5 Surefire Ways to Show Your Dog You’re The Boss

Written by Charlie Lafave


Do you have problems at your house with who’s in charge? By that I mean, does your dog think he’srepparttar boss? In your effort to form a stronger bond with your dog you may have inadvertently told him he’srepparttar 125717 Leader ofrepparttar 125718 Pack. Here are 5 simple and effective ways to correct that.

You Must Be The Alpha Dog First, let’s take a look at what a “pack mentality” means. Dogs are born into packs – inrepparttar 125719 wild, packs arerepparttar 125720 essential social order. Unlike humans, who use a variety of political processes to determine leadership and rank, dogs sort out their social order by dominance and power. In a wolf pack, there is a Top Dog – a clear leader who isrepparttar 125721 dominant, Alpha male. He’srepparttar 125722 Big Dog, with pride of place atrepparttar 125723 dinner table (well, if wolves had a dinner table!), first in mating, first in decision making forrepparttar 125724 pack. Whether you realize it or not, your dog views your household as his own personal wolf pack. The pack mentality is so engrained in your dog’s psyche that he will either view you as a leader - or a follower - depending on your actions. If you are to have a well-trained dog, you must establish that you arerepparttar 125725 leader, and he isrepparttar 125726 follower. Your dog has to know in his heart that you arerepparttar 125727 Alpha Dog,repparttar 125728 Head Honcho,repparttar 125729 Big Dog,repparttar 125730 Top Dog – call it whatever you want, but your dog needs to know you’re in charge. Dogs are a little like children in one respect – they’re looking for someone else to berepparttar 125731 leader – they want rules and regulations because that makes their role inrepparttar 125732 pack more clear-cut and understandable. It’s scary beingrepparttar 125733 leader – if you’re not up to it, your dog may assumerepparttar 125734 role – because someone has to be in charge! If that’s what’s happened at your house, you need to re-establish your position asrepparttar 125735 Top Dog, or “Leader ofrepparttar 125736 Pack.” But here’s an important note: beingrepparttar 125737 leader ofrepparttar 125738 pack has absolutely nothing to do with harsh punishment. It has everything to do with consistency and setting limits. A simple rule to remember (and one people have great difficulty keeping in mind) is that you arerepparttar 125739 leader, not your dog.

1. You Go Through The Door First Even something as straightforward as who walks throughrepparttar 125740 door first can reinforce your position as “dominant dog.” Leaders lead. Followers follow. If you allow your dog to charge throughrepparttar 125741 door ahead of you, he perceives that as asserting his dominance over you. Put your dog onrepparttar 125742 leash, and make sure you’rerepparttar 125743 first one throughrepparttar 125744 door.

2. You Eat Before Your Dog Who gets fed first in your house – you or your dog? In a wolf pack,repparttar 125745 leader eats first, and when he is done,repparttar 125746 rest ofrepparttar 125747 pack can dine. Do you feed your dog first because he pesters you when you’re cooking your dinner, and it’s simply more convenient to have him quiet and out ofrepparttar 125748 way when you’re eating? Food is a powerful motivator that can be used to clearly demonstrate who isrepparttar 125749 ruler ofrepparttar 125750 roost at your house. In no way, shape or form am I suggesting that you withhold food from your dog – that’s cruel and unusual punishment any way you look at it. What I am suggesting is that you controlrepparttar 125751 timing ofrepparttar 125752 food – you should eat first, your dog second, after you’re done with your meal.

Why Your Puppy Nips - And 5 Ways To Get Him To Stop

Written by Adam G. Katz


Here’s a news flash – puppies nip! Okay, I guess you already knew that. But here’srepparttar surprise – you may actually be encouraging your puppy to nip. Let’s talk about how to stop this behaviour before it grows up to be an adult-sized dog problem. Puppies are a lot like babies – they use their mouths in part to explore their world. Little kids are forever sticking things in their mouth – from your favourite house plant torepparttar 125716 bar of soap inrepparttar 125717 tub. That’s one ofrepparttar 125718 ways they experience taste and texture, and figure out what’s good and what’s not. It’s all about experimentation. Puppies arerepparttar 125719 same. They want to see just how soft your finger is, or what that leash tastes like. In addition, biting or nipping is an important part of learning social skills in their “wolf” pack –repparttar 125720 social structure that makes up your dog’s life. And with some breeds, such as Border Collies, biting or nipping is even more instinctive because ofrepparttar 125721 nature ofrepparttar 125722 breed – they’re born and bred to herd livestock, and that’s how a 50 or 60 pound dog will control a 1,000 pound cow – by biting atrepparttar 125723 heels or nose. If your dog was allowed to remain with mom and his littermates for an appropriate amount of time (until at least 8 weeks of age), then mom should have taught himrepparttar 125724 beginnings of bite inhibition. Asrepparttar 125725 pups began to grow and develop those needle-sharp little puppy teeth, mom would have disciplined him for being too rough, either with her or his littermates. Junior soon learns that all play will stop and he’ll get smacked down by mom if he gets carried away. But when you get that puppy home, and he becomes part ofrepparttar 125726 family, you may be encouraging him to nip by lettingrepparttar 125727 kids run away from him, squealing and giggling in an effort to play “chase” games. While this is cute atrepparttar 125728 beginning, it can soon turn into a full-fledged problem when he’s no longer such a small, cute puppy, and views any child running away as fair game. You can also encourage this kind of bad behaviour by teasing him with toys – holding them just above his head and yanking them out of range when he jumps forrepparttar 125729 toy or nips at it. (This also encourages another bad habit: jumping.)

Here’s 5 things you can do to stop your puppy from nipping.

1. When your puppy does nip – stop all play If your puppy nips too hard, say “Ouch!” in a loud-enough voice to surprise him (don’t start off by screaming!) and stop all play. Turn your back on him, and refuse to continuerepparttar 125730 game. He should come around to face you and find out what’s wrong – tell him “bad dog – no bite” in a firm tone of voice. Do this every time he nips until he getsrepparttar 125731 idea that nipping means no more fun.

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