Why does this keep appearing as a new post when the last entry was on the 15th of January?

It means someone voted..

I treat my dogs in much the same way I treat my children, gently correcting them when they make mistakes and praising their accomplishments. It's important to have rules and boundaries, but it's just as important to have mutual respect for each other.

I'm very torn on this subject as I have met some very happy and well behaved dogs trained using both approaches. I agree that domesticated dogs are far from wolves however they are even farther from being human beings and that is one pet peeve of mine is dogs who are treated like children and 'reasoned' with. No one method will work for every dog, I think that some trainers do take the 'alpha' mentality way too far but the basis of being the leader is important.

This is an incorrect question that makes so many incorrect assumptions it isn't even funny. just stop with the alpha crap and no, cesar is absolutely wrong. There are no packs, just family units, in wild wolves. Dogs and wolves share a common ancestor, but dogs are not wolves, and wolves are not dogs. Dogs are about the most conflict avoidant animal there is. They seek peace and harmony, not a struggle to dominate. People do that, but not dogs.

Jeez.
Monty

Not all dogs choose to avoid conflict Monty, in fact many breeds seek it out with even more vigor than a wolf would. My new pup is already dominating the older dog here, how many dogs do you own?

I am against all forms of dominance theory. It's been studied and proven time and time again that dogs learn by association--what happens immediately after any given behavior. I use positive reinforcement methods to train my dog as well as help tons of other people with theirs and it works much better than trying to be the "alpha". Dogs just don't live in a pack structure like we've thought for a long time. The dogs that are trained using dominance obey out of fear of punishment, and I refuse to subject any dog to that.

Dominance in dogs is not theory, so there is nothing there for you to be against. The Alpha dog rules, if there are two or more males one will be the dominant one. The only way that you can be against dominance theory is that you do not own more than one dog of the same sex that are of equal or near equal size.

Within each pack is an elaborate hierarchy. It may consist of a single breeding pair, the Alpha male and female, a lower group consisting of non-breeding adults, each with its own ranking, a group of outcasts, and a group of immature wolves on their way up. Some of the younger wolves of the pack may leave to find vacant territory and a mate.

Individual wolves in a pack play different roles in relation to the others in the group. The parent wolves are the leaders of the pack - the alpha male and alpha female. (Alpha is the first letter in the Greek alphabet.)

The alpha male and female are the oldest members of the pack and the ones with the most experience in hunting, defending territory, and other important activities.

The other pack members respect their positions and follow their leadership in almost all things, The alpha wolves are usually the ones to make decisions for the pack when the group should go out to hunt or move from one place to another.

The other Pack members all have positions in the hierarchy inferior to those of the alpha male and female. The young adult wolves, who are the grown-up offspring of the alpha pair, have their own special roles under the leadership or their parents. Some of them me able to "boss around," or dominate, their sisters and brothers because they have established themselves as superior in some way. This superiority might be physical-larger size or greater strength - but it can be based on personality Dominant wolves in the pack usually have more aggressive and forceful personalities than their relatives of the same age.

The juveniles and pups-wolves under two years old do not occupy permanent positions within the pack hierarchy. They all take orders from their parents and older brothers and sisters, but their relationships with each other change frequently. During their play and other activities, they are constantly testing one mother to find out who will eventually be "top wolf" in their age group.

http://www.wolfweb.com/facts-pack.html

This view of wolf behavior was disproven 20 years ago. Your facts are incredibly outdated. Also, dogs are not wolves. They may have come from them, but domestication has changed them a lot.

Not only do I live with 2 adult male dogs of the same size, within about 5 pounds, but I've worked on a daily basis with groups of 10-30 dogs all of roughly the same size, split fairly evenly between males and females. I observe their behavior and interactions with each other for hours on end, it's my job, and essentially all of what traditional trainers insist are dominant behaviors are obviously far from it, at least if you understand current science. Yes, there is a social hierarchy in canines, as there is in any social animal, but it's nowhere near as strict or important as dominance theory believes it is. All but the most extreme examples of "dominant" behaviors come from other things that traditional trainers seem to refuse to take into consideration.

You can not disprove how wolves live in the wild. Your claim is thus nonsense. I wonder how many of the dogs that you see are spayed and neutered? This is not natural and does change the way the animals live and how they compete for dominance. An Alpha male Wolf will at some time receive a challenge for Alpha status from one of his pups. Three things can happen, first one animal is killed, two one animal is driven away, often the younger dog who will wander as a lone wolf looking for a female to take from another pack, that he might also try to challenge the Alpha male of. Three the loser becomes submissive and a lesser pack member.

The reason that people contend that this is not real is not clear, but I believe that many people refuse to believe that their toy dog is actually a direct wolf descendant.