pawzaddict

Here we go

Lets discuss the different forms of popular "dominance behaviors".

Humping... when a dog humps another dog is that dominance? What about humping people?

Marking the house? I take this is as being territorial but is marking their territory not a form of dominance?

Dog being pushy, example, first one through the door.

A dog putting another dog in their place, I can't even think of an example because I know what resource guarding is now LOL

Criosphynx

I made a thread with som' links too.


from dictionary.com
how is peeing and humping controlling access to resources?

and why do dominance behaviors modify if the technique no longer works? Is the sitting dog equally dominant? Its still getting what it wants...just by being polite..not pushy.

Learning theory... the basis of the PR and aversive training....from wiki
dogs do what works. Nothing more, nothing less

pawzaddict

where is your thread? I looked for one and couldn't find it.

pawzaddict

so resource guarding is a form of dominance then? "this food is mine. this toy is mine. this space/bed/area is mine"?

Criosphynx

you could say the dog with the bone is dominant to the other dogs at that moment...but...lets say the other dog takes the bone...now that dog is dominant...once the bone is gone...no one is dominant....so you see its not hard rigid concept...different dogs are dominant at different moments and it changes daily and constantly..and if there is no resource, there is no dominance....but also..for example...lets say the dog has the bone...is guarding it...but the other dogs don't want it....in that case the dog is what?


as the human, we are always dominant since we control access to ALL the resources

but yes the only time you can use the term correctly is involving resources.

you can't say a dog is dominant as a personallity trait...because that like saying you are an "awake" or "hungry" person...you aren't always those things...and those things don't drive everything you do.

pawzaddict

so a dog who is always resource guarding food could be classified as a food dominant dog? Or this doesn't work either?

Criosphynx

who ever controls the access to the food is dominant...so the human is techinically always dominant.

If the dog has better access to the food than the other dogs for som' reason...then yes he is dominant at that moment to the other dog. But does the dog really control the situation? Can't you just take the food back?..can't you just feed the other dogs? See how silly this can get? LOL

Heres the thing tho...dominance and aggression don't mix...aggression is an EXPENSIVE behavior...if a dog controls resources with aggression, it will likely die (in the wild).

so technically any dog who is being aggressive over food is doing so because he knows there is a high probability that som'one is going to take it away from him...if he knows he is likely to lose his resource, does that mean hes really incharge of it? IS he still dominant? Told you this could get silly..lol

dominance isn't BAD...whatever animal in nature that can get and keep the resources survives.Thats why you always see me say that guarding is "normal" ...well, cause it is...is a leftover behavior from before domestication....labeling it dominant doesn't help...in fact, because of the baggage the word has...its hurts.....

Its us humans that made the term mean "bad" things.

I though of an example while driving home.

Your attention is a resource.

two dogs in a room.

dog 1 jumps on person...a common behavior described as "dominant" behavior...but you walk away and ignore the dog (human controlling the resource)

dog 2 wants attention, so he sits like you taught him and so you pay attention to him.(again, human controlling the resource)

which dog got access to the resource he wanted? The sitting dog is technically dominant over the jumping dog and the human dominant over both. See how people have mis used the term to only describe any and all "bad" behavior?

another example...Chili will whine and do tricks (seriously) at the other dogs if they have som'thing he wants...som'times it works ans they give it to him... dogs will do apeasing gestures...licking, urination, belly up etc etc to get what they want.....you don't have to be rude or aggressive to be in control of resources thus even the most polite dog can still be dominant over the other dogs.


does that help? lol its a hard thing to explain