clockThis article was published more than 2 years ago
Many canine behaviorists agree that when it comes to dominance, pooches don’t try to compete with people
Late last year, my girlfriend and I adopted a middle-aged beagle mix named Cleo. She is an unusually beautiful creature with a long snout that grades from brown to white, ears that flap like a cartoon swan’s wings as she walks and the muscular shoulders of a boxer — heavyweight human, not the German breed. She is also both obstinate and cantankerous, fixated on food and frequently aggressive toward other dogs, especially the adorable puppy that lives on the first floor of our building. When Cleo came to live with us, I was unthinkingly convinced that we had to be firm with her if we wanted to correct these behavioral issues, sure that she wouldn’t respect us if we didn’t prove that we were in charge — that we were, to use a word I thought I understood: dominant.
