Full Steam Ahead!
Hello world!
My name is Scott, and I am a professional dog trainer. My quest for this blog site is to help people learn to understand and train their own dog. I actually do not like the word ” train” for this. I really don’t train a dog. I teach her what I want her to do in certain situations and to act accordingly. My idea is that a dog want’s to make us happy, IF she respects you she will want to in your good favor. If she see’s you as a flake or just “wishy washie ” she will hold you in lower regard. JUST LIKE PEOPLE DO!
So what I do is teach my clients how to act like a leader to their dog, and be consistent about it. ” Act as if…” and your dog will want to make you happy. You will be the educator your dog will be the student…got it?
I will be posting tips and tricks as we go along and nice dog training articles as well. So join me in helping the world understand dogs.
Well some of you will know this, but I will go into detail about the things you NEED to provide as a pack leader to your dog. These elements are crucial for your dogs well being and happiness. In the wild the pack leaders would provide these things, and at the same time create a well balanced pack dynamic that the lower ranking dogs in the pack would feel safe in.
Thou Shalt Provide:
1: Food
2: Entertainment
3: Safety
4: Shelter
On the surface these things may seem obvious enough, however I will go into detail on each of them and probably open your eyes to the maybe not so obvious. Do not skip this or any section as you will most likely have a hole in your information that maybe key to solving a particular dog training issue.
Coming up….the truth about dog food and what dogs really want.
SAFETY!
Your walking down a dark street by yourself at 2:00 am in the wrong side of town. Suddenly, 3 bad looking guys step out of nowhere and ask you for some money. You get a cold lonely feeling, with a huge rush of fear.
Now, same thing again, your walking down a dark alley wrong part of town yada yada …but this time you have a platoon of U.S Marines with you, leading the way fully armed! …..Feel a little safer? I would, because just the presence of them would be enough to thwart off any foe’s that may otherwise want to tangle with me.
This is the basic idea of pack mentality, and why pack animals, like dogs, run in packs. For protection, for food for safety.
The stronger the pack the better, the stronger the leader the safer. A weak leader will be dethroned by the next in rank eventually. Its inevitable, it’s nature! Some of the things we do as humans seem like signs of weakness to a canine mind. Do you go in the door first or does your little soldier? ( dog ) Do you hand her treats or do you discard your scraps for the rest of the pack to divi up? Do you lead on the walk or does Fido insist on leading the way? The leader always leads, so who is the leader of your pack?
In order to be a good leader you must APPEAR as a strong leader thereby giving your dog the feeling of safety as in the Marine analogy. Safety comes from leadership, at times you must be stern and assertive when they ” Push” the rules. Also you must be fair and kind ( loving) when your dog is doing the right thing. Does this make sense to you? I hope so, because if your dog detects weakness in you, the safe feeling goes out the window, and she will take over as pack leader ( in her mind). Which most dogs are not capable of doing, hence the behavior problems such as barking too much, chasing her tail, chewing fur, aggression etc. The same happens to people thrust into a position at work they are not ready for, they stress because they are not ready or capable of that position.
So be a strong capable leader for your dog, thats what she really wants you know. Safety from you, not being treated like a human baby..
