The Leadership Practice
First off, let's dispense with all that "Alpha" baloney.
Being a leader is not about being "alpha." Your domesticated dog is not a wolf and neither are you, and it's
unlikely that your dog's behavioral issues relate to squabbles about who gets first dibs on the bitch
in heat or that hot steaming pile of caribou guts.
Being a competent leader is about demonstrating firm, fair, and consistent leadership in all aspects of your
day-to-day living. It's not about ham-fisted, dictatorial control and inhibition of your dog's every move.
Rather, it's a creative process of structuring the environment so that it's conducive to your
dog having far fewer opportunities to fail, and many more opportunities to succeed.
Being a competent leader is not about making repeated corrections to stop the same recurring misbehaviors.
Good leadership is
about "bringing out the best" in your dog, proactively creating opportunities
for your dog to succeed thereby creating opportunities for you to reward that success.
Assuming the practice of good leadership does not produce an associated increase in corrections. When you
create the environment that dramatically
increases the opportunities for you to define privileges that your dog can successfully earn, the consequences
of this proactively success-oriented learning and behavioral environment are increased opportunities for rewards and
decreased need for corrections.
As a good leader, you are not a "dictator," benign or otherwise. You are the creative architect, becoming the
calm, confident and consistent model for the structure, substance, initiation, and duration of all interactions,
activities and events in your household. Your effective leadership in the home environment will
expand over time and experience beyond the confines of your house and property, to the world at large and all
the different elements and people that your dog may encounter.
Being your dog's competent leader is a 24 hours a day, seven days a week practice of establishing your leadership and
generating your dog's eager, enthusiastic respect for and reliable compliance with your explicitly defined
behavioral boundaries and requirements for earning the privileges that you dispense.
"Leaders grow; they are not made."-- Peter F. Drucker Foundation
Set Boundaries
The competent leader sets clear, unambiguous boundaries for all behaviors. This includes the behaviors you
want, and the behaviors you don't want. Setting boundaries for shaping a desired behavior would include giving the command
"Sit" to initiate your dog's sit behavior, and giving the command "Break" to explicitly end the sit behavior.
Sit means sit until commanded otherwise. Establishing boundaries for preventing undesirable behaviors
would include teaching your dog to reliably heel at your side within a consistently defined area on a slack lead,
preventing him from pulling you down the street.
Setting boundaries communicates your control over when behaviors
can and can not occur. On/off. Yes/no. Black/white. Begin/End. Go/No Go. Explicit boundaries.
"The first responsibility of a leader
is to define reality."-- Max DePree (The Art of Leadership)
Grant Privileges
Your boundaries delineate the specific behaviors for which there are specific consequences or ramifications.
The most powerful and enduring component of the learning process is whether the consequence of a particular behavior
is positive (rewarding) or negative (not rewarding). For our dog, positive consequences can include food, play,
verbal or tactile praise, pack acceptance, access to a desired location or activity -- whatever the dog
perceives as something rewarding.
We can proactively and productively exploit the dog's desire for a particularly rewarding physical action or
psychological state of mind by judiciously withholding or granting those rewards as privileges that must
be earned. For example, your dog is hungry. Your dog is driven to eat. You grant the privilege of
eating only after your dog first sits on your command.
Establish and communicate your boundaries clearly and consistently, and grant highly rewarding privileges
only when your dog respects and responds to your boundaries. You will ultimately create a mutually beneficial
relationship of willing and faithful cooperation and trust, enduring characteristics of a good leader and
those who follow that lead.
"The same dynamics that promote performance
also support learning and behavioral change."-- Katzenbach & Smith
Define Your Leadership Style
If you're not sure what kind of a leader you should be, consider the one person that comes to mind when you
think about someone you respect as a competent leader. Are they verbally loud and boisterous, or
quietly effective? Physically pushy, or prone to calmly thinking through problems? Do they change their
mind and their course of action on a whim, or are they steadfast, predictable, and consistent in their
actions and directions? Do they bring out the best in all they lead, and celebrate those accomplishments;
or do they constantly look for (or encourage) weaknesses to exploit and criticize?
