MARTIN LUTHER KING – HOW TO LEAD WITHOUT FORCE

Posted by Victoria Stilwell - 01/21/13 at 03:01:37 pm 

Dr. Martin Luther King

Today we celebrate a great leader. We all know about how he helped advance civil rights and effect change around the world. We teach our children about the value of sticking to your core beliefs and allowing strong but understated confidence in the power of justice run its course like he did. But perhaps the most defining characteristic of the legacy of Martin Luther King, Jr. is his unwavering commitment to advancing his cause through the use of nonviolence.We continue to learn much from MLK, but the impact he continues to have on us as a society today applies not only to our human relationships.

The most effective and powerful leaders are able to change the behavior of others without imposing their will through the use of physical force. I wish we could all take this to heart as it relates to our relationships with our pets as well.

Despite the significant advances we've made as a culture over the past several decades in our understanding of animal behavior, there remains a virulent and undiminished undercurrent of resistance to the concepts of building relationships with our pets that are based on mutual trust, respect and love rather than pain, fear and intimidation. Despite the successes of my various TV shows and other projects, I'm continually confronted by those who believe that positive training is nothing more than a cute little sideshow that's helpful for naughty chihuahuas and earnest soccer moms.

Like Dr. King's, the battle to change people's perceptions of how we should interact with our dogs is an uphill fight. But as the evidence from the scientific community continues to mount and our collective willingness to allow others to treat pets more like livestock than cherished family members erodes, it becomes clearer and clearer that there is no alternative in sight but to win the fight.

Though the sentiment is obviously on a far different plane than the struggle over civil rights for all humans, we positive trainers, too, have a dream. We dream of a world where it is commonly understood that punishment and pain have no place in dog training. Where forced cooperation and submission through the use of intimidation and fear are universally recognized as outdated and less effective. Where positive reinforcement is celebrated as the most humane, long-lasting tool to combat unwanted behavior in all dogs - whether it's for common housetraining issues or severe aggression. Where we don't have to counteract and undo the damage inflicted on those whose owners are susceptible to the zen psychobabble of popular media culture.

On this Martin Luther King day, we celebrate the legacy of a great leader who harnessed the power of nonviolence and gentle, persistent persuasion. Let's try to do his memory justice not only by how we interact with our fellow humans, but also our four-legged companions.