Dogs: Sometimes the media gets it right.
I don’t know about you, but I often find myself disgusted with the media today. Whether it be radio, TV or print, it seems like the “non-news” is leading the real news. Snookie? Don’t know and don’t care. Who’s Jennifer Aniston dating now? I can’t keep track and don’t want to either. I have no idea what the Housewives of NY is about – other than women being catty and screaming at one another. I choose not to watch it for fear my brain will rot.
Another one of my pet peeves is the way the media latches onto pitbulls as the “evil” breed or the “killer” breed. If there is a pitbull in a story, and it involves death or injury, then it leads. God forbid they do a positive story on the breed once in a while. Just check out this information and some of the data it provides to better understand how the media plays to stereotypes – whether they be human or animal. (Here’s a great blog post on the topic as well.)
I guess that’s why I was surprised to read a story (in a major news publication) that finally got it right. It’s all about the debate between “Dog Training and the Myth of Alpha-Male Dominance”, AND this reporter did her research. I’ll let you read the full story without giving it all away, but let me just say Kudos to Jennifer Lee-St John for actually digging deeper to find out the truth about the fallacy of the “Alpha-dog/dominance theory” but also for actually being willing to educate people on the dangers of using certain “dominating” type of behaviors with your dog.
This type of story (and ace reporting) was long overdue. Thank you Jennifer for being the one to do it.
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No Dog About It Blog 
Mel,
Great blog post. The madness needs to stop with fallacies in dog behavior, and armchair dog trainers, too. Jeninne’s article caught my attention yesterday and is long overdue. Keep up the good work, Mel!
Lorrie
Agreed Lorrie! I hope that more people spread the article around to their friends. I think it will be helpful. Thanks for the kudos on the blog post, but I give all the credit to the reporter, Jennifer.
Have not read the article, but have seen dominant male behavior in pack of 9 domestic dogs … belong to our trainer, as a matter of fact!
I don’t doubt it Rod. Dominant behavior does occur amongst dogs. In a household you may find that one dog is more dominant in one situation and less dominant in another.
The idea that we have to dominate our dogs, in essence be the alpha dog, is what is often promoted without real science to back it up. As luck would have it. I received Con Slobodchikoff’s blog post today from The Dog Behavior Blog. He talks about a study of a dog pack without human interaction. A very interesting read.