Fucking THANK you for this post!! Ive been waiting for the “dominant alpha” theory to die out. It gets me so heated i swear!!!
It’s so ridiculous that people insist on applying an incorrect theory about wolves to dogs, and then try to apply it to humans too
Seriously that last bit, tho. Even if you want to apply animal dominance hierarchy crap to humans, we’re primates. PRIMATES.
Yes this. This is why the concept of dominance in dogs is basically a pile of crap.
Also I haven’t got time to go into it but people’s understanding of ‘dominance’ as it relates to animals is pretty flawed. It’s actually quite variable so it’s things like
A is dominant over B for food but C is dominant over A B is dominant over C and A for the spot by the window A is dominant over B and C for the squeaky bone
Whenever I hear a zookeeper talk about dominance or god forbid use the word alpha sincerely I cringe
Lol people still believe in alpha theory? How retro.
Everyone believes in alpha theory because a) Cesar and b) science doesn’t trickle down and I hate it.
I have to be a pedant here but this infographic is getting training terms wrong again. Striking a dog or putting their nose in poop is positive punishment, because you’re adding something to try to decrease the behavior happening again. People get positive punishment confused with negative reinforcement all the time (seriously it’s one of the hardest things for trainers to define sometimes), but they’re not the same. (Negative reinforcement involves removing something to make a behavior happen more frequently – it’s often called pressure and release training, and can be used with positive punishment but is not always).
What @starrypawz is describing in their reblog is called situational social dominance, which basically says ‘different dogs will stand up for different things in different scenarios, depending on how much they value the thing and what the dynamics of the group regarding the thing are.’
Dogs live in the now. If you say, “Hey Brutus, come here!” Then yell at him for the pee spot you found on the floor, he is going to think, “Yikes, I shouldn’t come when I am called I guess.” They cannot associate punishment with things that happened in the past, only things in the moment. Even if you’re pretty sure he gets it because he looks super guilty, he is just responding to the tone of your voice.
This though
That’s why you stick their noses in the pee spot for a whiff too so they know their pee in that spot is making you upset. They will know it’s their pee right away because of their super sniffers, don’t worry. And it’s not as cruel as it sounds–dogs react to the nose before ears or eyes–so it’s like pointing to a juice spill because little Timmy was a brat. The dogs will understand because it’s all happening in the now.
Not sure if this is serious or not, but for those who feel this way please understand that a dog is.. Simple minded. So while you want to deliver the message that peeing in the house is not okay, they are learning that you do not approve of their pee in general. This will create a nervous dog who will hide their eliminations from you in fear, and may even hold their bladder.
The only effective way to provide bilateral feedback is to catch them in the act, then praise them outside. Scolding them hours later by shoving their face in their pee will leave your reasoning up to their interpretation. Do you not like when he smells his pee? Because you’re making him smell it, but then you’re scolding him. Do you not like when he poops? Because you are scolding him for pooping, so next time he will try not to poop.
They cannot differentiate when it is hours later. So while they do understand your anger towards their elimination, they are left to just assume that eliminations make you angry in general. Don’t be a bully.
Jesus I hate that people still do this. It’s very well demonstrated this does not work. It’s on you to set your dog up to succeed, not fail, and sometimes you just have to deal with mistakes.
I want to add that it’s not that dogs are simpleminded per se – they’re very capable of understanding schedules and noticing people’s selective attention for instance – but we have no way of communicating to them a frame of reference in time to which our punishment applies.
We don’t even know how dogs interpret time. We know they can remember previous things that happen but not if they have concepts for concrete blocks like ‘yesterday’ or ‘an hour ago’, so there’s no way of letting them know you’re referencing a previous action or what one it is. They mostly learn in the moment because that’s the only conceptual timeline we can communicate with them in.
Thank you to everyone who provided informative input on this because I wouldn’t have even known where to start with addressing it.
The full pdf can be found at this google drive link for more-professional-than-tumblr sharing purposes.
I wrote this paper four years ago, and it still stands as probably the most important and widely read piece of my work. It’s official posting is moving to this blog because it needs to be seen and referenced as part of a larger educational effort about animal behavior and welfare. It’s been reposted to a number of sites. Some credit me, some don’t – all have been messaged about it. Some insist on sharing it with the inflammatory photos of Millan flipping off the camera, which were added by a third party and are consistently the bane of my existence. I consider them highly unprofessional as part of an academic essay, but without them functioning as click-bait I think it would be much less widely read. They’re catchy and inflammatory, but they’re not my addition.
