Dominance and submission, as it pertains to dog training, is a concept that dates back to the 40’s and seems to have really taken off in popular culture during the heyday of certain popular dog training shows on TV.
Somehow, this dominance and submission paradigm still holds sway over the minds of many people who are trying to understand and train their pets. And since the popularization of this paradigm, many pet owners think that any unwanted behavior that their pet engages in is some sort of attempt to “get one over on them”.
Now, I’m not saying that there’s no room whatsoever for the concept of dominance in dog training, but to stop analyzing the interplay of behavioral dynamics there, is to do a great injustice to our animal friends. As if there weren’t any other possible reasons contributing to our dog pulling on their leash during walks, or trying to protect their favorite bone, or whatever the case may be.
To say that an animal is dominant or submissive, or that they’re doing some certain behavior to assert dominance, is far too simplistic. To relegate the whole spectrum of feeling and emotion to dominance and submission, and to try to use that to explain the infinite variety of behavioral contingencies is irresponsible and short-sighted.
So If Not Dominance And Submission, Then What?
I can’t recall any training projects that I’ve participated in where I would ascribe the root of a problematic behavior to be caused by an animal trying to “assert their dominance” over their person. The amount of people who have reached out due to a misbehaving animal being “dominant” is staggering though.
In most cases, the answer has nothing to do with dominance and submission contingencies at all, but rather a failure (or refusal) of the people involved to recognize that certain aspects of their life (that they don’t want to address) may be feeding into their pet’s unwanted behaviors.
So maybe your dog is tearing up the house, barking in the yard, refusing to cooperate with you. If we ascribe all these behaviors to “dominance”, then we are left with a dog who just wants to rule over our home. What can be done about this, but to try to take them down a notch and show them who’s really boss?
Instead of jumping to such heavy-handed tactics though, have we considered that they’re just bored? Or that maybe we haven’t actually invested the necessary amount of time to train them to make the right choices? That they don’t even know what’s appropriate to chew or not yet? Maybe that they’re so overstimulated when they’re outside the house that they’re physically incapable of understanding us clearly? There are plenty of possibilities that go beyond dominance and submission.
Do scared dogs growl and nip at new people because they want to show them who’s boss? Or are we throwing them into situations that stress their nervous systems beyond what they can rationally manage?
Do young, energetic dogs jump and mouth at people because they’re dominant? Or is it because we haven’t taken the time to socialize them properly, give them more appropriate outlets for their energy, and teach them to respect boundaries and social cues?
None of this is to say that the alternative paradigms of understanding are easy. In fact, they’re much more nuanced and demand more investment of focused attention to get right. But that’s how life is. Nuanced, diverse, multifaceted, and ever changing.
Dominance and submission is the “right” mindset only if you would rather force your pet into your lifestyle-mold, regardless of the damage it may do to them, instead of examining all of the other possible aspects of your life that might require some change, compromise, and hard work to rectify.
Leading The Pack
There are different ways to be a leader. Sure, you could dominate and bully your way to “the top”, but your place as the “alpha” will probably always be tenuous. Relationships can be maintained with bullying and coercion, but whatever perceived control you have there can easily be lost if the receiver of your dominance tactics decides to push back.
Try to alpha roll a truly unbalanced animal and see what happens. Even in this scenario, that animal’s response would probably more likely be attributed to a fight-or-flight survival instinct, rather than some notion of trying to retain their dominance over you.
What social groups need is communication, cooperation, and multi-directional understanding, not one-dimensional dominance and submission mindsets. Behaviors and habits are built and maintained by complex systems of interlocking contingencies that deserve more consideration than any strictly dominance and submission approach can encompass.
Dominance and submission hierarchies, by definition, always have to have someone coming out on top and someone coming out on the bottom. Is that how we want to view our relationships with others?
Instead, why don’t we attempt to have everyone come out on equal footing?
This isn’t to say that we will all be “the same”. Obviously, we’re living in a human-centric world currently, and adjustments need to be made to teach our pets how best to thrive in that world. But that certainly doesn’t mean that we need to restrict ourselves to this unhealthy cycle of dominance and submission.
There are many possible avenues to traverse, and everyone will find different ways to get through things, to the best of their abilities. This includes our animal friends, and all other living beings too.
So why don’t we try expanding our horizons beyond the narrow confines of dominance and submission hierarchies, and start understanding our inter- (and intra-) species relationships on a more holistic and thoughtful level.
