It’s time to change the way we think about dogs.

Have you ever wondered why people who seem kind and friendly communicate with their dogs by yelling, yanking the leash, or—even worse—pinning them to the ground, hitting them, or using electric shocks?

I often meet dog guardians who are genuinely wonderful people, yet when it comes to their dogs, they turn into drill sergeants or enforcers. Where does this double standard come from?

To understand this, we need to take a look at the history of dog training.

Before World War II, dog training was virtually unheard of outside of specific working contexts. It was during the war that mass training of dogs began. Hitler, a great admirer of German Shepherds, ordered the development of a dog training system to prepare dogs for military use. The Allies followed suit. This is when the foundations of modern dog training were laid—based partly on the only available (but methodologically flawed) wolf studies from the 1930s and partly on the military style of training.

This approach defined how we thought about dog training for the next fifty years.

After the war, many of the military personnel who had trained dogs during the conflict opened civilian dog training schools. Dog training became popular, but the methods used were the same as in the army and on the battlefield—yelling, choking, pinning dogs to the ground, hitting. These techniques offered one thing: quick and total control.

The focus was on absolute obedience and lightning-fast response to commands—a word that itself has military roots.

Sadly, these methods came at a great cost to dogs’ mental health. Today, we know that dogs trained this way are more likely to develop fear and display aggressive behavior. But back then, no one seemed to care.

Over the past decade, we’ve seen a breakthrough in dog training, driven by growing access to modern research on canine learning, emotion, and motivation. Trainers and behaviorists began paying attention to the learning environment, problem-solving abilities, and cooperation—not just obedience.

It is no longer legal in many places to use violence against dogs. And although studies clearly show that reward-based learning is more effective, change has been slow. Many dog training schools remain conservative and stuck in the past.

There are still no regulations on who can call themselves a dog trainer. No formal education or qualifications are required. As a result, outdated and harmful training methods are still promoted by some trainers, books, and TV shows.

Well-meaning dog guardians looking for expert advice are bombarded with backward ideas: be the pack leader, use a prong collar, shock the dog when it disobeys, choke it with a “behavior leash”, and various other ways to hurt or intimidate their pet.

Even in many modern schools that claim to use only “positive” methods, the top priority is often still obedience and total submission to the human—still called an “owner,” which says a lot about how the dog is viewed: not as a subject, but as a possession.

In traditional obedience training, if a dog doesn’t respond immediately and mindlessly to a command, it’s seen as a failure. The dog isn’t supposed to think, let alone make its own decisions. In a way, obedience training has been about raising dogs that can’t think for themselves.

It’s time for the next revolution in how we think about dogs. Let’s treat them as individuals—sovereign beings, not property.

Let’s start talking about their welfare. Let’s allow them to make choices. Let’s stop putting control and obedience on a pedestal. Let’s enjoy their cooperation and the time they choose to spend with us.

Dogs love to work with us. They are the only species so highly specialized in understanding humans and adapting to our lifestyle and needs. Let’s appreciate that—and instead of just telling them what to do, let’s start listening to what they need.