Being descendants of pack animals, dogs have needed to find a way to determine leadership within their packs. You have probably seen many examples of pack behavior watching TV.The puppies learn their place in the pack and avoid causing problems that are disruptive to the pack.

Every pack will have its own alpha dog. After your puppy or dog moves in with you, your home is now their “den” and your family is  now their new “pack”. So, it becomes up to you to assume the role of pack leader-the Alpha dog-and teach your dog the rules and guidelines he must follow to get along with his new “pack”. As the alpha dog you will teach you dog his place within the family, to be sure he respects all of you as superior to him.

Although it is much simpler to teach a puppy to be submissive, an older dog can also be taught that you are the alpha dog, not him. You’ll find that just by being consistent with some basic obedience training exercises you can establish yourself as the alpha dog.

You don’t have to be aggressive in order to demonstrate that you are the alpha leader to your dog. You just need to have the right confident attitude that shows your dog you are in control. You can consistently show him that you are the one in charge without  the need for yelling or hitting . Those types of negative actions will confuse your dog and hurt your attempts to establish the trust and confidence you need to get your dog to listen to you. Be consistent with your training, staying positive, and earn his respect and trust-this will make you the alpha dog much better than any negative actions will.

Obedience training your dog on a regular basis is the way to get started becoming the alpha dog.During the course of the day, repeat some of the basic training exercise (sit, stay, etc) each time you interact with your dog. through the consistent application of the training you dog will recognize as you being in charge-the alpha dog. Try these useful positive training techniques that help you become the alpha dog, without any need to ever act unfriendly towards your dog.

• Tell your dog to sit down and make him wait a little bit in that position, perhaps 30 seconds, before giving him his dinner bowl. If he sees you are in control of his food, he has to acknowledge your superior position in the pack. Make him wait until he is calm before offering him the food as positive reinforcement that he has behaved properly. If you do this each time you feed your dog, you are really reinforcing who is the alpha dog, and also helping him develop good manners at dinnertime.
• Every time you walk through the door to go outside, make your dog sit and wait until you invite him to pass through the door. By reminding him often of your alpha status,  he will learn to look toward you for guidance as a matter of course.
• A similar exercise can be done when you are on a walk with your dog and want to cross the street. Don’t let your dog step off the curb into the street until he has first sat and waited at the curb. Besides reinforcing your alpha position, this training also serves to teach your dog not to run out into traffic.

As long as you are consistent with the positive obedience training, it shouldn’t take very long to earn your dog’s respect as its pack leader, and get your dog to behave his best.

For more reading about becoming the Alpha dog and training your dog using positive training methods, please click here to visit http://www.BehaveDoggy.com.

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