Dogs are looking to be as comfortable as possible, not to constantly compete. This also makes sense if you think about it, and it is evidenced in behavioral science. To top it off, you’re making his insecurities even worse. So instead of showing him that you are a calm, trustworthy leader, you are demonstrating very effectively through aggression that you are a threat, and you’re doing so in much the same way a highly insecure dog would. So what then are you telling your dog by being a bully? That you’re insecure. Do you think that playground bully who always kept picking on you back in grade school felt very secure about himself? It’s often those who bully most who are the most insecure, something behavioral science again shows. Instead, he’s being a bully because he’s insecure. This is a very simplistic and flawed view of a much more complicated problem. Despite what you might think, your dog is not being “dominant” or “asserting himself as pack leader” if he constantly tends to act out against other dogs / people. What alpha rolling tells the dog about youīehavioral science clearly shows that the more secure a dog is, the less of a reason he’ll have to act aggressively towards other dogs. Thus it is safe to conclude that simply suppressing behavior is very dangerous, and does nothing to help correct how the dog feels on the inside, and increases the chances of a bite immensely. This in turn will usually be interpreted as “the dog attacked without reason” by an inexperienced owner, when in reality, that very same owner is to blame. Then, the next time the dog feels threatened, he will remember what happened the last time he tried to warn a potential threat by growling, and go straight to biting instead. Do this enough times, and the dog will stop using growling as a warning signal altogether. If you respond by alpha rolling the dog into forced submission, you are also suppressing his natural behavior (growling is natural), and teaching the dog that growling is ineffective as a warning signal. For example: a growl is usually the dogs way of saying “back off, or I’ll bite!”. Since alpha rolling is often done in response to something the handler considers “wrong”, it effectively contributes to the suppression of warning signals that the dog gives off before something more serious takes place, such as a bite. What if you were insecure about something and someone forcibly pinned you to the ground? Would that make you more or less insecure? Suppression does not equal correction In other words, when you really should work with the dog to help him overcome his insecurities, you are instead manhandling him exacerbating the problem. Since the large majority of aggression and behavioral problems stem from insecurities (not because he wants to “dominate” you/someone else), forcibly alpha rolling the dog will just serve to make the problem even worse. When the dog realizes that he can’t win, he will move on to option three, submit, and hope that you will go away if he remains completely still. In many cases you will experience that the dog attempts to fight, which is option two. When performing an alpha roll you are forcibly holding the dog in place, thus eliminating option one, which is flight. If option 1 and 2 fail or are otherwise unavailable, submitting is a last ditch effort to communicate not being a threat, and hoping that the danger will go away. If presented with danger, fight to protect. If presented with danger, flee to get away. To understand this, you must first understand the three basic mechanisms a dog has when faced with danger. What alpha rolling really does to your dog You think that a firm alpha rolls shows the dog that you are strong, and willing to take charge. What you think alpha rolling tells the dog about you In your head (and I don’t blame you), this will effectively establish you as the “pack leader”, and the dog will be content now knowing it’s proper place in the “pack hierarchy”. What you think alpha rolling does to your dogĪs you’ve probably been led to believe by reading a dated book, or by watching the more recent “Dog Whisperer” by Cesar Millan, you’re under the impression that your dog needs to be told who’s in charge and that the best way to do that, is via an alpha roll. It is dangerous and based on flawed understanding of how dogs work. The objective is to assert “who’s boss”, and for the dog to reach what popular media has dubbed “calm submission”. To those unaware, alpha rolling is the physical act of forcibly rolling a dog over on his side or back, pinning him there until he is forced to submit.
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