How to Establish a Pack Hierarchy With Your Dog

One thing you'll want to do as an effective trainer of your dog is avoid the temptation to elevate your dog to "friendship" status. Yes, your dog can be a friend, but if you treat them like a fellow human being, a dog's behavior will be incongruent with the way it should be as a healthy member of your household's pack. What does this mean? Quite simply, it means that you should let your dog simply be a dog. If you want to establish a hierarchy that your dog will understand, follow the tips and rules in this article.

First, make it clear that all humans are higher ranking in your pack than the dog. This means humans eat first and always take priority over the dog. If you want to enjoy some time with your children but your dog is begging to play with you, ignore the dog until it's his time. If you allow your dog to assert itself as another member of your family, it could grow an overinflated sense of self and start to walk all over you.

It's crucial that you set boundaries for acceptable and unacceptable behavior for your dog. Reward acceptable behavior (such as calmly sitting with your family) with quick rewards: affection and treats. Correct unacceptable behavior without getting angry; it's a good idea to disrupt the dog's mood by strongly stating a consistent order like "no." When your dog realizes that its boundaries are tighter than the boundaries for the rest of your family, it will learn its place in the pack.

Remember that your dog wants to be a dog, just like you want to be a human in your household. It wants to play with you when you're ready, be your companion when you bring him with you, and will happily engage in tricks and behaviors it needs to produce in order to get access to food.

It's when you're too charitable to your dog and too relenting in your standards that the dog realizes it can walk all over you and manipulate you into getting what it wants.

Never bribe a dog, and be sure that you place you and your family members first. Then you can take care of your dog. Don't worry - it won't wither away if you don't play with it every time it wants your attention. Don't let a dog command your attention; instead, decide when you'll give attention as a reward - when the dog behaves calmly.

Photo Credits: Beverlykahuna

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Dog Training

Posted by Dog Training Pet on August 24, 2010 in Dog Training. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.