This article reviews the literature on the complex and variable nature of the dog–human
dyad and describes the influence of terms such as “dominance” on attitudes that humans
have toward dogs. It highlights a legacy of tension between ethology and psychology and
notes that some practitioners have skills with dogs that elude the best learning theorists.
Despite the widespread appeal of being able to communicate with dogs as dogs do with one
another, attempting to apply the intraspecific dog ethogram to human–dog and dog–human …