Canine Nation

Now, after years of scruff shaking and “alpha rolling” our dogs unnecessarily, we have learned the truth. “Alpha Dominance” is one of the most persistent lies in all of what we know about dogs.

Alpha Dominance is one of the most persistent lies in all of what we know about dogs. It’s amazing to me how a culture like ours, so rooted in science and technology, can hang on relentlessly to myths and half-truths but no basis at all in fact. With all the talk of “pack leadership” and […]

From March 5, 2010 - Audio edition of the article The Myth of Alpha Dogs from the Life As A Human online magazine website. You can visit Canine Nation to find this and other articles. Alpha Dominance is one of the most persistent lies in all of what we know about dogs. It’s amazing to me how a culture like ours, so rooted in science and technology, can hang on relentlessly to myths and half-truths but no basis at all in fact. With all the talk of “pack leadership” and “calm assertive energy” these days, I would suggest that we need to look at the facts about the social dynamics of dogs and treat them as they really are: members of our households who are very much our dependents. NOTE: Text articles at Life As A Human include embedded links and videos that provide additional information. Some links from this article are listed below: Jean Donaldson's article "Are Dogs Pack Animals? "Lots of great links included here. Wolf researcher David Mech's article “What Ever Happened to the Term Alpha Wolf?” offers some great insight into the wolf research of the past 40 years and how wolves live in the wild. This week's recommendation is the website of animal trainer and certified animal behaviourist Kathy Sdao.Kathy's site has lots of great articles and references for both dog owners and dog trainers. Look around and enjoy everything there is to offer. You will even find recipes for dog treats!  

There are at least three good reasons why your dog doesn’t respond the way you hope he will. Eric Brad explores the relationship between humans and dogs, and offers advice on how to improve the lines of communication between you and your dog.

What do you do when everything you thought you knew about dogs and how to train them fails? Confrontation after confrontation with our dog Vince pushed us closer and closer to what might have been a devastating end to our relationship with this special dog. Everything we had learned about dog training to that point […]

From February 3, 2010 - Audio edition of the article What If We Could Communicate With Dogs? from the Life As A Human online magazine website. You can visit Canine Nation to find this and other articles. What do you do when everything you thought you knew about dogs and how to train them fails? Confrontation after confrontation with our dog Vince pushed us closer and closer to what might have been a devastating end to our relationship with this special dog. Everything we had learned about dog training to that point told us that we had to "show him who's boss" and be the "Alpha" leader of the household. Vince met our aggression at each new level. It was when we couldn't push this escalation any further that we made some discoveries that would change the way we lived and worked with our dogs forever. What if we could communicate with dogs? It turns out that we can! And it's more amazing and more fun that we could ever have dreamed. NOTE: Text articles at Life As A Human include embedded links and videos that provide additional information. Some links from this article are listed below: Check out Karen Pryor's terrific site on clicker training! Great articles as well as videos, clickers and other items to help you train. Patricia McConnell's wonderful Blog site. Be sure to check out her main site and other links here! This week's recommendation is the book referenced in this article, Culture Clash by Jean Donaldson You can also find this book at more of the larger book store chains in the US and Canada as well as from Amazon! Every dog owner should own this book. It is also available in eBook form now too!  

It was early evening in the spring of 2002 when I found myself 10 feet across the kitchen from a dog with bared teeth and lowered head. He was growling in a low, menacing rumble. As I looked into his fixed, steely eyes, I could hardly believe this was the dog we had raised from […]