For the Dominant Dog:
Dominance-Control Program

(aka Nothing in Life Is Free, Working for a Living, or No Free Lunch)

DOGS BEHAVING BADLY
DR. NICHOLAS DODMAN

	This non-confrontational program was designed specifically for use with dominant-aggressive dogs but it can also help restructure a stronger, healthier leadership role for the owner of an anxious or fearful dog.  With regard to the principles implicit in this program, the mnemonic phrases bracketed above say it all.  The basic requirement is the owner's mind-set that the dog must, initially at least and to some extent for time immemorial, earn every valued asset.  This attitude will, in time, cultivate the dog's dependence, respect, and reliance, and thus the owner's control and influence.

	There is one essential prerequisite for the program—a modicum of training.  The dog must understand and obey at least one or two commands prior to starting the program, though its repertoire can and should be increased subsequently (see "0—Obedience Training").  It is not imperative that a dog entering this program obey every command at first, just as long as the owner is sure that it understands some directives issued and is in a position to obey should it so choose.  As a backdrop to the program, owners are asked to reinforce any obedience training they have learned by rehearsing it with the dog for a few minutes each day and utilizing commands whenever possible to accomplish various ends.  This said, the stage is set.  Here is what I call the twelve-step program of rehabilitation (or, in the abridged version, leaving out diet and exercise advice, the Ten Commandments).

1.  Avoid Confrontation
	The golden rule of a non-confrontational program is no confrontation.  To facilitate this approach, I ask owners to complete a list of circumstances that elicit aggression from their dog, including those that induce growling, lip lifts, snaps, and bites, and I then run through the individual situations advising the owner how to circumvent each.  As benevolent as this sounds, it is no soft shoe approach.  Avoiding aggression is an essential component of non-confrontational programs, and if not engaged it will undermine other measures applied.  It is useless to work on such a program while simultaneously attempting to apply coercive training methods, as the two approaches are, like water and oil, immiscible.

	The axiom to keep in mind while engaging a non-confrontational approach is that if you live by the sword, you die by the sword, or more basically, aggression begets aggression.  It's the same reason you shouldn't allow your kids to watch the Power Rangers.  Naturally, there is a level of aggression you can apply that will silence any dominant dog, but that approach is not for me or my clients.  As my new resident, Dr.  Gerry Flannigan, recently explained it to one client, "You can get the better of a dog by fighting with it, but you must be prepared to fight to the death." I think he made his point, because the client declined this approach.

	Following the sort of measures I advise means that if your dog tries to guard a rawhide chew from you, it doesn't get them anymore.  Problem solved.  If possessiveness of stolen bathroom tissues is an issue, thwart the dog's access to the tissues by putting them in a cupboard (and while you're at it, keep the wastebasket behind closed doors).  If by chance the dog still gets hold of a tissue somehow, let him have it.  Who cares? He won't choke on it.  Chasing a dog with a stolen object is a sure way to get more of the same pilfering behavior.  If you really need to get a stolen object back, say, your credit card, then distract the dog by issuing a command and providing a more enthralling alternative.  For example, get the dog's lead, make for the door, and command, "Rover.  Come here.  Good boy." (And don't forget to praise Rover for coming.) This latter approach is not bribery, it's distraction.  Bribery does not work and may even aggravate the behavior.

	There are many other measures that may be necessary in an individual case.  If your dog growls when you pet it on the head, it is trying to tell you something.  So don't do it.  Pet him under the chin instead—but only when he has done something to deserve it.  And if your dog snaps at you when you groom him, bathe him, or clip his nails, take him to the groomer to be coiffed and be done with it.  Groomers have their own way and, whatever it is, it will not affect your relationship with your dog.  It's only what you do that makes any difference to that relationship, not what anyone else does.  The list of wheezes goes on and on.  Get imaginative.  Just to give you a little confidence in the method, as I mentioned in the section on aggression, avoiding all aggressive incidents for a period of two weeks will seriously deter dominance.' It's as if dominance aggression feeds on itself.  If you reduce input, the behavior simply fades away.