Share this link, share the google doc – but please don’t share the versions with those photos. If you see them posted on your friend’s timelines or other sites, please, tell them those photos aren’t part of the original educational effort and ask them to support and share this version.
The story I don’t often tell about this paper is that it came about as a result of a bet with one of my professors. I knew, as most people in the academic side of canine training do by now, that it was easy to disprove Millan’s theories as harmful using primary sources. I wanted to see if it was possible for someone who wasn’t a trainer, wasn’t an academic, to draw the same conclusions from a selection of well-cited books that could be pulled off a shelf. They had to be easy to read and accessible with very little background knowledge about behavioral science. I wanted to prove that with dedication and time literally any dog owner could draw the right conclusions about Millan’s work and do the right thing by their dog by switching away from it. She took me up on the bet, and I won.
If you care about animal welfare, please read this.
I’ve now been training dogs for a decade. I find Cesar Millan’s training theory and advice appalling. As a scientist, its obvious that his factual statements and derived conclusions are entirely wrong. As a trainer, I can tell how stressed and unhappy – not cured – the dogs portrayed on his show are. It’s covered up by rhetoric, the soundtrack and a voiceover. Tens of scientists, trainers and behavioral science organizations have spoken out against his theories. I’ve seen dogs mistreated by well-meaning owners who took his advice unquestioningly. Whether you’re an owner, a trainer or just someone who likes dogs, please read this. It’s important to be educated in the science behind training theories before espousing or applying them.
This paper has been written as a cumulative work for an intensive independent study [in 2012] on canine cognition and applied training theory. It aims only to represent logical conclusions as drawn from scientific sources and professionals in the field. You’ll notice the sources cited are credible books and web-sites – this is intentional. The goal was to write a paper with information taken from sources directly available to the common layperson. I’m happy to suggest scientific sources for more reading.
It has been pointed out to me that the mention of immigrant status in this is easily interpreted as discriminatory, and that was never the intent. I originally wrote this as a scientific paper, in which it was considered important to go into detail about his credentials. I included it in his background because it was something he emphasized in his own books as highly impacting his career trajectory.
THE DAMAGE OF DOG WHISPERING: A CRITIQUE OF CESAR MILLAN’S THEORY OF DOG PACK DYNAMICS
Rachel Garner 4/25/12
INTRODUCTION
Theories of canine psychology and training derived from legitimate behavioral science have progressed greatly in the last fifty years. Unfortunately, the public’s most beloved source of information – The Dog Whisperer by Cesar Millan – advocates a theory in direct opposition to this progress. For the last eight years, Cesar Millan has put forth an abusive training theory predicated on disproven science, fallacious logic, and incorrect assumptions. Described by a New York Times affiliate as a “one-man wrecking ball directed at 40 years of progress in understanding and shaping dog behavior,” Millan mixes an overly simplistic and incorrect view of canine social structures with a lack of scientific knowledge. His philosophy centers around two main theories; that canines have an innate and ingrained need to function according to a ‘wolf-pack’ social structure, and that dogs need to live ‘as they did in nature’, before human intervention. Because the concept of dominance theory is central to Millan’s training philosophy, many other crucial aspects of a dog’s environment and psyche that should be addressed when dealing with behavioral issues are completely ignored. As a result of the Dog Whisperer’s popularized methods, many dogs with simple issues are handled badly and likely abused in the name of ‘pack theory’. The worst part is that the entire situation could be avoided easily. It requires only a small amount of research into the social and psychological lives of the common canine to understand where Millan’s theory goes wrong.
The Dog Psychology center was visited by Animal Control as a response to the Simon & The Pigs clip wherein a dog with known small-animal aggression had been let off-leash around pigs and allowed to attack them. CM was away on a business trip (he’s scheduled in Vegas) and is now required to contact authorities within 24 hours.
National Geographic’s PR machine is on overdrive and it’s still spouting bullshit that protects this ass.
