About Hierarchy

What is my training method?

Training method = leadership + positive reinforcement + discomfort.
Leadership is the foundation of obedience — without it, there's no logical reason at all for your dog to obey you.

I didn't arrive at this formula from a textbook. It comes from my years of observing dogs: when you watch them sort themselves out with each other, long enough and closely enough, two of these three ingredients keep showing up on their own — leadership, and discomfort. Positive reinforcement is the exception: it's not something dogs do with each other, so that part comes specifically from the human-dog relationship. Here's what each one actually means, and why none of them works alone.

If he doesn't perceive you as the one who decides, why would he listen to you? He could obey you for two other reasons, but neither is effective nor respectful. The first is a treat — but its effectiveness is very limited in everyday life, nor does it solve any behavioral troubles. The second is pain (prong collars, shock collars…) — I completely reject the use of that in training. I've trained explosive-detection dogs for elite police units and worked with category 1 and 2 "dangerous" dogs under French law — reliability in those settings isn't optional, and it's never come from fear.

Leadership doesn't just make your dog obey you consistently: it's the only foundation that's both effective and respectful of your dog's nature, which is necessary for his balance. You can get a dog to obey without being dominant over him — but it won't hold up, and it won't be good for his wellbeing, because it won't be coherent. Looked at through the lens of a dog's education as a coherent whole, dominance and obedience are, in practice, almost synonymous: two sides of the same coin. A dog is meant to submit to a dominant's demands — but not to a subordinate's. That's not a theory — watch any pack of dogs that have nothing to prove to anyone, and you'll see it for yourself.

When you dominate your dog — when you address him to get him to obey — he'll look at you to find out what you expect of him; in other words, you have his attention. Otherwise, he'll keep focusing on whatever interests him and ignore you.

Positive reinforcement: the moment a dog obeys me, he's warmly praised and generously petted. For obedience, we always use a soft, warm, encouraging voice. That is positive reinforcement — and I use it every single time. I'm not against it; I've used it for thirty years. What I'm against is the trend of treating it as the only tool that should exist.

To understand more precisely what's really happening in my method, the petting and praise aren't just a simple association of "I obey = I get petted." Treating petting as positive reinforcement assumes petting is always pleasant for a dog — which isn't true: some dogs don't particularly enjoy it, and many sometimes refuse it outright. But when you dominate your dog, your petting inevitably takes on a very particular flavor: a mark of attention from the boss, which is deeply rewarding. A dog never appreciates petting as much as when it comes from a dominant — he then receives it very calmly, often half-closing his eyes.

Your petting only takes on its full meaning, and reaches its purpose, if you're perceived as the leader — only then does it really become "positive reinforcement." Otherwise, your dog might not even pay attention to it.

Discomfort. Discomfort is not pain, and I want to stress that point. Yes, you do need to introduce something unpleasant when a dog disobeys if you want real, effective obedience. Without discomfort, it's impossible to get obedience in every circumstance — and real obedience isn't a luxury. In the work I've done — bite-prevention programs in schools, zootherapy with inmates, dogs that have to hold a recall around traffic or around other dogs — it's often what keeps a dog, or the people around him, safe.

So what degree of discomfort? That's directly tied to your level of leadership. If you clearly and unambiguously dominate your dog, the level of discomfort needed is slight. If you don't dominate your dog, or only partly, that level has to be higher.

When you dominate your dog unambiguously, it isn't really the discomfort itself — the unpleasant physical sensation — that stops him from disobeying. Producing that discomfort is a reminder to your dog: "Remember, I'm the one who decides."

If some dogs appear to obey very well even though they hold all the power at home, it's because they have a very weak temperament. So why would you even need to dominate that type of dog? Because it's fundamental to their balance.

The more temperament a dog has, the more directly leadership affects his level of obedience — and across fourteen countries and every kind of dog, from family pets to working and street dogs, that's the one pattern that's never once failed to hold.

Obedience is taught without treats — why?

A treat only works when nothing more interesting has your dog's attention. The use of treats is fundamentally inefficient for two reasons.

First, when a dog is interested in something more attractive than the food offered to him, he won't listen. If he's about to cross a road to reach a dog he's just spotted and the treat doesn't attract him enough to turn around, I'll let you imagine the result.

The second reason is behavioral. To be obeyed, you need to be perceived as the one who decides. In a pack, only a dominant animal can approach a subordinate and take its food — so by letting your dog take a treat from your hand, you're actually adopting the submissive position.

In my own observations: the dominant dog in a pack can chase a subordinate away whenever it tries to approach her food — and, as the dominant, she can just as easily walk over and take the subordinate's food herself. A dominant can also hold the food bowl while the subordinate keeps its distance, or come take a subordinate's food outright, forcing it to walk away.

In recent years, some self-styled experts have claimed dogs no longer function within a strict hierarchy — and even less so with humans, because we're a different species. But the experts who spent decades studying dogs and concluded there IS a hierarchy weren't wrong the whole time — were they simply blind for decades? But how many of them have actually observed a pack? In the end, this is my opinion, and it's built on what I've seen.

I didn't take any of this on faith: I spent six years living with my own ten dogs, plus another ten boarders — none in outdoor kennels, all in my own house — watching their social organization closely enough to see what actually held up.

