This is very different to what you advised - not that I agree with either but advising someone over the internet to force and animal who may well be bigger than them, with a set of meat slashing knives in its mouth - is to say the least a little dangerous advice

A dominant dog does not FORCE another dog to 'submit' the other dog chooses to submit - and actually it is more thought that the other dog isnt saying 'you are the big bad boss' but more likely saying 'hey cool it, Im no harm to you'
So its unlikely that your dog is 'submitting' to you as lord and master when they think they have done something wrong - but more they can tell you are not happy and are trying to get you to calm down

My dog doesn't try to play fight with me and i have already asserted myself as leader so no i don't feel the need to do all of these now. My feeding pattern means i eat at the same time as my dogs so never encountered that problem yet. I am merely stating what has worked for me.
I honestly believe a dog can sense if something is wrong or if they have done something wrong. We can only presume how a dog is thinking, can anyone actually ask a dog if it has done wrong and get a solid answer?
Out of interest have you ever had a dog who has for whatever reason had an accident and when you've walked in they've acted differently maybe ears back head down?

Yup because she was covered in poo and wanted it washed off of her
But no if my dogs have had an accident they do not look guilty - because they havent done anything 'bad' and have no history of me telling them off for it

If I come in and find a dog has had an accident I dont feel angry, I feel v guilty that I didnt know they were feeling ill and unable to get outside to the loo

Very true. Scrap the word advise and change it more to a partially tried, seen done and all those sorts of words. At the end of the day i forget that not everyone will make up their own mind and some may just do.

Out of interest have you ever had a dog who has for whatever reason had an accident and when you've walked in they've acted differently maybe ears back head down?

No, because this is a calming signal that dogs use to defuse situations where they think they be vulnerable.

So for example as I have NEVER punished my dogs for having an accident they have NEVER learned that having one would be dangerous for them.

Dogs have no moral code, they are amoral, opportunistic and do whatever works for them, dogs are not obedient to commands but the laws of learning.

When dogs learn to be afraid, they learn to use calming signals a lot.

I have seen the results of people taking poor internet advice such as yours, and it is not pretty!

You are sadly not unique in your thinking, many people still adopt these discredited views, so some of us, who have had to deal with the fallout of such advice, feel very strongly about well intentioned but erroneous advice.

It is not the intent that is the issue, but the impact.

wow i'm definitely not equipped to write exactly what i want to say on this website as i don't yet think about every word being scritinised. I'm too used to talking to my friend who knows me, knows how i treat my dogs and knows what i mean.
I don't mean for anything to be taken out of context. I just wanted to try and explain what i've done and what i've seen done.
My dogs don't get told off if they've had accidents. They weren't covered in their own mess or anything so i guess i just have odd dogs.

IME - a dominant dog has NO need to stand over other dogs to 'make' them submit.

Most people mistake insecure dog behaviours for Dominance (again IME) - true dominance needs no show - it just is.

Definitely got to print that out for my mother

My dog for example is an extremely confident, social entire male GSD trained to a very high level, he has no need to strut his stuff, the vast majority of dogs and most people can tell by his body language that he is an alpha male ( I do actually loathe that term but I will use it for illustrative purposes).

I have never felt the need to pin him down and in fact if I did I strongly suspect he would object! (As would I if it were done to me)

It is only insecure dogs (and people) that need to go around trying to prove they are top dog!

Yep - thats Gabe (except he is a GSD or possibly BSD x)

People describe him as 'a lot of dog!' what I would call a dominant dog - but he would never do any of the behaviours most people would call 'dominant'.