2.  Feeding
	Since food is such a valued commodity within the pack, it is imperative to make the dominant dog realize that you control this asset.  It must learn that it is powerless over food and that you are its higher power.  Food must no longer appear like manna from heaven but only (and obviously) from you.  Right from the get-go of this program your dog must earn all food from you (including food treats) by responding positively to some command from a family member.  As I've said, there is no free lunch.

	Initially owners can cut their dogs some slack in terms of the speed and quality of its response—just as long as there is some reasonable attempt to conform to the instruction given.  For example, if the command "Sit" is given before putting down the dog's food and it obeys, however slowly, dinner is served.  If the dog does not sit, however, the food is withdrawn, not for five minutes only but until the next mealtime.  There's nothing like the increased motivation provided by hunger to facilitate the desired response.  As time goes by, owners should insist on speedier and more precise responses from their dog.  Let's say that initially the dog sits within three seconds of the command being given and is fed.  Once this level of response is achieved reliably, the time allocation for the response should be reduced to two seconds, then one second, and ultimately an immediate response is required.  Insistence on a speedy and accurate response from the dog is not a fool's errand.  It teaches the dog to respect an owner's authority.

	To help my clients understand the importance of this seemingly trivial feeding regimen, I often refer to what I call my waiter analogy.  (No disrespect to waiters intended.) It goes something like this: If you are in a restaurant and a waiter brings you food you have ordered and puts it in front of you, that manner of serving does nothing to increase your respect for that waiter.  It's what you expect and what you normally get.  If, however, the waiter says, "Get down on your knees in front of me or I will not serve you," that would certainly attract your attention.  You might mutter under your breath and go to leave the restaurant in disgust .  .  .  but if the waiter had locked the door and refused to let you out (and had the power to enforce this measure), you would eventually have to sit down again.  You might then refuse to eat rather than kneel in front of a waiter .  .  .  but how long could you hold out? Twelve hours? Twenty-four? One thing is for sure, you wouldn't allow yourself to starve to death for petty principles.  If the waiter held his line, a breaking point would eventually come when your hunger was so overwhelming that the food in front of you would become irresistible.  At this stage you kneel down and are rewarded for conforming as demanded by receiving the food.  The waiter would have firmly made his point and could then afford to smile, issue a few platitudes, and even offer you a drink (you might need it).

	Now, this would be a pretty jerky thing for a waiter to do, and I'm not suggesting to any waiters reading this that they should try it, but like it or not, under these circumstances you would have to view the waiter in a whole new light—with a lot more respect and a sudden realization of your dependence on him (or her).  I have known some very willful dogs that hold out for three days before they will obey a command to receive food, but most fold a lot earlier than this.  They will all submit to their owners' authority in the long run; they have to, and it is important for owners to realize this.  After all, it's a battle of wills, your against theirs.

	In most instances when I implement such measures, I point out that it's imperative that the owner win the mental tussle, either for reasons of their personal safety or because success of the program is a life and death matter for the dog.  The only caveat in applying the no-free-lunch approach comes with large, deep-chested dogs that are prone to bloat.  It is inadvisable to allow these dogs to pig out after any period of fasting or food deprivation, as under these circumstances they may develop bloat.  For such dogs, the rules are the same except that only small meals are offered after a period of fasting rebellion.  This way, when the dog finally concedes, it will not be able to gorge itself into oblivion with potentially disastrous consequences.  Such dogs may come up hungry after their initial token meal, but they can be fed another small meal an hour or so later, and so on until they are reasonably well satiated.

	Dogs that have conformed to the feeding strategy outlined are allowed fifteen minutes to eat, after which any surplus food should be picked up— but not in the dog's presence, to avoid a confrontation.  The running-buffet phenomenon is now a thing of the past.  You can almost picture a dog's surprise in the early stages of this program when it rounds a corner to find a normally well-supplied food bowl empty or absent.  I imagine the dog's reaction is similar to Kramer's in the Seinfeld show when he is confronted by the unexpected.  There's nothing like a change in the ground rules to make a dog pay more attention to what's going on around it, and in its new awareness it will learn that you are the supreme being that supplies all good things.  After all, "The Lord giveth and the Lord taketh away." 

