So this link turned up in the most recent bestiality thread at /r/askphilosophy: https://stopbestiality.wordpress.com/2011/03/25/negative-effects-of-bestiality-on-dogs/
Setting aside that
Dogs don’t really masturbate
is clearly wrong and that
The day we were moving in- I told him that the male dog (a very small dog) would be likely to bite him as he thinks he is dominant in this household
makes me doubt the nurture the author of that gave this dog.
Here I'm interested whether from your own experience you can confirm or refute the various consequences described in this article (e.g. "submissive" dogs being stressed out all the time or "dominant" dogs developing aggression problems).
I don't have much confidence in it, but let's try an empirical approach.
Never had any remote issues, my partner was sweet, loving and rediculously well behaved most of the time. Sometimes he got a little fresh when he shouldn't have, sticking his nose where it shouldn't go when people were around, but I swear he just did that for fun. I think he knew the rules and only toyed with the limits. But he was never dominant unless invited to be.
christ, try not to brigade too hard guys. Its a fine line between adding to the discussion and completely overruling it
and we're in no position to push boundaries what with the latest announcement. you do make some good arguments though.Dominance theory is for the most time crap in relation to dog handling. At least the way most people communicate and think about it. Nobody wants to either be the arse all the time and be 100% jittery what the dominant part is going to do next, or in reverse fight 100% of the time to assert your dominance.
Sure, there are some rules like who eats first and things like that - but think about it. If you brought your puppy up from a young age, can such a complicated thought product like "He eats first, therefore he is higher in the pecking order" be encoded in the genes? And if (surely) not, where would the dog get that concept from? It's learned behavior.
So basically what you make into the symbol is the symbol (think the seashell from lord of the flies). If you demonstrate you want the place on the sofa and for some reason that place is sooo desirable you demonstrate, but are to whimpy to keep that place against your dogs they'll mark that as a win. But what is the trouble in having them win once in a while? The human is in control of the food and everything anyway. The best way is not to turn everything into a fight in the first place. We have to get along so the pack works after all. Share the sofa!
Seriously, I find the whole approach wrong in terms of the paradigma. I just build a pack, teach them good manners and there we are. The dog is then my trusty companion, always there, protects my house, sometimes - yes - obeys my commands for necessity so not to be run over in traffic or so that we function together. In return I surmise the dog is super happy to have such a wise and smart leader, always quickly getting him to the dog park when he smartly cooperates and sits down tight in the car etc etc I can't even remember the time I had to 'fight' with a dog (any dog - admittedly sometimes it's: yeah, it's your house, I am a stranger. YOu keep barking at the fence, I keep walking by and away) for "dominance" with my cooperative approach.
Dominance theory for domestic dogs has been disproven multiple times, so...
That's what the quotes around "dominance theory" are for. :)
This has been down-voted because...?
I think Beijing hit the nail on the head for the most part. The only dogs I currently have issue controlling is my friend's little anklebiter and my other friend's abusive home rescue, neither of which I've done (or will do) anything sexual with.
Not many replies, but the replies are basically unanimously what I expected.
But where does that leave us? "Experts" continue to claim these things and people keep believing them, because, hey, they sound like experts. Maybe the easiest way to poke holes is to refer to the controversy around Cesar Milan's methods? After all, this "expert" fully endorses them: