Trish Wamsat's AdobeDogs Puppy and Dog Training
Training for Today's Dogs
Alpha vs. Friend
The recent surge in "rehabilitating" dogs is resulting in some pretty big fallout. I'm seeing too many of our dogs being damaged and becoming aggressive and fearful.
Dogs have lived with us for tens of thousands of years; we've DESIGNED them to be a part of our family! In tens of thousands of years of sleeping in our beds, eating from our tables, and going out doors ahead of us, I've never read of a single case of a dog's "dominance" resulting in the fall of even a single family, much less the world!
THEY'RE DOGS! We're not. We don't speak dog well enough to speak dog to them.... they think we're crazy and grossly incapacitated when we do. Here's the secret...... THEY KNOW WE'RE NOT DOGS! We don't need to eat first, or go out the door first or keep them off our furniture, to be "Alpha". We need to be strong and consistent, loving and smart.
I had someone tell me, last week, that she eats first, then feeds the adult dogs and then feeds the puppy. Her complaint was that the puppy was FRANTIC to eat! When I asked her why she had this routine, she said, "the alpha dog always eats first". My answer? All together, now... "YOU'RE NOT A DOG!" Not only did she have that wrong, but in puppy-land, puppies eat first and best. The adults in a pack know, instinctively, that the puppies need to eat and grow in order to become productive members of the hunting party. Really think about this.... if the puppies always ate last, they would all die in tough times, leaving no young, strong pack members to hunt, resulting in the demise of the pack. Tell me again, why you need to eat first? And, what if you're not hungry? or you want to go OUT to dinner?
Puppies are NOT "rolled" by their mothers or other pack members. Puppies roll on their own to pay homage to a wise elder. When we "roll" a puppy, we're attacking it and they learn that we are aggressive and can't be trusted. The fear and trust may never be regained. Puppies are seldom physically disciplined. They get warning after warning and they play and sass back and jump and twist and beg to be forgiven. It's often these appeasing behaviors that make people crazy and think their pup is being "dominant", which makes the person "dominate" the pup by rolling it or some other violent means, which makes the puppy try even harder to appease, which causes more violence and so on.
Puppies are puppies. They're not going to take over your family or the world. They just want to make sure they know who they're living with and that they can trust you. The more "unstable" behavior you show, by attacking a helpless puppy, the more behavior problems you'll end up with.
Puppies and dogs are fun; they should be, anyway, and they aren't out to take over your "alpha" status unless you just aren't letting them feel safe in your ability to take care of them; even then, they're VERY happy to give it up when we show that we have things under control. They know that we're very slow physically and have lousy observation and communication skills, we resort to physical violence, threats and punishment as our most basic communication, yet they still love us.....
I am involved with my students and try like mad to get them through the stages of dog ownership without forgetting that they are FRIENDS with their dog. I am a firm believer that we learn from mistakes and no matter how well we know the rules, sometimes we test them; because we can (think speeding, that left turn across traffic that could have gone bad, waiting just one more day on that milk in the fridge...) It's not just human nature, it's nature. When we test a rule, it doesn't mean we're trying to become the leader of the free world or even the leader of our community. It just means that we tested a rule; we'll either get rewarded or corrected for it.
Please, treat your puppy as if he's a treasured member of your family. He is. If he's not, something's wrong and you need help with your relationship. Dogs are man's best friend only if we let them be. If we're always thinking he's trying to get one over on us, that's not much of a friendship, is it? Dogs are just dogs. They are who they are and they're really pretty simple.
Dogs have lived with us for tens of thousands of years; we've DESIGNED them to be a part of our family! In tens of thousands of years of sleeping in our beds, eating from our tables, and going out doors ahead of us, I've never read of a single case of a dog's "dominance" resulting in the fall of even a single family, much less the world!
THEY'RE DOGS! We're not. We don't speak dog well enough to speak dog to them.... they think we're crazy and grossly incapacitated when we do. Here's the secret...... THEY KNOW WE'RE NOT DOGS! We don't need to eat first, or go out the door first or keep them off our furniture, to be "Alpha". We need to be strong and consistent, loving and smart.
