I am another member who does not believe in Dominance Theory. Dominance theory came about from studies of wolves. However these studies were faulty, being that the wolves studied were captive populations in zoos. Here is an interesting PDF for those who care to read it: http://www.wolf.org/wolves/news/iwma.../alphawolf.pdf

Also, the wolf is so far removed from the dog in so many ways that I believe it is a fallacy to base our interactions with dogs on how wolves interact with each other. There was a study that was done with a dog and a wolf pup raised in captivity. They set up a test where they had to pull a rope to get at treat. When the dog pulled the rope and didn't get a treat, the dog looked to the human for help. The wolf just kept on pulling. Dogs have been with us for a very long time throughout the evolution of society, and in that time they have learned to read our body language remarkably well. Point your hand and the dog will look where your hand is pointing. My cat doesn't do that, she just watches my hand movement.

The point of my rambling is, with a creature who looks to us for guidance, who is so in tune to our behavior, I prefer to teach them what to do and how to behave instead of simply trying to punish the bad behavior out of them.