During dog training, become the Alpha leader with these 5 methods
No commentsWant to know how to make your dog obey your commands when you are training him? One simple procedure is to make it known to your dog that you are the leader, the alpha of the pack and that he is the follower. Once your dog learns that you are the leader, he will obey your commands much faster and your training sessions will go more smoothly.
You see, dogs are pack animals and live with a hierarchy set of rules where there is only one leader and the rest are followers. The leaders do whatever they want to do and they get the best of everything from toys to food. The leaders also make all the decisions and the followers only do whatever the leader will allow them to do. So, by establishing yourself as the leader, your dog will follow and obey your commands. There are 5 simple methods you can begin carrying out today to teach your dog his position in your family pack.
One of the simplest ways to get your dog to realize that you are the leader of the pack is in the way your feed your dog. Your dog’s meal time is excellent training ground and will not take any longer that it usually does to feed him. The first rule is you must eat first and your dog must see you eating first. Once you are done, then you can begin to prepare your dogs food. Place his food into his bowl, swish it around with your hands to distribute your scent all over his food, make him sit, and then feed him. By doing this every time your dog eats, he will soon learn that you are the alpha of the pack because the alpha always eats first. Plus, you are further enforcing your status in the pack by placing your scent all over his food. In basic dog language you are claiming that the food is yours and that you are letting your dog eat your food.
Another way to show your dog who is boss is to simply ignore him when you come home. I know this sounds mean and that you just want to show your beloved dog how much you missed him, but your dog does not see it that way. You see, in a pack, when someone comes in, the leader is always greeted first and with much praise. So, when you come home and you immediately show your dog affection, you are basically telling him that he is the leader of your family pack. When you come home, ignore the dog and greet the other people in your household first. Then when your dog is calm, call him over to you and shower him with affection and love. This simple change will let your dog know that he is not the alpha of the pack.
Another technique in your training your dog that you are the leader is to make all the decisions for him. In a dog pack, the leader makes all the decisions for the rest of the team and the rest of the team just follows what the leader says. So, if you are letting your dog tell you what he wants to do, like when to play or when he needs love, then he will see that you are the follower and that he is the leader. So try and make all the decisions for your dog. If he wants to play, ignore him until he gives up, then go pickup his toy and ask him if he wants to play. If he wants some pets and rubs your hand with his head, simply move your hand and wait until he gives up, then call him over and lather him with love and pets. I know from personal experience that this is the hardest one to implement, but when done, you dog will soon start seeing you as the leader.
Bedtime is one more method where you can show your dog that you are the leader. The alpha dog, in the pack, always gets the best of everything, including where he sleeps. When they all sleep, the alpha dog gets the highest spot over all the other dogs because they are looking out after their pack. So, when you go to bed, you need to make sure that your dog sleeps on the floor in his bed while you sleep up higher than him in your bed. You can still play with your dog while in bed or while you are watching a movie before your go to sleep, but when it is time to go to sleep, you need to make your dog go lie down in his own bed.
The last way you can demonstrate to your dog that you are the alpha leader is by grooming him and rubbing his belly. In the dog world, lying down displays submission to an authority leader and a pack leader will never show submission to those under him. This is what will make these sessions so great. It’s a fun and relaxing way for both you and your pet and it also proves to your dog that you are the leader and he is subordinate to you. All you have to do is make your dog lay down on his side and then brush him and rub his belly. This may be hard to do at first since your dog is not used to doing this, but as you continue to it, it will become easier and he will even begin to look forward to his grooming sessions.
When you put these five methods presented above into practice, your dog will soon begin to learn that you are the leader and he is the follower. Once he learns this lesson, your regular training sessions will go much more smoothly and easier since he already knows you are the leader and he place is to follow and do what ever you want him to do.
Tuesday, May 6th, 2008 at 2:49 pm and is filed under Dog training. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
