Michael Ellis on Dominance in Dogs

This short video was filmed in Michael Ellis' Puppy Development Class at his school for dog trainers in California. In it Michael talks about some of the myths of dominant dogs and how many times people think their dog is dominant when in fact it is far from it.

Category:

Pets & Animals

Tags:

• dominance
• dogs
• michael
• ellis
• train
• dominant

[stew9352]

Michael Ellis should have his own show. This guy is a genius

[DianeDogma]

@tigerheart08, your best choice is to find your puppy a new home, honestly because there is no hope for you. The fact that despite all the websites on the internet with good information on puppy development and dog behavior you chose to look for help in the comments section of youtube tells me all I need to know about you.

@K9ProSportUSAdotcom: you, sir, are just a complete idiot. please refrain from breeding.

[TheIronwil]

@Tigerheart08, if you have a 5-week old puppy, unless you delivered him, that isn't good. A puppy should not be separated from his mom and litter mates until at least 8 weeks old. This is one of the reasons he is biting so hard. He didn't get to learn bite inhibition from his mom. Yelling at him and freaking out isn't going to help. You need to redirect him. Give him a chew toy every time he starts biting on you, and if he won't accept it, move him to his crate or play area fora time out.

[Tigerheart08]

My goodness i need HELP my new puppy , he is 5 weeks old and is a yorkie/shiutzu mix, he constantly bits our pant legs when we are walking and nips at our ankles and like CHEWS OUR FRICKEN FEET he has eeven drawn blood, is this normal??? We scream in i ad he continues, we yell NO ansd he growls... idk wht to do!!!

[PaulAndMuttley]

I have seen this before and now it was linked on a militant anti-force anti-CM dog group by a more realistic participant. Fortunately I have not had to deal with true dominant aggression, but I do have a rather confident and often willful dog, who is also quite insensitive to pain so prong and choke collars are only somewhat effective. I think he has a somewhat dominant natural disposition but he does not use aggression to assert it. Except maybe on puppies...

[K9ProSportUSAdotcom]

@mydogkanskidrums That's because you listen to bunny kissing tree hugging biologist and trainers who ignore what any layman can see. To say there's no such thing as dominance is asinine. All social creatures have structure in their social organization. Yes, a weaker dog can become "dominant" in a situation where it's peers are weak. But, there are some dogs (people, chickens, horses, hyenas, any social creature) who have dominance as a personality trait. Animals who consistently dominate others.

[AlexanderLee1]

That sounds like a nightmare to have a dog like one of those Rottweilers. There are plenty of times when you have to force a dog to do something, such as getting him to go outside or get off the couch, or stop barking. With a dog like that you'd just have to hope that it will always do what you want.

[mydogkanskidrums]

I still don't think any dogs can be dominant, sorry. Those male Rottweilers you talked about- why should any dog like you if you try and 'force' them to do something? What do you mean by 'force them'? You never make it clear. 'Dominance' is not a personality trait, it's describes a relationship that has to be worked at and stablised over a number of meetings, where one constantly submits and defers to the other. Dogs very rarely do this, if ever.

[horaaliya]

I wanna keep a male pup from our females litter, but i am worried if he will become dominant and agressive. Any tips to avoid such problems in a male rottie?>

[corgiman23]

Thanks for the post this was very informative