“A representative from Nat Geo WILD, which airs Millan’s show, issued this statement:
“Cesar Millan has dedicated his life to helping dogs and to showing how even the most difficult “problem dog” can be rescued and rehabilitated. In a recent episode of the Nat Geo WILD series “Cesar 911,” Cesar works with an aggressive French bulldog/terrier mix named Simon, who has a history of attacking other animals, including his owner’s pet potbellied pigs. A short clip from the episode was shared online and showed Simon chasing a pig and nipping its ear, causing the ear to bleed. The clip caused some concern for viewers who did not see or understand the full context of the encounter.“We have included an additional clip from the same episode to provide missing context. Cesar has created a safe and controlled environment at his Dog Psychology Center (DPC) in California in which to rehabilitate some of the most extreme — or “red zone” — cases of dog aggression, such as Simon’s. It is important to clarify that Cesar took precautions, such as putting Simon on a long lead to assess his behavior, before making initial corrections and removing the leash. The pig that was nipped by Simon was tended to immediately afterward, healed quickly and showed no lasting signs of distress. As the additional clip reveals, Cesar and his animal pack effectively helped Simon to overcome his aggressive behavior toward other animals; as a result, Simon did not have to be separated from his owner or euthanized."”
Let’s look at this, shall we?
“A short clip from the episode was shared online and showed Simon chasing a pig and nipping its ear, causing the ear to bleed. The clip caused some concern for viewers who did not see or understand the full context of the encounter.”
Y’know how I always say that a good trainer shouldn’t ever be getting bit because they should know how to prevent it? That applies to animals in the area, not just the trainer. Simon should have never gotten to bite the pig because he shouldn’t have been set up to fail.
“Cesar has created a safe and controlled environment at his Dog Psychology Center (DPC) in California in which to rehabilitate some of the most extreme — or “red zone” — cases of dog aggression, such as Simon’s.”
Prey drive isn’t aggression. Killing a pig is not red-zone aggression. Way to misrepresent this.
“It is important to clarify that Cesar took precautions, such as putting Simon on a long lead to assess his behavior, before making initial corrections and removing the leash.”
Hello yes we’re clarifying that he took entirely inappropriate precautions that we’re still touting to protect our golden boy nyah nyah nyah. Let’s see. He put the dog on a long line around animals he’s already proven interest in and ability to kill. (He also referred to a long-line as a muzzle. Speaking of, this dog has already killed a pig and he didn’t think a reasonable precaution around them involved a muzzle). Then, when that didn’t prove interesting enough, he took off the device that allowed him to control the dog around the things it likes to kill. That’s not a reasonable precaution, that’s stupid and setting the dog up to fail.
Reasonable precautions would involve working on desensitization from a distance, with the dog on a short leash and on a muzzle to protect the pigs, and not letting the dog actually interact with the pigs it likes to kill.
“The pig that was nipped by Simon was tended to immediately afterward, healed quickly and showed no lasting signs of distress.”
It doesn’t matter that the animal still got hurt under his purview, because it healed and was fine and showed no lasting signs of trauma! Exactly like how it didn’t matter that negligence at daycare let your kid get burned while playing with the kitchen stove, because there’s not even a scar and she doesn’t seem to be scared of fire!
He let an animal he was responsible for get hurt because he chose to let another animal he was responsible for out of his range of control, knowing that second animal was inclined to hurt the first. That’s irresponsible and abominably unprofessional.
“Cesar and his animal pack effectively helped Simon to overcome his aggressive behavior toward other animals”
Y’know what I see? I see a clip that focuses almost entirely on the dog that is not Simon and his stellar behavior, a clip that often cuts Simon out of the frame, that barely focuses on Simon when he’s in frame. I see a dog whose body language is still and awkward, not the loose movements of a comfortable dog. That’s not a dog whose behavior is ‘fixed’ – that’s a dog who is shut down. Just like every other ‘fixed’ dog who comes out of CM’s facility, he’s uncomfortable and unwilling to move or interact for fear of the reaction he’ll get. Who knows what else happened to this pup off camera that’s causing him to act that way? I don’t think we’ll ever know, but this is not the body language of a dog who has gone through a successful and humane behavioral modification program.
National Geographic needs to get its shit together and stop making excuses for an unscientific fraud who profits from abusing animals under it’s purview.
In case you haven’t heard, CM recently released an episode of Cesar911 in which he knowingly let a Boston Terrier who had a habit of killing pigs loose with three animals and then goaded him into attacking them. That’s animal abuse, straight up. It’s getting massive attention and CM might actually get canceled. The original video is set to private now, but here’s a reproduction and a breakdown. This video contains animal abuse and injury. Watch at your own discretion.
This is the petition to get Nat Geo to take CM off the air and cancel his show. And it’s getting massive attention. As I’m posting it, it’s at 8.7k signatures and it got 2.5k just in the first 24 hours it was online.
Sign it and share it – share the actual petition on facebook. We could actually get the abusive asshole canceled. I’ve been waiting to post about it because I didn’t want to spread false hope in case it flamed out, but this is for real. Everyone is finally calling CM out on his abusive, incorrect ways.
Certainly the best learning outcome would be for National Geographic to take a stand for dogs, pigs, and other animals and remove Cesar Millan from the air until he reforms his act.”
Cesar Millan and anyone using his “training” methods perpetuate outdated, disproven ideas about dogs and their behavior and make things that much more difficult for people trying to improve learning experiences for dogs and make training more effective and ethical.
Dog training should be about understanding how dogs actually learn and how they process information, and improving the relationship between humans and their companions. Not about intimidating and confusing dogs into compliance for fear of punishment. There’s nothing cooperative about that. Why would you want that over a healthy relationship with your pet?
Look at that gorilla! He’s concentrating so hard on his drawing that he’s sticking his tongue out!
I think that orangutan is going places
That elephant is definitely being forced (probably with a prod)… not really an animal painting so much as a painting a human instructed an animal to make. you can really see the difference between that and the other animals.
Oh snap I didn’t even notice that the elephant was painting a flower. sinbadism is right- while not all paintings made by elephants are forced, if an elephant is painting a picture of something we can recognize (like a flower or a tree) then it’s likely been “trained” to paint that specific thing and not just having fun.
Some “trainers’ accomplish this with bullhooks and pain. Be wary of carefully choreographed elephant paintings.
This discussion is super important. Painting can be and often is great enrichment for animals (and the proceeds from selling paintings help with their care) but you have to be careful what ones you support. Animals should paint like animals, not humans, and if you’re seeing ‘human-like’ paintings that’s not a sign of intelligence or sapience… it’s a sign of something sketchy going on.
And it’s not like they “sing the same song over and over,”
commented Luef. “It seems like they are composing their little food
songs.”
According to Ali Vella-Irving of the Toronto Zoo, “Each gorilla
has its own voice: you can really tell who’s singing. And if it’s their
favorite food, they sing louder.”
“Educate yourself!” A phrase we eagerly throw around when someone we deem ignorant is saying something we disagree with. And it’s true, some people really need to educate themselves, in particular people who have taken it upon themselves to educate others.
But how do you educate yourself? I’ve seen the self-education a lot of people come up with… and it’s not pretty.
I don’t think anything infuriates an educator more than writing something informative based on science and facts, only to have someone contradict them with isolated-incident anecdotal “evidence”, as if that means all their research and science is wrong on that basis. It’s a bit like saying, “well I’m still alive, so clearly death is a myth.”
That is not someone who has educated themselves, but rather someone who has never evaluated anything critically, from all possible angles, before coming to an informed conclusion.
So, again… how do you educate yourself?
Read. But don’t read indiscriminately. Use discernment. Be critical. Don’t just look at the best seller list, or Oprah’s Book of the Month. Take a look at 1) what topic the book is discussing and 2) who is writing about it.
Before you even start reading the book, ask yourself:
Who is the author?
What are their qualifications to write on this subject?
Is this an anecdotal book or a scientific book?
How old is this book?
What do the author’s peers have to say about this book?
For example, I picked up the book “Animal Cognition: The Mental Lives of Animals” by Clive D.L. Wynne. I then turned to the back to read the summary.
“Can ravens count? How do pigeons find their way home? Can chimpanzees use language in a human-like fashion? These are the kinds of questions that occupy scientists interested in understanding animal minds. […] presents a fascinating account of animal intelligence and abilities, covering a wide range of key topics from language and communication to sensation and problem-solving. […] Clive Wynne reviews research on species ranging from fire ants to dolphins […] complex reasoning (do cats understand that objects hidden from view still continue to exist?), balanced by a critical stance towards some of the wilder claims found in the popular media.”
Now, what does it say about the author?
“Clive D.L. Wynne is an Associate Professor in Psychology, University of Florida, and studies cognition in species from pigeons to marsupials. He worked previously at universities in Australia, the USA and in Germany, and was educated at University College London and the University of Edinburgh. He is the author of numerous scholarly papers on animal learning and cognition, and is the editor of a book on models of animal behavior, Models of Action: Mechanisms for Adaptive Behavior.”
So, the author is a professor of psychology who has made numerous contributions to the scholarly world, and the book is handling a topic he is familiar with and has professional experience with. That’s already a good start. The publishing date is 2001, which is somewhat older, so the reader should be critical of the studies being referred to and make sure they are still considered valid.
