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Who's in charge in your household? Your dog? If you find your dog is leading the way too often, read on for some tips to help you take control. You can train your dog to understand that you are in charge.

Alpha Canine Services can also help you train your dog in person. We offer a range of convient dog training classes, private lessons and consultations that both you and your dog will enjoy. Contact us for details. Our dog training center in Baraboo, Wisconsin, is within convenient driving distance of Wisconsin Dells, Lake Delton, Reedsburg, Portage and other central Wisconsin cities and towns.

Leadership In The Human/Canine Pack

When Humans are not Around

Dogs are pack animals. They live within a well-defined social hierarchy, as do all pack animals. Rules are simple. The rules are black and white, never gray. There is no 'maybe', 'perhaps' or 'sometimes' in the laws that govern interactions of the members within the dog pack. Without this set of rules, chaos would reign and the species would not survive.

The leader known as the "Alpha" dog administers the rules of the pack. For simplicity in this article, there is a male and female leader and subordinates. The alpha dog's responsibility is to enforce the rules and to ensure the dog pack survives by leading the pack and controlling all the resources of the pack. Being the leader of the dog pack carries with it an awesome responsibility. The leadership position can be a very stressful position. In the dog world, leaders are born to this position. They carry themselves with confidence and are by nature dominant individuals.

While the leadership position is stressful, it also brings special 'perks'. Leaders always go first. Leaders do not follow subordinates; they lead them and are usually out in front. Leaders also eat first, choosing the best portions of a meal. Leaders sleep in the best spots and when it suits them they demand attention and grooming from the subordinates. And, most significantly, they are the dogs to breed, thereby adding their genetic make-up to the gene pool.

Leadership in the Human-Dog Relationship

Leadership in a strictly canine pack is dynamic and may change, as the leaders grow older, become physically unable to lead or simply exhibit poor leadership. The same is true for the pack relationship that exists between a dog and its owner. In order for the species as a whole to exist there must be a leader and your dog knows this instinctively. If you are not the leader, your dog will begin to make its play for the position. Please don't think that your dog believes you to be a dog. It knows you are not. However, your dog will not tolerate living in a pack (and that is what your family is to your dog) without a leader.

Humans and dogs (animals) co-exist in a relationship that is nothing short of miraculous. Think about it. This is a relationship where a predator lives with us in very close proximity. How then, do we as a separate and distinct species live with our dogs displaying leadership? We do this by controlling resources the dog wants and needs.

Controlling resources is not new to us. We do not allow our children to eat candy before a meal (controlling food). We stop our children from entering places that could be dangerous like a street (controlling space). We also make sure household chores or homework is completed before allowing them to watch TV or play video games (controlling time).

Controlling resources defines our position in the hierarchy of the pack in our dog's eyes and results in the subordinates having respect. To a dog this provides security and peace. To the dog, this is love. Dogs that live in a pack with a true leader are not stressed, unhappy, nervous or aggressive.

These are the resources your dog needs and desires and are what we need to control:

• Food
• Water
• Time
• Toys
• Space
• Attention/affection

Your dog knows instinctively that these resources in the natural world are not free for the taking. They must be earned and worked for. This is why we call the controlling of resources the NILF dog training method. (NOTHING IN LIFE IS FREE.)

Controlling the Resources: Dog Training to Establish Yourself as Leader

Food

Stop free feeding your dog. Feed your dog at designated meal times only. Do not leave food on the floor for them to nibble on when they like. In the natural world, dogs spend hours upon hours foraging and hunting for food. They work to get their food and sometimes are not successful for days on end. Dogs know instinctively that they must work for their food. Train your dog to sit before you put the food bowl down and then release them to eat it. After 20 minutes, remove the food and do not offer the food again until the next designated mealtime. We recommend that your dog be fed like this for the rest of his/her life.

Remember that treats are considered 'food' also. Don't freely hand these out on a whim. The dog needs to earn them. Train your dog to come to you, or sit, or lie down, etc., before giving a treat. Use treats as a reward, not as a bribe.

Water

Your dog must have access to water frequently, especially after exercise, during hot weather or after eating dry food. This does not mean access 24/7. Offer your dog water when you are home as needed. Train your dog to sit, put the water bowl down and then release the dog to the bowl.

Toys

Do not leave toys lying all around the house. Keep them in a box and offer one toy at a time that you select on your schedule. Train your dog to sit or down before giving the toy. Generally, we do not advocate playing tug of war with your dog. If your dog has bitten, never play tug of war with your dog!

Allow your dog to play with the toy, or play with him. From time to time, remove the toy from your dog. Ask the dog to sit, take the toy and then give it back or replace it with a different toy. When you decide that playtime is over, put the toy away. Seek the services of a professional dog trainer to deal with dogs that guard their toys or any resource for that matter.

Time

You must decide what you and your dog will do at any given time. The exception to this rule is letting the dog out to relieve itself. If you decide it is time for the dog to lie down quietly at your side, do not give in to your dog's demand to do otherwise. Place the dog on a leash, hold the leash and gently prevent him from leaving the area, barking or soliciting play. Your dog will eventually settle down. Use this dog training technique a couple times a day for ten to fifteen minutes each time.

Space

You control where your dog places its body. Periodically have your dog yield the space it is occupying so you can move through it. For instance, if your dog is lying down do not go around it or step over it. Shuffle your feet into the dog and command it to "move," thereby yielding the space to your right of passage.

Many dogs that have behavioral issues sleep in their owner's bed. If your dog has bitten someone or bitten someone while on the bed, banish it from the bed and the bedroom forever! It should sleep in a different room entirely under these circumstances. If your dog has not bitten or is not challenging you in other areas of pack life, do this for 30 days.

Do you allow your dog on the furniture? Remember, leaders sleep and occupy the choicest spots. When your dog gets on your bed or your furniture it begins to think of itself as equal to you in status. Not a good situation if your dog is exhibiting behavioral issues, challenging your leadership or has bitten someone.

Train your dog to stay off of the furniture. Put a dragline on your dog and when it gets up on the furniture, grab the end of it, turn your back and walk away, impersonally removing your dog. If your dog has bitten someone, furniture is off limits for life. If not, do this for thirty days.

Train your dog to follow you. When going through a doorway or another tight place like a hallway, always walk through before your dog. Use your body to block the dog from taking the lead and going first in these places. Do this for life. If your dog has bitten while guarding space, contact a professional trainer for help before trying this approach.

Smelling/scenting during a walk

This is a resource not often considered as such. Scenting on a walk is part of being a dog, but when the dog does this during the first few minutes of your walk, keep going and deny the dog this resource. If after awhile your dog is walking attentively and not pulling, occasionally stop to allow the dog to sniff.

Attention/Affection

Attention is talking to your dog, touching your dog and giving eye contact to your dog. This is the toughest resource for us to control because we are human and this is a strong part of our nature. Over-stimulating the dog with too much talk, eye contact and touching can be disastrous for many dogs.

There is nothing 'wrong' with giving our dog’s attention/affection but it must be done on our terms. You decide when, where and for how long attention is given. It is on our schedule. Do not allow your dog to demand attention by staring at you, prodding you by nudging your arm with their muzzle or barking. Train your dog to earn your attention by having it sit or down and then give it attention, using the attention as a reward.