I love this quote and I refer to it often.
Not to do too much armchair philosophising but it's important that we all recognise we all view life through our own personal lens, and that isn't always correct.
Cesar Millan, the world famous 'dog whisperer' who often appears on National Geographic, has always been very proud of his self-taught methods. To my knowledge he has no formal education, qualifications or training. His beliefs are largely based on his time growing up in Rural Mexico, watching the dogs on the farm as they interacted. He was often told he was a 'natural' with the dogs. How lovely. I guess you could also call someone who works in an abattoir a natural with cattle but i'm not sure its to their benefit.
There is a problem with this whole self-taught thing. It's not objective. It's not free from personal bias. No matter how much you observe something, if your internal lens views the world as hostile or it somehow makes you feel insecure of your place in the world, then your perception of behaviours and events will be always be skewed and incorrect.
Cesar Millan often finds evidence to support his viewpoint, labelling dogs as challenging us for their place at the head of the 'pack' (yawn...they're not pack animals but we'll come to that another time). This then gives him the opportunity to use force and intimidation - which frankly any fool can do if they are so inclined - not to mention feel very important and special:
"Aggression is often a cry for leadership", he says, proudly centring himself as the hero and saviour. I wonder how all those free roaming street dogs (of which there are more of than dogs living in homes) ever coped without his firm hand...
The thing is once you've made up a narrative it is very easy to find evidence to support your point of view. If you think dogs are inherently domineering and in need of asserting themselves as an alpha then you will see every scuffle, every interaction with dogs as proof of that.
A dog that has painful undiagnosed hip dysplasia that lunges as dogs coming too close to them is labelled as trying to be dominant.
A dog that snaps at their human who is trying to take away a chicken bone is seen as trying to be 'top dog' rather than simply acting like a dog does when someone attempts to take their special treasure. They have no clue that the human doesn't want them to have it because it will make them ill or is a choking hazard. In the dog world when someone tries to take your food its because they want it - so you hang on to it!
This is why evidence-based, peer-reviewed scientific research is so important. It doesn't care about that girl who dumped you when you were 16. It doesn't care that you were made to feel small of insignificant by a bully parent. It doesn't care if you had the most wonderful start to life imaginable. It's entirely objective, and it's constantly being updated. The arrogance to believe you can understand a different species without learning about them from the scientific minds that have been studying them impartially is unhinged. To forego all that learning and just wade in with a prong collar or a slip lead is akin to taking a hammer to a toaster that isn't working. I'm no electrician but I'm pretty sure that won't work. And even if it did, dogs are not appliances. They are sentient beings with feelings and emotions just like the rest of us. They're just trying to get by in a game controlled by humans and where they haven't been given the instructions.
Dogs are however tremendously diplomatic and will avoid conflict whenever possible. They will display a wide spectrum of calming signals to communicate to their human or another dog that they would like some space or that they they mean no harm but please go away. However, the uneducated dog trainer won't know about these. They won't recognise them. They will push and push and punish and punish until a dog learns that these lower level signals are futile. That's when a dog learns they have to bite. Bizarrely, some trainers recommend punishing a dog for even growling which is wild. This is like removing the horn from someone's car to alert pedestrians. A dog that is frightened to growl simply won't bother with that step anymore.
That leadership that Cesar Millan refers to isn't about top down bullying. All anyone ever wants is kindness, nurturing, to feel unafraid and to feel safe. An unpredictable bully on the end of lead issuing lead corrections for every communication is the opposite of that.
I hope Cesar Millan one day realises the monster he has unleashed on the world, along with the Monks of New Skete and those that came before. They have spawned a wildly unregulated dog training industry that has normalised harm instead of healing. Some of the most popular trainers on TV and social media use awful methods as a result of a lack of education.
So I ask you, consider how your own experiences may shape how you view your dog's behaviour.
Listen to the way professionals speak about dogs. Do they want to help or do they want to control? Do they care about education and scientific research? Or are they proudly self-taught (apart from they've watched some Cesar Millan videos on Youtube)?
Your dog's happiness and wellbeing literally depend upon the choices you make for them. Choose wisely.