No, it's not dominance

http://www.drsophiayin.com/dominance.php

This is a good article - if you check out section B, (scroll down a bit) there are some fab examples of CM clips, and comments by Dr Yin on whether these animals are really dominant

It's very interesting. I think my favourite is the one where Cesar states the dog is "dominant over" an inanimate object - a moving light

It's also quite interesting to see how confident CM appears. It is totally stretching the whole dominance theory, his statement -yet he confidently tells the owners the dog is dominant over light.

Wys
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i've seen that one with the light, dominated by the light i was wetting myself, the owners did that by playing with the laser pen with him if i remember rightly, he just found it fun and then it became self rewarding.

That was a great link Wys

I have watched loads of CM shows and tho I dont use any of his 'techniques' I have had my eyes opened by other threads on here and now dont find the shows at all enjoyable. Unfortunately I was bought tickets to see his show for xmas and not looking forward to it now......I will be interested to see the reaction of the crowd and exactly what 'methods' or tools he uses tho.

This link was great to really spell out how it could have been done differently and that positive training gets just as good results with out any force and that his dominance theory is applied to everything....the light for example which is just silly

I really liked the part where it stated the good parts of the show as these are exactly the parts I liked about the methods and why I watched the show in the first place.

I know this site - it`s good.
I can`t help feeling that the training method used is more about the character of the handler than the percieved nature of the dog. So nervous or insecure handlers either over-comensate by being control freaks or opt out by placating the dog.
I`m not going to comment on the kind of handler who sees every action as a threat to his status because it`s fairly obvious.
When I was tutoring we were taught to be Reflective Practitioners` - a very pompous way of putting it, but a procedure that can help in training. After each lesson we noted good points / bad points / successes and failures and thought about what we could build on and what could have been prevented. Occasionally we talked it over with our Mentor.
Apart from stopping the `Oh God! That was a cr*p sesion, where`s the gin` reaction, it allows a bit of objectivity, and helps progress.
Making assumptions like he`s dominant or he`s frightened halt any progress in the handler - and probably in the dog as well - as there is no space for reason or intelligent development.

You all make very good points & I think the process of "Reflective Practitioners" is laudable. It certainly can help in all walks of life.

Nlulu ~ Even if you don't agree with CM's methods, it can be very useful to see him in practice, if only to practice trying to see where he goes wrong, what he misinterprets as "dominance", why his methods appear to work to the general dog-owning public & what is really happening. I only hope that he doesn't end up traumatising any dogs in his quest to show what a great dog handler he is!

I've even had people call their cats "dominant" & trying to be leader of the pack, just because the cat has pooed on their bed .

Thanks, I really like it

Wys
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good link, the clips are very interesting! i have watched quite a lot of CM eps, but not seen the light one before... i couldnt believe watching that... will need to watch the full thing coz im interested in what else he said.

Seen it before but its a great link and worth putting up here
It just show how much people, even people on TV use words with really fuzzy ideas what the words mean
and that is not helpful to people, it is a bugbare of mine that people use jargon words inplace of explaining what they mean
It is just NOT POSSIBLE to be dom to light

Better to be a little more simple, the dog chases light, its got a bit OTT, how do we stop him chasing light - simples!