that lady is making sense but I wouldnt be able to follow that idea either

When I come home my 2 girls run out to the car (i don't think it's becuase they're fone of me as much as it's a contest), to be the first to greet me. When I get into the house the two hounds are at the door. Behind them are generally my wife iwth my one year old son. Though these might be a sign of me being lucky, I don't see how my dogs could possibly take me greeting them along with the 4 other human members of the family to mean that they're anything special in the hierarchy. It could be that I'm doing too much observing and thinking and not enough believing TLC and Animal Planet though.

I think we should all remember that "celebrity" trainers need to appear to be on the cutting edge of training philosophy. The target audience of those shows is often one step away from going to a pet "psychic" to find out what troubles their cat. Those trainers don't necessarily get paid to show tried and true, common sense methods. Their careers have shifted to being focused on the entertainment value.

Well actually watch nature channel or sumething and see the alpha come back to the pack.. it will meet and greet, but will let the rest of the pack come meet and greet IT.. but when someone is overly exited then it is aloof like "cut it out u little twerp!":P so this "expert" havent gotten the real picture in my opinion..
:P

I agree that it's fine to greet the dog when coming home. And I can't say I agree with the "celebrity" trainer in this instance. However, if the context of that advice was that a dog had severe separation anxiety, I could absolutely get behind it. I am not a trainer, but spent a good stretch of time working in a "doggy day care" and we had dogs who were an absolute wreck when their owners left. When their owners dropped them off they (the owners) practically smothered the dogs with attention, apologizing all over themselves for leaving the dog in a giant fenced-in area filled with toys and other dogs. Same thing when they picked them up. The owners were so worked up it was no wonder the dogs could hardly stand being alone.
Anyways, I think that advice is probably meant for owners who have no idea how to raise a dog. Obviously not the F&S crowd.

For some dogs there is no need to be the dominant member of your family pack. But my male lab who was an only puppy and is really quite a royal pain in the @ss sometimes, is constantly testing the fence for signs of weakness! He needs to be shown that I am the alpha as you put it. It doesn't take much really, just to stare him down once in a while until he lays down and looks away. Then he's good for a few weeks :D

The "dod whisperer" techniques have been condemned, or at least not supported, in a lot of the world.

While they're possibly useful for extreme cases, and few of those, positive training and reinforcement is better.

We don't even watch that show since it looks wrong to me. There's nothing we haven't been able to teach our dogs with a few liver treats.

http://www.apbc.org.uk/press/problems_with_aversive_dog_training_techniq...