Last week I wrote about that ever-so-controversial word, "dominance," and how it might or might not relate to dog behavior and dog training. To refresh: In animal behavior, dominance refers only to "priority access to a limited resource," has little to do with controlling the actions of another in any other context, is highly dependent on context and the distribution of resources and is maintained by species-specific displays that act to avoid conflict rather than create it. In decades past, it was assumed that classic dominance hierarchies existed in domestic dogs. After all, drop a pork chop between two hungry dogs and in short order, one of them is going to get it more often than not. Dogs greet one other in classic "dominance/submission" displays of ears up/tail up versus ears Read More
The Concept Formerly Described as “Dominance”
Ah, here I go into the fray. Picture my loins girded. In some ways I'd love to avoid this topic altogether, because as most of you know, conversations about "the D word" can sometimes turn into arguments that make the American health care debate seem like a day at the spa. (I was going to say "like a tea party," but then . . . ) But I think the issue is important, and deserves consideration. So EEEEE HAH! here we go. This post will only be a beginning, because the topic of "dominance" and social relationships is actually a big one, and I'd like to facilitate a thoughtful, meaningful discussion about it in dogs. As you all know, some people think that just about all of our problems with dogs relate to "dominance" and advise owners to "be the alpha dog." At the other end of the spectrum, Read More
Training Schedules
I'm reading a fascinating book, one that I recommend with five stars for anyone interested in the brain and behavior. It's titled The Brain That Changes Itself, and is written, beautifully, by Norman Doidge, M.D. The book's primary focus is on the plasticity of the brain, and how, in contrast to what was formerly believed, the brain is continually changing in response to the environment. He relates stories of stroke victims, for example, who are able to regain the use of limbs rendered nonfunctional because the motor area of the brain that controls them was destroyed. Previously it was believed that the brain can not regenerate and once an area is damaged there is very little that can be done to restore functionality. However, that turns out to be a complete misunderstanding of how the Read More
Interactive Toys
A generous friend just sent me one of Nina Ottoson's interactive dog toys, and Will and I have been having a great time playing with them. Well, he plays, I watch. And, I think he is having a great time. And that's the question for the day. Is he really? Do dogs enjoy these toys as much as we like watching them? I thought of this the second or third time that Willie worked with the toy (Dog Fighter--an unfortunate name in this country, but probably not relevant in Sweden.). He had learned that there was food under the wooden knobs, but hadn't yet figured it out how to get to it quickly. After pawing unsuccessfully, which only pushed the knob in the opposite direction of what would release the food, he tried to chew on the knob. As suggested in the instructions, I quietly moved my hand Read More
The Secret Life of Dogs
There is a great BBC special on dogs on YouTube, (sent to me by an alert reader, thank you!). I spend so much time in front of my computer that I rarely want to watch an hour long show on it . . but this time I sat down and didn't move for 60 minutes. It's called The Secret Life of Dogs, and it's great. Hands (and paws) down, great. It has sections on Miklosi's work on dog barks (people are very good at discriminating between barks given in 6 different contexts), Juliane Kaminksi's work on the ability of dogs to follow a pointing gesture (which chimps and wolves do not seem able to do), Belyaev's & Trut's work on selection for docility in foxes (resulting in a profound number of physical as well as behavioral changes which basically result in domesticated foxes in 20 generations), and Read More