Dogs are descendent of wolves. To
study the psychology of dog training and understand the pack
hierarchal system of dogs, we must go back and examine their
ancestor - wolves.
Wolves live naturally in packs of at least 2 and more... They
live in a dictatorship system with strictly defined hierarchies
of males and females. In their system, a leader - usually always
a male, the biggest and toughest wolf also known as alpha leader
would be in charge of the pack and will have the right to
everything. The rest of the dogs in the pack would be followers
and follow their leader willingly. This hierarchy system is not
static and would change when another dominant member challenge
the leader's authority and win.
For your dog, your family is the pack and every member is part
of the hierarchy system. From the moment a new puppy or dog is
introduce to the family, the new dog will start to pick up
signals and indicators to figure out his own status in the
family and who’s in charge. If your dog see you as a "alpha
leader", he will follow your commands willingly and this will
allows you to train him easily.
On the other hand, if your dog is very dominant (because you
allow him to pick up the wrong signals) and starts to challenge
your "alpha leader" position, he may refuse to follow your
command and turn aggressive against you easily. This situation
usually happens in children where dogs see their chain of
command higher than that of them. This also explains why
children suffer more dog bites than adults do.
If you would prefer to own an obedient dog that pay attention to
your command, assuming the role of the “alpha leader’ and
establishing control over your dog is extremely important!
Your dog must learn that he is the lowest ranking in the family,
subordinate to you, to the children, and must recognize you to
be the leader. If such hierarchy is not set up properly, the dog
will try to take charge and assume the role of the leader.
This’ll eventually lead the dog to turn into “dominant dog” and
thus tend to misbehave. If this happens, you’ll face an uphill
task to properly train your dog.
As we live in a democratic society, most of us will find it hard
to understand the dog’s concept of dictatorship. Nevertheless,
it is necessary that we adjust ourselves to understand how the
dog live and think. By being dictating, you would think that
this is cruel or even inhumane to the dog. If you think so, you
are very wrong!
In fact, dogs are more than happy to be a follower and taking
instructions from a leader. You have to give your dog
directions, organize his space and activities for him, and he’ll
be more clued-up and know his boundaries of life, which means
knowing what is expected of him when he’s indoor or outdoor.
Your dog will be able to lead a less stressful and happy life
and so will you.
Moses Chia is the webmaster of
DogsObedienceTraining.com. He provides more helpful information
on dog obedience
training,
dog training book reviews and
dog illness symptoms interpretation that you can learn in
the comfort of your home on his website.
Welcome to
the fun
& fantastic world of owning a dog!