Dog trainer shares a surprising fact about cute canine behavior

Las Vegas, Nevada - A dog trainer and his canine companion are winning big on Tiktok with a viral video all about domination.

A dog putting its paw over the owner's hand isn't innocent as it might seem.
A dog putting its paw over the owner's hand isn't innocent as it might seem.  © Screenshot/Instagram/ericfromnigeria

If you want to get on people’s radar on a global scale, just find something people feel passionate about and tell them something they don't know about it.

For Eric Ita, that something involved a dog-training video on the topic of dominance, featuring his handsome German shepherd.

In the Tiktok video that now has over 325,000 views, Ita discusses how that cute thing you think your dog always does might not be as sweet as you think. As his pooch keeps putting his paw on top of Ita’s arm, the young man explains that this isn’t your dog trying to hold hands, but rather an attempt to assert dominance over you – something that has to be resisted, not encouraged.

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Viewers were quick to comment trying to contradict Ita's lesson, with one writing, "I have a highly trained malinois who does agility, protection and advanced obedience...I guarantee he’s better trained and more obedient than any dog you have, but it’s ‘dominance’ right?"

Rather than lashing out, Ita responded with logic and humor, saying that just because the dog knows tricks doesn’t mean it’s well-trained – it just meant the dog "knows more tricks."

Others chimed in to the conversation, sharing their opinions as to why one or the other was wrong, with everyone assuming the roles of dog expert extraordinaire.

Eric Ita gives dog training lessons on Zoom

Ita joked that if he had changed the caption to something about the dog being playful, someone probably would’ve called him out, nodding to the exact dominance he was trying to teach about. In the end, he said that he "loved giving people a space to debate things that dogs probably don’t care about."

Those who want to learn more from Ita can catch him on a Zoom live class every Sunday at 7 pm.

Cover photo: Screenshot/Instagram/ericfromnigeria

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