I had someone tell me, last week, that she eats first, then feeds the adult dogs and then feeds the puppy. Her complaint was that the puppy was FRANTIC to eat! When I asked her why she had this routine, she said, "the alpha dog always eats first". My answer? All together, now... "YOU'RE NOT A DOG!" Not only did she have that wrong, but in puppy-land, puppies eat first and best. The adults in a pack know, instinctively, that the puppies need to eat and grow in order to become productive members of the hunting party. Really think about this.... if the puppies always ate last, they would all die in tough times, leaving no young, strong pack members to hunt, resulting in the demise of the pack. Tell me again, why you need to eat first? And, what if you're not hungry? or you want to go OUT to dinner?
Puppies are NOT "rolled" by their mothers or other pack members. Puppies roll on their own to pay homage to a wise elder. When we "roll" a puppy, we're attacking it and they learn that we are aggressive and can't be trusted. The fear and trust may never be regained. Puppies are seldom physically disciplined. They get warning after warning and they play and sass back and jump and twist and beg to be forgiven. It's often these appeasing behaviors that make people crazy and think their pup is being "dominant", which makes the person "dominate" the pup by rolling it or some other violent means, which makes the puppy try even harder to appease, which causes more violence and so on.
Puppies are puppies. They're not going to take over your family or the world. They just want to make sure they know who they're living with and that they can trust you. The more "unstable" behavior you show, by attacking a helpless puppy, the more behavior problems you'll end up with.
Puppies and dogs are fun; they should be, anyway, and they aren't out to take over your "alpha" status unless you just aren't letting them feel safe in your ability to take care of them; even then, they're VERY happy to give it up when we show that we have things under control. They know that we're very slow physically and have lousy observation and communication skills, we resort to physical violence, threats and punishment as our most basic communication, yet they still love us.....
I am involved with my students and try like mad to get them through the stages of dog ownership without forgetting that they are FRIENDS with their dog. I am a firm believer that we learn from mistakes and no matter how well we know the rules, sometimes we test them; because we can (think speeding, that left turn across traffic that could have gone bad, waiting just one more day on that milk in the fridge...) It's not just human nature, it's nature. When we test a rule, it doesn't mean we're trying to become the leader of the free world or even the leader of our community. It just means that we tested a rule; we'll either get rewarded or corrected for it.
Please, treat your puppy as if he's a treasured member of your family. He is. If he's not, something's wrong and you need help with your relationship. Dogs are man's best friend only if we let them be. If we're always thinking he's trying to get one over on us, that's not much of a friendship, is it? Dogs are just dogs. They are who they are and they're really pretty simple.
About "Alpha"
I'm
not a trainer who just trains dogs to do "things" or "obey commands"; I
LOVE dogs and I really enjoy people and the whole reason I train dogs
is to teach them both to live together happily. I am lucky enough to
actually be able to see this happen on nearly a daily basis, but
sometimes it REALLY hits home. Like last week when we were working on
loose leash walking, a beautiful, BIG, powerful and rambunctious puppy
named Daisy and her human had the kind of moment that gives me
goosebumps. We went from Daisy dragging her owner around, paying no
attention at all to her, to the two of them walking completely
peacefully. They were walking away from me, and the looseness of the
leash, and the softness of their body language and the COOPERATION they
demonstrated, made me tear up.
Now, this doesn't mean they won't have setbacks; they will. Daisy is a young dog who will experiment with her independence many times over the next year and a half. But they have it. They have the foundation for cooperation and they will always be able to get back to it. It's not about 100% obedience, it's about 100% commitment to a relationship with your dog and always looking for a way to get that cooperation that will get you through anything that comes your way.
I am involved with my students and try like mad to get them through the stages of dog ownership without forgetting that they are FRIENDS with their dog. I am a firm believer that we learn with humor and from mistakes and no matter how well we know the rules, sometimes we test them; because we're good enough to (think speeding, that left turn across traffic that could have gone bad, waiting just one more day on that milk in the fridge...) It's not just human nature, it's nature. When we test a rule, it doesn't mean we're trying to become the leader of the free world or even the leader of our community. It just means that we tested a rule; we'll either get rewarded or corrected for it.
