running_dog
Honored Member
No, but how we choose to communicate those decisions is influenced by whether we view the dog as something we control or as something we are friends with.
To teach children and dogs that you make decisions you need to have a discipline strategy. You won't use the benevolent discipline strategies that are needed for you to show yourself as Lola's "leader".
To teach things to a friend you both make decisions and respect each other's decisions. You won't respect Lola's decisions because you want to be the leader.
Good dog trainers use elements of both schools of thought depending on what they are teaching the dog. However if you discard the active ingredients from both schools of thought you end up as neither friend nor leader.
For anyone who joins in on this thread the discussion with Myraellen started in another thread.
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