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Originally Posted by Erin  I highly doubt that Victoria Stillwell said anything about "dominance" Leadership yes, not dominance.
I record them on my DVR so I'll have to watch that one. Usually her solutions are drastic and temporary, until the dog learns what is expected of it. Typically she is dealing with dogs who have been allowed to run the show and need to learn otherwise. We learned something similar in training classes called NILIF - Nothing in Life is Free AKA No Free Lunch. In other words, you ask the dog to sit, come, down before you pet him, feed him, go for a walk, etc. You ignore bad behavior (like barking for attention) and reward them for good behavior (responding once they are quiet). Eventually the dog learns the house rules and the routine and you can lighten up. Loki knows he sits while he gets his leash on and off, so we no longer have to do NILIF for that (no sit=no walk) because he just DOES what he is supposed to do or what I ask him to do.
Anyway, I like that show.  ETA: Walking in front of your dog doesn't show the dog anything, except that you are weird. Dogs can respect us as leaders and walk in front of us. That sounds like it came from Cesar... |
We learned this technique in a Pet Smart training class; and I am aware that this is one of the techniques that Cesar uses, however, when I mentioned this to the trainer she just rolled her eyes and said I could forget everything Cesar said because they had different methods.
I guess my point is that when one "expert" says something that goes against your inner feelings, it's not that important that you follow the rule, there are other ways to achieve the desired results, and there are lots of good experts out there who happen to have different advise. I would be cautious of anyone who acted like they were the last word in dog training. Take the advice that sounds best; try it and see if it works. I am a little puzzled as to why it looks "weird" to walk side by side or slightly ahead of your dog. Joey used to be a little puller, and I just love it when he "lets" me be dominant.