ron2
Posted : 8/9/2008 1:02:01 PM
Evidently, ot is ot or they just wanted to throw cold water on the bunch of us.
Anyway, per original topic. Why do people behave the way that they do, especially in regards to training instruction.
The short, insensitive answer: they think they know everything and resent it when somone shows them that they are wrong.
A more complex answer (and hopefully more accurate): a combination of factors, some subtle, some not. My disclaimer, I am not educated in psychology. Just the same, some behavior patterns are so predictable that even I can see them. People absorb a fair amount of attitudes and filters by which they see things through upbringing, local culture, and, of course, ego. If one's family viewed dogs as a constant struggle (for example, the macabre saying "dog eat dog world";) then they are likely to ascribe to notions of social dominance. Humans tend to behave as if social dominance is the way, even though we also show social unity from the ground up. That is, a person is in leadership because we allow them to be there. If a person has a problem understanding that concept, I invite them to study revolutionary war, both american and french. No one likes a dictator and eventually, the "people" rise up and displace what they don't like. But that doesn't stop the attractiveness of the social dominance model. Plus, it may give some people a sense of power and mysticism that they can physically subdue another creature. An interesting dichotomy arises. Many wish to think of a dog as closely related to a wolf or as a domesticated wolf (that's an oxymoron) yet would assume to do to their dogs what no clear-headed, own-skin-loving person would do to a real wolf. That is, I haven't seen any person go out and try to collar-correct, or tsst, or scruff and pin a 120 lb gray wolf that can run upto 40 mph.
Yet these beliefs persist and some owners may simply insist that the expert, (in this case you, SD), don't know what you are talking about because it doesn't fit with what they know, even if what they know lacks scientific data or proof. Which sounds more like a struggle of science versus faith, though that may be painting with a broad stroke on my part.
I might describe it as a misunderstanding. For example, a misunderstanding of the actual interactions of dogs. What many people think of as momma dog scruffing a pup is not a social dominance move but a physical move for mechanical reasons. It is still the pup that learns to give calming signals. And most training doesn't happen until 4 months when mostly the male members revoke the puppy license and engage in psychological warfare that uses very little physical process but mostly growls, stares, and postures. A pup that cannot amend his own behavior will soon be cast out. No one likes a bully. But it can be easy to assume something different from watching such interactions. And the average owner might not have that sensitivity of observation. But, like many adults, once he has that attitude in mind, it becomes difficult to change it.
Hence, it is more difficult to change a human than to train a dog. This is in spite of our supposed intellectual superiority, our so-called cognitive abilities. Shoot, it's easier to talk about dog training than human training, sometimes.