left, but that’s a story for another time.
Meanwhile, as these imbeciles are out there dispensing, moronic and frankly dangerous information to anyone who will listen, I will leave you with this…
The term “alpha” actually means the mother and father who are higher ranking (dominant) over their offsprings as they are the caretakers, and the term “pack” is the family unit. So by all means be the “alpha” by taking good care of your puppy or adult dog who is part of the family.
And remember, while the mother dog may growl at her puppies, she also cleans her puppies by licking them! Are you prepared to do that along with carrying them in your mouth too?
HAPPY TRAINING & ENRICHMENT
© Fran Berry CPDT-KA, UW-AAB all rights reserved 2023
