Why I Do Not Use the Word - Dominant - When Talking About Animal Behavior

"Dominance", "dominant", "alpha", "submissive", "rank", "hierarchy"... Are these labels that help us in any way when we interact with animals? In this video, I explore the three main reasons why I currently avoid using those labels. Related videos. How to Use Functional Analysis to Change Dog Behaviour https://youtu.be/rGw8k4dyJMc The Top 5 Skills That Will Make You a Better Animal Trainer https://youtu.be/uuSsFDyMbUs Top 10 Tips and Recommendations for People Living with Dogs https://youtu.be/zJ0ZkGYaPQE References: Bradshaw, J.W.S., Blackwell, E.J., Casey, R.A., (2009). Dominance in domestic dogs - useful construct or bad habit? Journal of Veterinary Behavior. 4, 135-144. Creel, S. et al. (1997) Rank and reproduction on cooperatively breeding African wild dogs: behavioral and endocrine correlates. Behav. Ecol. 8, 298–306 de Vries, H. (1998). Finding a dominance order most consistent with a linear hierarchy: a new procedure and review. Animal Behaviour. 55, 827–843. Herron, M.E., Shofer, F.S., Reisner, I.R., (2009). Survey of the use and outcome of confrontational and non-confrontational training methods in client-owned dogs showing undesired behaviours. Appl. Anim. Behav. Sci. 117, 47–54. Issa, F. A., Adamson, D. J. and Edwards, D. H. (1999). Dominance hierarchy formation in juvenile crayfish Procambarus clarkii. J. Exp. Biol. 202, 3497–3506. Pongracz, P., Vida, V., Banhegyi, P. & Miklosi, A. (2008). How does dominance rank status affect individual and social learning performance in the dog (Canis familiaris)? Animal Cognition. 11, 75–82. van Kerkhove, W., (2004). A fresh look at the wolf-pack theory of companion animal dog social behavior. J. Appl. Anim. Welf. Sci. 7, 279-285. Wittig, R., & Boesch, C. (2003). Food competition and linear dominance hierarchy among female chimpanzees of the Tai National Park. International Journal of Primatology. 24, 847– 867. The Association of Professional Dog Trainers: Dominance and Dog Training https://apdt.com/resource-center/dominance-and-dog-training/ The Pet Professional Guild: Dominance Theory in Animal Training https://www.petprofessionalguild.com/dominancetheorypositionstatement My online presence: Website: http://www.trainmeplease.com.au/ Like me on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/TrainMePlease Follow me on Twitter: https://twitter.com/sealtrainer Linkedin: au.linkedin.com/in/josegomestmp