3.  Petting
	The tactile stimulus of petting, and the acknowledgment that goes with it, is a powerful reward for most dogs and as such should be rationed in the same way as food.  But petting is a two-edged sword because it can be come an annoyance for the dog if it is improperly performed, rendered by the wrong person, at the wrong time, or if it is continued beyond a certain welcome period.  In the latter instances, petting may actually stimulate aggression.  Petting dogs on top of the head, for example, especially by patting, is one of the most common reasons for being bitten.  To be pleasurable and nonthreatening, petting should be performed under the chin or chest, using a scratching motion, or along the side of the face by stroking the hair in the same direction that it grows (that is, with the "grain").  In addition, petting sessions should be brief enough to leave the dog wanting more .  .  .  although some really bad players will bite you if you shortchange them, so the appropriate duration of petting is a judgment call.  If in doubt, don't pet the dog at all for several weeks until other aspects of the dominance-control program have kicked in.

	A further point: If low-ranking humans (in a dominant dog's eyes) try to pet it at an inopportune moment—for example, while the dog is eating, resting, or otherwise engaged—they will find themselves on the receiving end of its ire in fairly short order.  Petting should only be engaged at times other than these and preferably when the petter knows that the attention is welcome.  But here comes the rub (if you'll excuse the pun): Petting of any description and at any time has to be on your terms to send a clear signal of your leadership.  No longer can kindly owners, who are at other times on the receiving end of a dominant dog's aggression, submit to their dog's demands for petting.  Such demands, transmitted by head butting and pressing, must be circumvented or ignored—though the message that the dog is amenable to petting can be registered.  This is the correct time to insist that the dog "says please," asking to be petted by sitting in response to a command in order to receive the petting it desires.

	As with the feeding routine, owners must define the ground rules and set limits to send the correct message of authority.  No sit, no pet, is the order of the day.  This is difficult to do for many folks who have become used to petting their dogs indiscriminately and who actually enjoy this freedom of action.  No one said a non-confrontational program was easy.  It involves toughness—just a different kind, a mental one.

	The point is that to supply petting for a dog whenever it demands it from you is to undermine your own authority.  If you supply petting and other "good things of life" for free, you will never be able to get a dominant dog to obey you when you need it most or to respect you.  After all, why should such a dog work for rewards when they are supplied free? If we got paid whether we went to work or not the workplace would be a pretty lonely place.  Dominant dogs should have to work for a living, too.  That's the way for previously insubordinated owners to assume their rightful position as the boss in the home and to command the respect they deserve.  Success necessitates taking a hard line.

4.  Praise.
	Depending on the dog in question, praise can be another highly valued asset for which dominant dogs should be required to work.  Praising a dog continuously dilutes the value of this otherwise much-appreciated acknowledgment, undermining an owner's unique position as the keeper of the key of approbation.  My grandmother used to say of human families, "The one who holds the purse strings rules the house." Praise (and pet ting) can be thought of as money for a dog and can be used to command the same kind of respect.  If you control and ration both praise and petting, your dog will view you in a more authoritative light.  As a detail, the timing and tone of the praise is critical.  Correct timing of praise involves conferring it when it is due.  For example, praise the dog when it is walking calmly next to you on lead (not pulling), waiting for you patiently while you are otherwise occupied, or within half a second of its responding to a command.  Regarding the tone of praise, it should be warm and heartfelt.  Women praise better than men, who, I'm afraid to say, often mumble it into their beards—"Good dog." The latter will hardly be worth working for, making the dog far less apt to behave and less likely to work to earn such meager recognition.  The message here is to put some energy into praising a dog when it has done something to deserve it, and for goodness sake, never praise a dominant dog that is growling.

