Fighting Dominance in a Dog Whispering World, by Jean Donaldson & Dr Ian Dunbar

By Pat Miller
This set—with its intriguing title, tagline (“Because the real world doesn’t have a cutting room floor”) and high-profile lecturers—promises a captivating and educational experience.

Jean Donaldson, director of the SF SPCA Trainer Academy and author of several dog training and behavior books, speaks on Disc One. As one of Donaldson’s longtime fans, I’m delighted to see that she is as engaging and thought-provoking as ever. I had as many “Yes!” moments with this DVD as I did when first reading her seminal book, The Culture Clash. While her primary “Don’t burn out!” message is aimed at positive trainers, the wealth of well-researched and well-documented information about canine social hierarchy and behavior should be of interest to any dog owner seeking clarity on the dominance issue.

Among the interesting points she makes is that conventional wisdom about dog “dominance behavior” is flawed in its loose extrapolation from captive wolf studies, which are not particularly relevant to either domestic dogs or wild wolves. Also, the human affinity for linear hierarchies (for example, the structure of the military) may explain why some people easily accept the misapplication of these studies to canine social groups.

There is little agreement among professionals about dog social organization, and Donaldson suggests that it’s a waste of precious positive-trainer energy

to argue with trainers who are stuck in the dominance model. After 20-plus years of evidence supporting the effectiveness of positive reinforcement-based training, those destined to cross over have already done so. (“Crossing over” refers to trainers who once used coercion-based methods and have now switched to reward-based training.)

Dr. Ian Dunbar, founder of the Association of Pet Dog Trainers, key proponent of lure-reward puppy training and author of several dog-training books, is the presenter on Disc Two. Dunbar, an eternal optimist, feels that there’s still hope for the unconverted. He is, in fact, as critical of ineffective reward-based trainers as he is of ineffective “balanced” trainers (those who choose to use tools and methods from the coercion end of the training continuum as well as more positive methods).

Whereas Donaldson dismisses much of the conventional wisdom about pack hierarchies as it is applied to domestic dogs, Dunbar supports a fairly fixed concept of canine social hierarchy, offering insights from his own research conducted prior to the start of his involvement with hands-on pet dog training in the late 1980’s. Where Donaldson advocates “avoidance” when it comes to dealing with trainers and owners who are committed to using force and intimidation in training. Dunbar suggests that there is still much to be gained from a civil dialogue between trainers of diverse philosophies.

His recommended approach to dealing with owners who offer inaccurate or inappropriate comments about their dogs’ behavior is to not make a big deal of it, and then to proceed with appropriate reward-based training. If a trainer is too direct with a client and that client goes to someone who uses force, says Dunbar, the original trainer is responsible for any ultimate training failure, which can result in euthanasia for the unfortunate canine.

Donaldson’s perspective on encouraging trainers to quit butting heads with dominance-theory trainers while continuing to promote accurate information to receptive clients may speak to you. Or you may prefer Dunbar’s approach to letting go of some of the concerns about dominance in the trainer-owner relationship while continuing to pursue it through trainer-to-trainer discussions. You may even be a dominance-theory advocate yourself. Regardless of which of these descriptions apply to you, you’ll find plenty of thought-provoking material in this informative DVD package.