When my new puppy recently chewed through my monitor cord (yes, I blew it! You can read more about that on the Your New Puppy page), I tested a rule and got a correction, but, believe me, I won't test it again for a looong time, and I don't need to be shown that I'm not the the alpha just because I tested a rule and Fin didn't chew the cord to see if he could "get away with it". He chewed the cord because he's a puppy and that's what puppies do and I endangered his life by not "practicing what I preach".
Puppies
and dogs are fun; they
should be, anyway, and they aren't out to take over your "alpha"
status unless you just aren't letting them feel safe in your ability to
take care of them; even then, they're VERY happy to give it up when we
show that we have things under control. They are just like any other
intelligent species, trying
to learn what the rules of a completely alien and confusing species
are. They know that sometimes we become extremely "dominant" and
"attack" them with no warning when they innocently pick
up a leaf or a rock; they know that we become predictably unpredictable
when there is poo or pee in the house; sometimes we don't pay any
attention at all and sometimes we scream and sometimes we even praise!
Some puppies even have the shock of being hunted down, dragged through
the house and suddenly having their face shoved down into the floor
while the human screams and hits them! They know that we're very slow
physically and have lousy observation and communication skills, we
resort to physical violence, threats and punishment as our most basic
communication, yet they still love us.....
Treat your puppy as if he's a treasured member of your family. He is. If he's not, something's wrong and you need help with your relationship. Dogs are man's best friend only if we let them be. If we're always thinking he's trying to get one over on us, that's not much of a friendship, is it? Dogs are just dogs. They are who they are and they're really pretty simple.
Now, this doesn't mean they won't have setbacks; they will. Daisy is a young dog who will experiment with her independence many times over the next year and a half. But they have it. They have the foundation for cooperation and they will always be able to get back to it. It's not about 100% obedience, it's about 100% commitment to a relationship with your dog and always looking for a way to get that cooperation that will get you through anything that comes your way.
I am involved with my students and try like mad to get them through the stages of dog ownership without forgetting that they are FRIENDS with their dog. I am a firm believer that we learn with humor and from mistakes and no matter how well we know the rules, sometimes we test them; because we're good enough to (think speeding, that left turn across traffic that could have gone bad, waiting just one more day on that milk in the fridge...) It's not just human nature, it's nature. When we test a rule, it doesn't mean we're trying to become the leader of the free world or even the leader of our community. It just means that we tested a rule; we'll either get rewarded or corrected for it.
When my new puppy recently chewed through my monitor cord (yes, I blew it! You can read more about that on the Your New Puppy page), I tested a rule and got a correction, but, believe me, I won't test it again for a looong time, and I don't need to be shown that I'm not the the alpha just because I tested a rule and Fin didn't chew the cord to see if he could "get away with it". He chewed the cord because he's a puppy and that's what puppies do and I endangered his life by not "practicing what I preach".
Puppies
and dogs are fun; they
should be, anyway, and they aren't out to take over your "alpha"
status unless you just aren't letting them feel safe in your ability to
take care of them; even then, they're VERY happy to give it up when we
show that we have things under control. They are just like any other
intelligent species, trying
to learn what the rules of a completely alien and confusing species
are. They know that sometimes we become extremely "dominant" and
"attack" them with no warning when they innocently pick
up a leaf or a rock; they know that we become predictably unpredictable
when there is poo or pee in the house; sometimes we don't pay any
attention at all and sometimes we scream and sometimes we even praise!
Some puppies even have the shock of being hunted down, dragged through
the house and suddenly having their face shoved down into the floor
while the human screams and hits them! They know that we're very slow
physically and have lousy observation and communication skills, we
resort to physical violence, threats and punishment as our most basic
communication, yet they still love us.....Treat your puppy as if he's a treasured member of your family. He is. If he's not, something's wrong and you need help with your relationship. Dogs are man's best friend only if we let them be. If we're always thinking he's trying to get one over on us, that's not much of a friendship, is it? Dogs are just dogs. They are who they are and they're really pretty simple.