5.  Toys
	The provision of toys is another privilege for which dominant dogs must work.  Again, fair's fair, they can have all the toys they want.  . they just have to work for them.  The way to arrange it is as follows: Pick up all toys and put them in an assigned drawer or cabinet and supply toys only when your dog obeys a command.  For example, call your dog to the toy drawer to demonstrate its existence.  "Hey Benji.  C'mere, good boy." (Dog comes, albeit slowly.) You say, while exhibiting a favorite toy, "Sit" (assuming a modicum of basic training).  Dog sits.  You respond immediately "Good boy, Benji," and supply the cherished object.  Benji plays with the toy for a while.  When he's done you pick it up and replace it in the drawer, ready for the same charade the next time.  The alternative scenario is that Benji doesn't sit when commanded.  The result, analogous to the situation regarding feeding, is that the drawer is closed and the toy is not allowed.  It's the dog's choice, but you hold the key to this pleasure.  It's amazing how quickly dogs learn which way is up.  I can have a dog knowing that I have something worth having in a drawer in my office within a minute or two (or less).  After that we both have decisions to make.  No paying, no gain.

6.  Games
	Now, this is getting repetitive—but it won't hurt to drive the tin tack home.  Games are fun, and as such should be rationed, along with all of life's other pleasures for the dog.  The trouble with dogs and games is that if you don't make the rules, they do ... and the next thing that's happening is they're playing with you, instead of the other way around.

	Take the game of fetch, for example.  The dominant dog will often bring the ball to you to initiate the game.  If you pick up the ball at this point you have just made mistake number one.  You have allowed the dog to determine when the game starts.  Since dominant dogs initiate most activities within the pack, if you respond, you have just dealt yourself a card of low denomination.  It is important that, similar to the situation with petting, you realize that the dog wants to play but decide the time and place yourself a short while later.  Just when the dog is fed up with waiting for you to respond, pick up the ball and issue a command—"C'mon, Whiskey, let's go"—and stride to the throwing place.  Whiskey either comes or doesn't and by now you know how to respond to either occurrence.  If Whiskey comes and you initiate the game, you play by your rules.

	The rules are that the ball is brought back to you and dropped at your feet.  Dominant dogs tend to take over the game and drop the ball short or refuse to let it go ... to jerk your chain and gain the upper hand.  If you lumber forward to pick up the ball they may grab it and take another couple of steps back.  "What's-a-matter, too quick for you, eh?" would describe what they are thinking.  It is imperative that you don't end up falling for this trap, and you don't need to.  If things don't go your way, you simply quit the game with a finish command such as "Finish" or "Enough." It doesn't matter who has got the ball at that point; you just walk away if necessary, leaving the dog standing there with the ball in its mouth, thinking, "What went wrong?" But don't worry, they soon figure it out.  The alternative is to have the dog decide it has had enough and to walk off leaving you holding the ball, saying, "Whiskey .  .  .  wanna play s'more? Whiskey, oh Whiskey." (Dog pads off with a slightly bored look and a smirk on its face.) Who's in charge here?

	The game of fetch was just one example, but the same general rules / should apply to any game you play with a dog that's causing you problems because of its dominance.  Basically you have to do what dominant dogs do in the pack.  That is, you initiate all activities and you decide when they're over.  Anything less just isn't leadership.  And one further point, rough games, like slap boxing, wrestling, tickling, and tug-o'-war, are simply verboten.  It's another one of those live-by-the-sword, die-by-the-sword type of situations, and men are the worst offenders in promoting aggression this way.  They even do it with their own sons.  I quote from Tim (the Tool Man) Taylor, "Ourgh, ourgh, ourgh, ourgh, ourgh." So powerful are the effects of these rough games that competition trainers use them to build confidence and "character" in young dogs prior to shaping their behavior to suit.  Regular owners aren't so knowledgeable as to know how to turn off this faucet of confidence, so the simple rule is don't mess with it ... just leave well enough alone.

7.	Needs vs.  Wants
	Demanding what they want, and getting it, is another way that dominant dogs exercise control over compliant owners.  These willful dogs sometimes rag on unsuspecting owners to get their own way, barking in their owners' faces, interrupting their conversations, and refusing to take no for an answer.  Constantly responding to such willfulness can undermine an owner's authority with such dogs, creating an atmosphere favorable for the expression of dominance aggression.  Some believe that an owner's thoughtfulness in responding to such demands is interpreted by dominant dogs as a form of weakness, and that the dog subsequently capitalizes on its owner's compliance by assuming the alpha position in the family "pack."

