What The Dog Saw

In the essay, Gladwell says that it is important to establish your dominance over a dog by not giving it special treatment and standing in certain ways to communicate to the dog your actions through body language. You have to assert yourself over the dog without being too aggressive, otherwise the dog will start acting aggressively in turn. The key is finding a balance that gives the dog some freedom, but there can be no question of who is in charge. Caesar stops his dogs' play time exactly when he means to and always confronts aggressive dogs without shying away. He needs to establish that he is the alpha because dogs are pack animals. If a dog does not respect you it will continue to misbehave and never learn to be controlled.

The essay also gives insight into interaction between humans. As demonstrated by the part about the autistic boy, humans also need to have authority established in a non-threatening way. Confidence is important when interacting with other people, but coming on too strongly can be just as harmful as letting people walk all over you. Only by establishing yourself to the other party in an assertive way can you gain their respect, but trying to execute authority over someone too soon can make them resent you. Also, just as a child is punished when it does wrong, dogs need to have boundaries established as well. You will never teach manners to a child if you idolize everything they do and never point out when they are doing something wrong.