The book contains several reviews from his peers—other professors and researchers from various universities—who agree that this book is an excellent source of information, which further indicates the author has a lot to offer on this subject.
With this information in mind, you can start reading, and as you read, continue to ask yourself the following questions:
How old is the study they are referring to? Is it still considered a valid source?
Are they even referring to any valid studies?
Are they using science and logic to make their argument, or relying on emotional manipulation?
Use critical thinking while reading. Don’t look for reasons to disagree or agree with the author, but simply pause and ask yourself, “is this a logical conclusion? Does this make sense?” To the best of your ability, try to put aside personal feelings on the subject, whether it’s about the author or about the subject matter.
When reading a book like this, I take notes. I make note of undeniable truths as they come, and I make note of the author’s personal musings and hypotheses. I also make note of my own personal musings based solely on the information provided.
Toward the end of the book, I look to see if I reached the same conclusion the author did, and if not, I ask myself why that is the case, and, if necessary, go back and re-read certain aspects that may have confused me, or that I simply may have misunderstood within the context of the book.
So, now I’ve read an educational book on a subject. I’ve worked through it, and fully understand the logic and science behind it. Am I done now? No. Now it’s time to move on to the next book, the next study, the next journal, and then another, and then another.
Also, I can’t just read books on animal cognition and call it a day. There are other book focuses that are closely affiliated that have to be studied as well: physiological behavior, ethics, animal science, and animal communication.
A book on “The Biology of Animal Stress” may have a stronger focus on overall animal welfare, and a book on “Animal Play” or “Principles of Animal Communication” may focus on overall body language and inter-species norms, but they all come together to create one big picture.
Educating yourself is a never-ending process. There will always be a new study to read, and a new theory to work through, and they may end up disproving something we previously regarded as fact.
Anatomy and physiology changes as animals evolve, and animal behavioral norms change as they adapt to an ever-changing domesticated life. We must always be willing to put aside what we once embraced, and acknowledge the truth.
That, is how you educate yourself, and it’s how you educate others.
Fantastic explanation of how to vet sources!
It’s also possible to find good sources that are not written directly by researchers. You want to look for one more thing before taking them as a credible source of information – citations. Unlike academic papers, books don’t often have in-text citations, but they do have page numbers, quotes, and the citations associated with each statement in the back. The presence of those is imperative, because it tells you how thoroughly researched the work is and what it’s primary sources are.
Disclaimer: The person who recorded the video stated that it was done to demonstrate the behavior to school children who visited the education facility. Please do not harass animals for viral videos.
This particular juvenile seems to be more theatrical than other hognoses we’ve ever seen. Thoughts?
This is a fascinatingly dramatic death scene from this baby snake. I wonder if the reason it’s so dramatic is similar to why the bite of a baby rattlesnake is actually more dangerous than an adult’s – they take threats so much more seriously and then overreact to them because they haven’t learned what’s really a threat and what isn’t. Maybe this is the playing dead version of that?
Hoggies are just generally dramatic. I think Easterns are usually a lot worse for their drama and playing dead but even adults will do it and it will be just as dramatic. This is a big adult doing the same thing (granted I really don’t like seeing anyone stress out a snake to this point. This is their absolutely most dramatic stress moment and this person is going overboard with the stress)
I have a western hognose and even a simple water change is me being a ‘big scary monster trying to eat her’. She’ll hiss and closed-mouth strike as if her very life is in danger (it is though. Clean water is lethal! jk) I once accidently scared her so bad (I moved her hide, I know I’m a monster!) that she popped her scent glands out. That was one of the worst smells ever. They can also make themselves bleed from the mouth for that extra death faking. (She did that once to me on a mouth check for RI’s, THAT was a fun day. NOT!) They are big bluffers and will hiss or strike at anything coming close and seem to be very cautious about anything
Hognoses also rarely bite so looking like a cobra or puff adder (flattening head/neck, bluffing, closed-mouth striking) is their main defense. They can also force pop out their scent glands from their cloaca as an added ‘I am dead, smell me, I smell like death and feces’
There are reports of them being rear-fanged venomous (it’s really debated though) but I’ve found to do anything they have to kind of chew on the prey/predator to start doing any damage (on humans it’s like a bee sting response) so it’s a dangerous risk for them to bite. They also don’t have teeth near the front of their mouth so they really need that good deep bite to even be worth it.
PiraticOctopus 