The first thing you should do when you want to start training your dog is to make sure that your dog sees you as the leader of the pack. This will make teaching him so much easier as he is already in a follower state of mind and will do what you want.
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 way to show your dog that you are in charge is during feeding time. In the alpha pack, the leader dog always eats first and gets the best portions. Only after he is done eating, can the others eat. So, if you feed your dog before you eat, you are showing him that he is the leader over you. What you need to do is prepare your meals and eat first, even if it is a small snack. Then get ready to feed your dog by placing his food in his bowl and swishing it around with your hands. This distributes your smell all over the food which reinforces that you are in charge. Then before you place his food bowl down for your dog to eat, you need to make him sit first. The goal is to make him obey your commands or wants and avoid giving your dog what he wants. This seems like a simple step, but believe me it can work wonders.
A further technique is to completely ignore your dog when you come home. I know this one will be very hard as it was for me when training my dog. Your first instinct is to praise your dog with a lot of love immediately, but this only reinforces to your dog that he is in charge because he is setting the rules on when he gets attention and love. You see, in a dog's world, the alpha or leader always gets the attention first, so be greeting your dog first and not your family, you are telling your dog that he is the alpha and that your family is the followers. What you need to do is completely ignore your dog when you come home and greet all the other people in your house hold. Your dog will soon realize he is being ignored and will calm down and sometimes he will lay or sit down, patiently waiting for you to be ready to give him love. Once he is calm then, go ahead and shower him with a lot of love. Your dog will soon learn his place and he will patiently and calmly wait for you to greet the humans first.
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 an additional technique where you can show your dog that you are the leader of your pack. When it comes to bedtime, the alpha pack leader always gets the highest sleeping spot because he is the one who looks out for the rest of the pack. So, when you allow your dog to sleep with you on the bed, you are reinforcing that he is the pack leader and you are not. It is ok to allow him to be on the bed with you at night while you are watching TV, but when it is time to sleep you need to make him go to his own bed on the floor. This will help strengthen your position as the pack leader.
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.
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