Category: Common Problems ¤
  Author: Gail Fisher ¤
   Title: How Useful is Pack Theory? ¤

I must say that I agree with Elizabeth Kershaw (and others) who maintain
that pack behavior is interesting in theory, but not always useful in
practice.  As someone who instructs others to train their dogs, one
problem with the dominance theory of leadership is that it dooms those
dog owners who are unable or unwilling to "dominate" their dogs to have
out-of-control dogs that are unresponsive to them.  With our "former"
approach to training, we had heavy reliance on this approach -- we could
tell those dog owners who had not done the 30-minute Long Down, which
was the first step in establishing dominance over the dog.  But we
occasionally found ourselves unable to help a dog owner who couldn't do
a LD (and even occasionally had dog owners get bitten by their own dogs
because of prior reinforcement history).  Why couldn't they do a LD?
Because they already had a problem with the dominance relationship and
reinforcement history.  The beauty of operant training is that it
eliminates the need to worry about all this stuff.  Whether you call it
"fooling" the dog, or simply prefer to think of it as what it is --
using the principles of OC to get the dog to offer the behavior you want
-- who cares?!  Does this mean that we aren't our dogs leaders?  Of
course not.  But leadership isn't about who eats first, or who goes
through doorways first, or who sleeps where.  Leadership is about being
the human pack member who can make decisions.  Leadership is about using
common sense in training, and teaching the dog that when I say "come" ,
you come.  Leadership is about I train you and you do what I have
trained you to do.

One of the problems with pack theories is that they are based on many
flaws -- not the least of which is that dogs are dogs, not wolves.  But
even within the theories about pack behavior, there are so many mistaken
beliefs and misconceptions.  Yet these become the gospel -- and our
relationships with our dogs is often built on (one might even say *ruled
by* in some cases) flawed theories.  I'm always tickled to see how some
of the more vocal "pack theory behaviorists" change their theories
almost yearly.  Why?  Because they find that they don't work!

The truth is that if you follow the science of operant learning, not
only will the dog's training be easier, faster, and more fun, it will
not be muddled with out-moded, flawed pack hierarchical theories.
As Elizabeth put it so beautifully:
>>To me the whole point about clicker training is that you need to
change your whole philosophy regarding dog behaviour and training to
make full useof its potential. Once you  have done so and once you have
stopped looking at dogs as adversaries who require confrontation,
everything starts to fall into place and the concept of the dog training
the owner to click becomes less of a threat and more a matter for humour
and congratulation. <<

Gail

Gail Fisher
The All Dogs Gym (tm)
Manchester, NH  03103
gail@alldogsgym.com
(603) 669-4644