For anyone who doubts dogs have a hierarchical social system, I don't ask you to take my word for it — it's what I've seen and observed directly, time and again. And why does a dog keep a hierarchical relationship even with humans, knowing full well that we are not dogs? Because during the social imprinting period — from 3 to 12 weeks old — he lived alongside us.

We've all heard of a dog on the sofa who threatens to bite anyone trying to move him. Or a dog who growls or bites to defend his food. Or a dog who won't let a husband near his wife. These are all everyday examples of hierarchy at work.

Leading a dog is what puts him at ease — it doesn't stop you from giving him affection. You can still pet him and play with him all day long.

To love a dog is to take him for what he is, not for what we'd like him to be — to respect his fundamental needs and his deep nature, and offer him a structured living environment that respects his social codes.

There are training methods far more effective, and far more respectful of a dog's essence, than those using treats. It's high time to look into them, for a genuinely harmonious life with this wonderful animal.

To be clear: I do use positive reinforcement — just not through treats, and not on its own (see "What is my training method?" above).

Read more in Dogs and the hierarchy, one of my articles.

What 30 years in the field taught me about hierarchy

During my studies in ethology and canine behavior, I read a great many books and academic theses. Some of them contradict each other and don't agree on how dogs behave or how their social organization works. Throughout all my years living with dog packs, I kept my eyes wide open — and what I observed, and still observe today, after 30 years, is backed up by the specialists quoted below.

The notion of hierarchy contributes to well-being and the dog's balance. It is up to the master to take responsibility for that role — only then will the animal feel secure, since its needs will be taken care of. To be led does not mean to be humiliated, but to be protected by the group. Dr. Patrick Pageat, Doctor of Veterinary Medicine (National Veterinary School of Lyon and University of Lyon I), founder and scientific director of IRSEA — Advanced Studies Diploma in Ethology (Paris VI, Paris X, and the National Museum of Natural History), Diploma from the European College of Veterinary Behavioral Medicine for Companion Animals, Associate Professor of Applied Ethology and Animal Welfare at the Purpan Engineering School, visiting professor at the veterinary faculties of Pisa and Barcelona, co-founder and vice-president of the ESVCE, member of the AVSAB and CABTSG, and president of the European College of Animal Welfare and Behavioral Medicine

Everyday examples of hierarchy at work

• A subordinate is not allowed to initiate contact with a dominant.
• A subordinate cannot enter "the house" without authorization from his hierarchical superior, after inspection.
• A dog settled in a passage area can prevent a subordinate from passing through.
• A dominant defends elevated places — a bed or a couch counts as one.

The dog is a social being — to grow out of that, you have to establish this hierarchical relationship, in feeding, sleeping, and contact. It's the only way to structure and soothe the animal. Monique Bourdin, veterinary doctor, graduate of the Institut Pasteur in Paris, responsible for education and consultations in behavioral disorders at the French National Veterinary School

There are debates today among behaviorists — some say the hierarchy isn't real. They're wrong. You have to get into the hierarchy: if you don't do your job as pack leader, you're going to be in trouble. When you know the dog well, there's no question about it — it isn't for the dog to decide where he goes or what he eats. He shouldn't be the leader, because if you give him room and he's a bit of a wolf around the edges, he'll take the place of pack leader, and you'll have nothing more to say. You have to accept the hierarchy. Dr. Pierre Jouventin, expert ethologist and CNRS Research Director, 1st Class — author of over 230 peer-reviewed scientific articles (A-rank journals), head of the Behavioral Ecology team at CEFE and the ETHOTAAF program (CNRS), and vice-president of the European Federation of Ecology

Dr. Pierre Jouventin wrote about my book: "You are right to go against the trend of purely positive reinforcement training, as well as the trend of denying hierarchy — one wonders how anyone can reach that conclusion when it only takes five minutes to observe it in dogs… Dog trainers lean heavily on positive reinforcement for commercial reasons, since owners prefer not to say no to their beloved dog."

One consequence of denying hierarchy: every day in the United States, 1000 people are treated in hospital emergency departments for a dog bite, according to the National Electronic Injury Surveillance System (NEISS-AIP). And more than 80% of these bites happen... at home — inflicted on family members and those closest to them.

Treat your dog like a human, and sooner or later it will remind you of its true nature.

Why do these accidents happen? For Monique Bourdin, veterinary doctor at INSERM and specialized in canine behavioral disorders, the answer is clear: "Accidents by bites are essentially linked to the failure to respect the species' way of life." She adds: "The dog is a social being; to thrive, it must live this hierarchical relationship."

Establishing a hierarchical relationship means respecting your dog's nature — respecting your dog. He's an animal who has kept all his instincts and his social way of functioning. Denying that harms him, and it's what generates most of what people call "behavioral troubles."

But establishing a hierarchical relationship is not at odds with the love and affection you feel for him — quite the opposite. The living environment you put in place structures him and puts him at ease, and within that framework you can still pet him, play with him, and give him all the affection you want — as often and for as long as you like. That framework is what a real closeness with your dog grows out of.

And the more your dog perceives you as a leader, the more attached to you he'll be — he's wired to follow a strong leader, because that leader gives him a better chance of survival.

Isn't respecting his true nature proof of love?