Alpha Dog-Teaching Your Puppy Who is The Pack Leader

Learning how to become the alpha dog will help you create a bond of trust and confidence that will lead to your puppy being a great pet. After your puppy has acknowledged you as his “pack leader”, controlling behavior problems-such as puppy biting issues- that may come up, and obedience training  your puppy will be much easier-because your puppy will want to do what he thinks will make you happy.

Being member of a pack, puppies normally learn a lot about behavior from growing up with their litter mates and their parents. Now that you have brought a puppy home, you are his pack leader and your family is his  new pack. In nature and in your home, dogs  need to know their proper place in their pack, so it is up to you and your family to provide the guidance your puppy is going to need if he is to grow up to be the well behaved and obedient pet you all want.

Avoid the usual mistakes so many people make by treating dogs as if they were people, so it is possible to  become the alpha dog. If you don’t properly communicate with your puppy, he will become confused, and may even try to show his own dominance at time-for example, acting aggressively towards a family member if the puppy is feeling possessive over something. You can avoid these types of problems by becoming the alpha dog right away in your puppy’s mind. If your puppy is already somewhat aggressive, he will need to be taught right away how to behave differently-show him the right way with your leadership.

It is smart to train a young puppy early on to be submissive, rather than wait until you have to retrain an older dog that has already become confused about who the alpha dog is in your pack. Take advantage of this to take the time to teach your puppy who is the dominant dog.

Puppies naturally play rough, nipping, biting and wrestling with each other in order to learn their boundaries. You are going to need to set some boundaries to show your puppy his limits, and to deter any budding aggression towards people.In order to become recognized as the alpha dog by your puppy, harsh methods aren’t necessary-but you do need to show some guidelines.

You need to know some tricks to making your puppy act submissively in order to show him who is in charge. Use these exercises to show your dog you are in charge.

• Hold your puppy still, then look intently into his eyes to demonstrate your dominance until he is completely calm. When he finally relaxes, he is showing submission to your dominance.
• Take your puppy across your lap and turn him upside down so that you are supporting his back and head. As before, hold him in this position until he submits and relaxes.
• Pushing the puppy down to the floor on his side, you can hold him down by putting one hand on his neck and one across his stomach. If he squirms, hold him still with your hands until the puppy becomes calm and submissive.
• In addition to hold the puppy, you can also add a growl and show your teeth in a snarl to demonstrate how serious you are-just like Mama dog.

You should repeat these types of exercise each time your puppy is acting aggressive and needs a reminder on who is the alpha dog around the house. Your consistency and fairness will be important to earning your puppy’s trust and respect and for him to recognize you as the alpha leader. Establishing yourself as your pack’s leader will help your puppy know his place in your pack and become a well behave and well balanced pet that you love to have in your family.

To read some more helpful dog obedience training articles and tips on solving dog behavior problems please visit http://BehaveDoggy.com.

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