Actually, I may be the first one to discredit the “old wolf pack theory.” Rather I am into the canine “group theory” and the first to posit the distinction between pack and group, and that there’s no such thing as Alpha-Leader-hood. In 1991 David Mech wrote in “The Way of the Wolf” p. 36: “Perhaps with more close-up wolf watching under various circumstances, we eventually will be able to say for sure whether the pack leader is the (alpha) male or the (alpha) female, or whether leadership is by both.” (Apparently the wolf and dog experts are still searching for that missing formula.) Meanwhile “Natural Dog Training” published in 1992 stated: “All relationships—between the group and its prey, among group members, and between mother and puppies—can be explained in terms of the prey instinct. The rule being: If an individual is in possession of a prey object such as a bone, or in control of his own body, even if he is the most inferior—OR THE PREY—he controls whoever is attracted to that “preyful aspect.” (p.61, Chapter 4: “The Harmonic Pathways of Learning”)
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An Interview with Kevin Behan
Every new client asks me what I think about Cesar Millan the “Dog Whisperer.” They want to know where I might agree and where I don’t. So we had the idea that I would answer questions that were posed to Cesar in an interview he conducted and then one could draw their own distinctions.
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Set Your Moose Loose: I am not a moose, my dog is not a wolf and he doesn’t think I am a moose
True, a person is not a moose and a dog can never come to THINK of a person as a moose. However a dog doesn’t think its owner is a person either. In fact, a wolf doesn’t think a moose is a moose, or a wolf is a wolf, and neither does an animal ever [...]
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Why doesn’t a theory of domestication matter to natural dog training?
While I’m happy to offer one, why doesn’t a theory of domestication matter to Natural Dog Training?
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Why do dogs roll over in “submission?”
To expose themselves, their underside in general, their genitalia in particular.
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Born Wild, Trained to be Free
“I don’t want to kill my dog,” the man said. He was near tears. He stood in my office telling me that this should be the happiest time in his life. His newborn son had just come home from the hospital, but his dog was aggressive toward strangers and even worse, with children, and now [...]
Click to purchase the Natural Dog Training Book!
Natural Dog Training is about how dogs see the world and what this means in regards to training. The first part of this book presents a new theory for the social behavior of canines, featuring the drive to hunt, not the pack instincts, as seminal to canine behavior. The second part reinterprets how dogs actually learn. The third section presents exercises and handling techniques to put this theory into practice with a puppy. The final section sets forth a training program with a special emphasis on coming when called.Tags: alpha, control, david mech, dominance, harmonic pathways of learning, leadership, old wolf pack theory, pack theory, prey object, preyful aspect, submission, the way of the wolf