	On the other side of the penny, going against a dominant dog's will can lead to aggression against the usurper.  A common situation in which dominant dogs bite people occurs when the dog is prevented from achieving some goal by being grasped by the collar or scruff.  So what is an owner to do? It seems that you are damned if you do and damned if you don't facilitate their wishes.  Well, that isn't exactly the case.  There's a middle ground between facilitation and prevention called ignorance (pronounced "ignore-ance," in this case).  Basically, you should not cater to any demanding behavior from the dog, whatever the short-term consequences.  It is rare for a dog to attack an owner because the owner isn't doing something it wants, though many such dogs make quite a nuisance of themselves initially if their owners attempt to give them the cold shoulder.  The invasiveness gets worse before it gets better.  Again, mental toughness is needed to get through this phase of treatment.  It goes without saying that, "ignorance" aside, the dog can have anything it wants if it is prepared to work for it, and that all spontaneous good behavior should be rewarded.  The value of the "cold-shoulder" component of a dominance-control program is highlighted by the effects of forced attention withdrawal resulting from temporary separation or the less-humane trainer tactic of isolating dominant dogs in a crate for a couple of weeks and totally ignoring them (except for providing for their basic needs).  In each case, dominant dogs suddenly become a lot more respectful and well behaved .  .  .  but it is important to provide appropriate leadership if the advantage is to be maintained.

8.  Company
	Along similar lines to the provision of attention to a dog is the provision of companionship, only this is a more passive type of situation.  No one said that dominant dogs weren't fond of their owners; they often are and will seek out their owner's company and close physical contact when the mood so takes them.  The typical scene is of a dominant dog taking up residence on an owner's lap and just hanging out there.  The proverbial lap dog, if you will.

I always say to these owners, "Think about it—when he's sitting on top of you, who's the king and who's the throne?" Then I see the truth dawn.  The analogy usually makes the point.  Larger dogs may simply lean against their owner's feet or position themselves on the couch next to their owner, or some such.  You would think that these Norman Rockwell-type images would depict a dog in fine humor .  .  .  and in many ways they do, but some dominant dogs are so enamored of the situation that if the owner goes to leave or move he may find himself on the receiving end of the dog's ire.  I came across a dominant dog just the other day that bit his owner if the owner moved when he was lying pressed against his foot.  Another typical scenario occurs when dominant dogs are allowed to sleep with their owners.  Some of these dogs will growl or even bite if their owners stir during the night.  Owners sometimes put this down to the dog having a bad dream, but the truth of the matter is that they're ticked off at the owner disturbing them.

	As treatment for this curious aspect of dominant behavior, your company and close physical presence should be rationed in the same way as everything else and only provided as a reward for submissive behavior.  In the early stages of a dominance program it may be necessary to ban lap sitting and, in my view, such dogs should never be permitted to sleep in bed with their owners, if for no other reason than it breaks the "high-place rule."

9.  High Places
	The simple rule for dominant dogs is No High Places, and this means no going on beds or other furniture.  When dominant dogs get on eye level with a person, or conversely when a person gets down to their level, their authority is increased and aggressive encounters are more likely.  Even David Letterman has his seat four inches higher than his guests to convey mastery and authority.  By the same token, preachers use pulpits and public speakers use soap boxes.  Some of the worst accidents I have heard of involving dominant dogs have occurred when owners have inadvertently challenged their dog while they are lying on the floor or when a child approaches a dog that is lying on a bed or couch.  The simplest solution is just to "say no to furniture" or, more precisely to say "Off" to dogs that climb up on furniture.  Owners who have difficulty in enforcing this rule without forbidden confrontations of collar grabbing should attach a ten-foot-long nylon training lead to that dog so that they can gently pull the dog off the couch from a safe distance should it not respond to the command promptly.  But they should not forget to praise the dog the minute it has four feet firmly on the floor, even if they did have a hand in facilitating the response.  For really difficult dogs, booby traps that will deter future excursions onto the furniture can be arranged.  Upside-down mousetraps provide one method of achieving this, although you can create quite a stir with a black thread and some cans containing pennies ("shake cans").  

