Okay so, these are some of the techniques that I read to show you dog your the leader and not them:
*Walking through the door first and make them come after you.
I've had dogs, lots of dogs for over 50 years now. And I've never thought a thing about who goes out the door first. And I've never had a dog boss me around. lol. Dogs are evolved... designed to live with humans and they have no thought in their head about this stuff
some humans have made up. That's all it is, a bunch of imaginary things to do for some imaginary hierarchy thing they imagine dogs are so into. There is no evidence whatsoever that dogs live like that or think we are other dogs.
*Eat your meal first, make sure they watch you eat, and then feed them.
I feed my dogs at 8:00 am and 4:30 pm. I don't eat at those times usually. I have never paid any attention to that. They watch me eat lots of times. They may have already eaten or not. They still wish they could have some. And sometimes they get some hand-outs as long as they're not pestering me.
*Do not walk around your dog when he/she is lying down. Instead, step over your dog or gently move him out of the way.
My little dogs wouldn't feel comfortable with me stepping over them. They're naturally nervous about getting stepped on. I most definitely go around them or they move themselves. With my larger dogs I've had, I wouldn't dream of asking them to move when they're all comfortably lying down. I see no point in stepping over them. That might tend to make them nervous, so I would go around them if possible. I've had GSDs, Doberman, other larger breeds and never have I had behavior problems or dogs that were trying to rule the roost.
*Do not let your dog walk ahead of you when you have him/her on the leash.
Again, nothing to do with alpha schmalfa. For me, with larger dogs, I prefer them to not go too far out ahead, but a little bit if the walk is for them so they sniff and check things out. Sometimes, it can cause them to pull because they don't think they need to pay any attention. But it's all about training, not that the dog thinks he's the boss. With my Chihuahuas, I prefer them to be a little ahead so I can see them and not yank them if they stop to check something out if they're behind me. Or they can walk along side me too. It really makes no difference to their sense of having leadership. Like someone mentioned, sled dogs, search and rescue dogs, tracking and other kinds of dogs are suppose to be ahead. Do you think those dogs are all taking over their households? If someone wants their dog to not go ahead, it's all about reinforcing behavior you want and that's what makes them do something a certain way. Nothing more.
*When you leave the house or the room, even for a minute, ignore the dog for a few minutes upon your return.
I always greet my dogs, but calmly and mildly. I don't want them getting overly excited. But it's also very unnatural for me to completely ignore them. Who meets others with no acknowledgement? Again, dogs and humans are designed to live together and understand lots of social signals from each other. I know dogs aren't misinterpreting my greeting as the notion that they're "top dog." That's just out there.
*If you establish eye contact with the dog, the dog must avert his gaze first. If the human averts first this reinforces the dog’s higher power position. Tell the children not to have staring contests with the dog, as if they avert or blink first, it will only reinforce, in the dog’s mind, that he is Top Dog.
I work on getting eye contact from my dogs and increasing duration for as long as I want it. I'm usually the one to reward with a tasty treat and then do something else. If my dog averts his glance first, it means I need to work on duration more. lol. Yeah, I guess he's top dog when he learns his lessons well. Top dog in my book anyhow. LOL.
*Games of fetch or play with toys must be started and ended by the human.
That is again personal preference. I don't mind a friend calling me and asking me to go play. And seeing as how my dogs are my pals, I don't mind when Jose` brings me his ball and dumps it at my feet and does his growly-talkie thing. I usually am game to play a game. If I'm busy, I don't and he goes off and does something else. Sometimes he gets tired and quits after several throws and sometimes I need to do something else so I end up stopping the game. There's no conscious thought in my head about it. And again, my dogs are well behaved and lovely little joys to live with.
*You are the one who greets newcomers first, the dog is the last to get attention (the pack leader is the one who greets newcomers and lets the rest know when it is safe to greet the newcomer).
My dogs haven't been trained too well to wait to greet people. But if I cared, I could teach them to stay back and wait. It's just not something that bothers me too much. But it has nothing to do with who's the pack leader and everything to do with learning behavior. Dogs aren't pack animals anyhow. So, it's irrelevant.
These are not all of the techniques, but I wanted to know what you guys thought of them. Have you tried any of these before and do they work??
I think if and when they "work" as in creating nice manners that you want to instill in your dog, they work on account of operant and classical conditioning....learning behavior and not on account of these invented, silly reasons that people are still relentlessly clinging to for some reason. In other words, if you walk with your dog along side you and not in front of you and it's consistent that they never walk ahead of you.... and they get the
reward of getting to go for the much loved walk, then they learn to stay along side you. It's not because they are aware of any rank or status in your family.
With some of those, like eating first...I have no idea what that's suppose to teach.
I don't have the feeling that my dogs are "under" me. I feel like we're partners. They are taught manners, behaviors and things that I like by gentle methods which are scientifically proven and not by means of ambiguous, abstract and weak foundations, such as pack theory. Some of those alpha/pack theory people teach by intimidation and other harsh methods, such as Cesar Milan. I'd stay clear of those kinds of methods which are springing from the idea that dogs need to be dominated.
This gal has some great videos.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6cdcyrOMehg