As with all training methods there are some things I agree with and things I don't.
I really dont understand this "natural" movement going on be it with horses or dogs.
Fact being, there is nothing "natural" about how we keep our animals.
I am not against having pets, nor am I against proper socialization and containment of said pets, however.
As I have said probably a thousand times over the most well "balanced" and behaved dogs I have ever come across were dogs on the various reservations I worked on.
While yes these dogs were roaming free through the streets in "packs" they posed no threat to people walking playing running ect. On my lunch breaks I would park near a dog pack and watch them interact. It was amazing, there were various breeds with in the pack be them "pitbulls" shepherds, huskies, poodle and the various mixes due to not one dog being altered.
I don't know if the dogs had homes or not, I think the neighbourhood just put out food regardless if they owned dogs or not on 2 of the reserves I worked on.
All of the dogs looked to be in perfect health, not one was fat, not one was limping, not one made me think I should throw one in my truck and get it help.
These dogs all lived "naturally"
I am not saying that all dogs should be roaming around like this, in fact I don't think any should.
But many of the problems we see or hear about on this board or any other, or in training classes are man made problems.
Frustrated dogs, dogs put into situations like on leash nose to nose meetings going wrong, scuffles and fights that escallate when dogs do not know how to interact with each other properly or read body language.
Then there are the whining high anxiety dogs, the fear biters, the dogs with so much pent up energy due to lack of excercise but are expected to behave perfectly.
At any given time of day when I take all my guys out to play in the back bush it is nothing to be joined by neighbouring dogs who hear the "fun" and commotion to come join in.
Some days there can be upwards of 14 dogs all playing together and NOT ONCE have I ever dealt with a dog fight from this situation. Now all the neighbouring dogs here are intact (with the exception of some of mine and a few of the neighbours dogs). So we can easily have 4 intact males and various breeds, be it toy poodles, corgis, to "pitbulls" (there are 2 that fall in this category by looks) and Tibetan Mastiffs.
I like to think my dogs live semi naturally, being that we have 7 in one household now and all are together through out the day supervised. All of which have some breed predisposition to either being unreliable for recall, dog aggressive, stubborn, to feisty herders ect. By allowing them to do "dog things" and work out little problems they have through body language and warnings ( to which all of my dogs respect and fully understand) I give great credit to the dogs being sound and sane in "un natural" envioronments like being leash walked through a city seeing dogs only in passing on the street and not reacting in one bit, or lunging at cars ect... to the fact that they are confident in who they are either as a pack or individually and not being frustrated.
Point being, I dont see how "natural" training a dog who is housed or living "un naturally" ie single dog household because lets face it they are pack animals is possible.
Essentially there is NO way a human can teach a dog like another dog can "naturally"
For example, my dogs do not beg for food or look for food in a dish that is not theirs. Why? Because they have learned from the other dogs that you do not do this or you will either get growled at or body slammed down for snack surfing by the owner of said dish.
If Kita ( who is the top dog here for now) is eating something no one even looks twice at her doing so, let alone try to snag a bite of it. She has established that what is hers is hers already with them all by giving off warnings.
How are we supposed to mimic this naturally?
Same as "natural horsemanship" if a horse comes in at me rudely or in a disrespectful nature there is no way I can spin and kick out or reach out and bite the appropriate area to make my point that it was unacceptable to do so. How a human does it is with body language or a crop. But again, I can not pin my ears to my head as the ultimate warning that bad things will follow should you continue to do this. So with out giving the proper warning of what may come one could say I could be confusing a horse or making it unsure
Instead we teach to move off of pressure or give to it, and teach respect by moving a horse appropriately and chasing them away from us when being rude. This is the ultimate discipline for a herd or pack animal. Not allowing them to be part of the herd/pack.