10.  Freedom 
	Believe it or not, freedom, for dogs, too, is one of life's great privileges, and with privilege comes the need for social responsibility and respect.  If all a dog has to do to obtain its freedom is to bark at its owner or paw at a door, where's the respect in that? Freedom is a gift and, for dogs of dominant disposition, one that should only be allowed to those deserving of it, and denied to the unruly.  This is not to say that an unruly, dominant dog can never go out, just that its freedom should be curtailed if it refuses to toe the line.  For example, if a dominant dog in need of "the program" fails to obey a command to earn its freedom, it should only be taken out under escort and on lead.

	Though exercise may be important for such a dog's welfare, it can be supplied by means of brisk walks or jogging on lead with the owner, instead of permitting the rebel to run around unrestrained when it has done nothing to deserve its freedom.  The hope is that in time, even hardliners will conform to house rules by sitting or lying down when instructed, in order to earn the opportunity to cavort chaperon-free.  For dominant dogs, however, freedom can never be absolute.  It would be irresponsible for the owner of a dominant dog to turn his (or her) dog free in a park or other public place, giving it the opportunity to attack other dogs and passing children as it saw fit.  Rather, such dogs' freedom should be limited, being permitted only within a (preferably) largish, fenced-in area where potential targets for aggression, be they other dogs or children, are absent.

11.  Exercise	 
	The jury is still out on the benefits of exercise in the treatment of dominance.  It can be argued both ways.  On one hand, exercise appears to be generally beneficial, but then again, most dominant dogs are more aggressive to their owners in the evening, when they are tired.  The latter could be due to daily variations in the brain level of serotonin, a neurochemical involved in regulating aggression, which tends to fall during the day as it is metabolized to melatonin.  If fluctuations in the serotonin level are the cause of aggression, exercise should be a good therapy because it elevates and stabilizes brain serotonin, preventing mood swings and reducing aggression.

	A minimum of twenty to thirty minutes of aerobic exercise daily is necessary to make exercise a worthwhile therapy, and I leave owners to work out for themselves whether they think it is beneficial for their dog's aggression problem.  By the way, in the provision of exercise, the philosophy of "work in exchange for freedom" must be borne in mind.  Note that simply walking a mile or two with your dog is not really enough for most young, fit dogs.  I used to take my eighty-five-year-old mother for a one-mile walk every day when she was visiting from Britain and neither of us was particularly exhausted at the end of the day.

Diet
12.	Here's one other gray zone where the advice you get depends upon who you ask.  Again, the jury's out on this one, but until the judgment time many behaviorists and trainers advise low-protein, preservative-free diets for dogs manifesting various types of aggressive behavior, dominance aggression included.  We showed that territorial aggression was reduced by feeding low-protein diets but, in the same study, dominance aggression was not significantly affected.  More recently we have repeated the diet- study work and found some individual dogs that do seem a bit calmer and less aggressive when fed low-protein rations—but we still have to complete our final analysis.  Until that time, like almost everyone else, I advise owners to try switching diets to see if it makes a difference to their dog.  After all, the change is almost immediate and there's not much to lose.  There are some dogs that develop diarrhea if their diet is changed, and that is a risk, but it can be minimized by switching the diet gradually over three days.

Summary	
	Thus ends this brief description of the twelve-step program for the control of canine dominance, on the nebulous note of diet.  But the program itself is not so nebulous.  In fact it is quite concrete and very effective if diligently performed.  We have demonstrated that nine of ten owners see positive results after engaging in a dominance-control program with their dogs.  The improvement peaks about two months after implementation of the program and many owners see such outstanding results that they report their problems with the dog as solved.  The bottom line is, however, that dogs that have been allowed to develop dominance always have the potential to revert to their old ways should an owner's guard be lowered too far.  Some elements of the dominance-control program must be maintained indefinitely.  Dominant dogs are always testing the limits to see just how far they can go; challenging to see what they can get away with.  How far you can relax your guard depends on the dog in question, but for most dominant dogs at least half of the above measures must remain in place if the improved status quo is to be maintained.  And there is no point in just hoping and praying that dominance aggression will go away when the dog gets older.  It won't.  Only when dominant dogs become geriatric and their mental function deteriorates is there something of a remission in the struggle for power.  It takes a special mind-set to maintain the upper hand with these willful dogs in what is an ongoing game of interspecies one-upmanship.