Giving Dogs Choices
By Stephanie Peters
Many of the parents who invite me into their homes are swimming in a sea of misinformation, just trying to stay above water. They may have been told, or read on the internet, erroneously of course, that when their dog mouths or jumps on or steals food from their children, he is trying to “dominate” them. They may even have been told, again erroneously, that the dog must view children as superiors, not subordinates, and that the parents have caused the disruption in the hierarchy by not being a strong enough “pack leader.” Says Miller (2018): “…[T]he very presumption that our dogs would even consider we humans to be members of their canine pack is simply ludicrous. They know how impossibly inept we are, for the most part, at reading, understanding and responding appropriately to the subtleties of canine body language. We are equally inept, if not even more so, at trying to mimic those subtleties. Read article