To my friends and acquaintances wondering if, as a dog lover, I am going to see Cesar Milan. The answer is no.
I have been a positive trainer since the 1980s when I was fortunate to work with one of the grand dames of positive training, Patricia McConnell. She, like respected trainers Ian Dunbar and Jean Donaldson, have long advocated positive training, which encourage the dog to want to learn while still liking you. The American Veterinary Society of Animal Behavior supports positive training as creating a better human-dog bond and other research points to the fact that more dogs in shelters with problem behaviours were trained using the "dominance" methods promoted by Milan.
Dogs have the intellectual abilities of a five-year old human child, and more research indicates that their emotional development is much like humans (generating similar chemicals and brain waves when happy, fearful, angry, relaxed, grieving, etc.)so why would I do to my dog what I wouldn't do to a five year old child? If I treated my friend's five-year-old the way dominance trainers treat dogs, I'd be in jail for child abuse.
Positive training takes a little bit more work than just bullying a dog, but so does positive child rearing. Do dominance based methods work? Well, the dog may "behave", so do emotionally abused five-year-olds. Do I have perfect dogs after all the positive training? Well, I am not really perfect in spite of all my degrees, so I can't really expect it of my colleagues, my friends, my family or my dogs either. But my SPCA German Shepherd just earned his Masters in Obedience (after his BA with Honours) and will be going for his PhD next (this is an obedience system promoted by the Association of Pet Dog Trainers, specializing in certifying positive trainers).
You don't have to take my word. Watch the Dog Whisperer on TV with the sound off and watch the dogs. They don't look happy, in fact most look terrified. My dogs like my positive Prince George trainer. And they love me.
Annie Booth
Prince George
