Podcast Episode 3: Dominance and Submission Explained
My name is Ralf Weber, and I am a TWC Certified Professional Dog Trainer. I have 18 years of experience working with dogs. This is my podcast ‘Dog Talk’ on anything dog-related. I am the author of the dog book ‘If Your Dog Could Talk – Understand Your Dog Like Never Before.’ I am also a member of the International Association of Canine Professionals.
Unfortunately, far too many dog trainers fail to understand the ethological meaning of the terms dominance, submission, and aggression and misuse them. If this topic interests you more, I highly recommend the books by ethologist, Roger Abrantes1 and animal behavior expert Temple Grandin2.
Dominance and submission are terms ethology defines, not dog trainers. To explain these, we have to take a brief look at their origin. This starts with a brief look at the dog’s ancestors—wolves.
Dominance and Submission Signals (Goodwin)
Related Article: Dominance, Submission and Aggression
References
- Roger Abrantes: Author Page of Roger Abrantes at the Ethology Institute
- Temple Grandin: Animals Make Us Human by Temple Grandin, 2009
- Deborah Goodwin: Paedomorphosis Affects Agonistic Visual Signals of Domestic Dogs (PDF) by Deborah Goodwin, John W. S. Bradshaw, and Stephen M. Wickens; Animal Behaviour, 1997, Volume 53, Number 2, Pages 297-304 (Anthrozoology Institute, University of Southampton)
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