Model your leadership on a competent leader you know and respect, and your dog will model its behaviors
on your competent leadership.
"A leader is best when people barely know he exists,
not so good when people obey and acclaim him, worse when they despise him....
But of a good leader who talks little when his work is done, his aim fulfilled,
they will say, "We did it ourselves."-- Lao Tzu
No Better Time Than Right Now, Right Here
If you have just brought your new puppy home, now is the time to begin your leadership practice. Perhaps
your baby puppy has bloomed into that rambunctious six-month-old adolescent; now is also the time to
commence your leadership practice. Or maybe you own a four-year-old mature adult dog that you've
pretty much left to his own devices and has been "a handful" for some years now. Well, no time like today
to decide to adopt your leadership practice and create the reliably responsive and obedient dog that
you've been wanting for a long time.
Regardless of the age, breed, gender, or length of ownership, there is no time like the present to
become the leader your dog needs and wants. Whether you can happily report that there are few behavioral
problems, or you are awash in the frustration and anxiety of living with a dog that disobeys your
every command and clearly disregards your attempts at establishing authority, it is never too late
to assume leadership command and regain balance in your owner/dog relationship.
You may have a puppy or dog of such a breed or temperament that you'll be able to attain a highly
satisfactory relationship with your dog imbued with trust, respect, and cooperation by only applying
leadership practice to your everyday living without ever needing to include formal obedience training.
However, you'll be hard-pressed to achieve any semblance of a good relationship with your canine companion if you
immerse you and your dog in months or even years of formal training, yet you overlook your responsibility
to be the team leader in your relationship.
Leadership is a necessary adjunct to formal training. Leadership happens during all
those minutes and hours and days, weeks and months, between "formal" training sessions. Leadership is sometimes overt
and specific, especially for the dog owner newly testing his or her leadership wings. And it is usually
subtle and second nature to the dog owner experienced in holistic leadership practice. The more consistently
you apply your leadership on a moment-to-moment, day-to-day basis, the more consistently your dog responds
to your leadership as a regular course of behavior and interaction, whether you are participating in a formal
event on a national competition field, or taking a leisurely walk through the park.
"Leadership and learning are indispensable to each other."-- John F. Kennedy
Plan Success
Before reading this Leadership Practice article, I recommend that you first read Setting Up Your Dog for Success
so that you have a good understanding of how to manage your training environment so that
you and your dog will experience successful learning. This Leadership Practice article takes that concept one step further,
teaching you how to modify your home environment and all of the little the day-to-day interactions that
occur there to ensure that they all contribute to successful behavioral modification and training first
in the home and then with ever-expanding participation and interaction with the world at large and its
denizens.
"Forethought and prudence are the proper qualities of a leader."-- Tacitus
Create Success
Additional recommended reading is
The Obedient Handler. Practice
without your dog in developing your total command presence. This includes consistent verbal commands,
consistent body language, and explicit beginning and end to all command behaviors. Once you have mastered
the skills of consistent verbal commands, body posture and communications, and fundamental leash
management, you'll be better prepared to apply those skills as second nature to your daily interactions
with your dog beyond your formal 5 or 10 minute training sessions. Communicating consistently and
clearly to your dog is critical in your formal team learning and training. It's even more important
for establishing and maintaining a balanced, healthful relationship dynamic with your dog during
times at home and out and about in public when you may not be engaged in explicitly formal training.
"A good leader is not the person who does things right,
but the person who finds the right things to do."-- Anthony T. Dadovano
Maintain Success
The Building Focus Checklist details the focus-building habits and activities that will
motivate your pup's desire to focus on you as the provider of all the good things in life, both in
formal training and in day-to-day living. A good leader commands attention not only by what he or she does,
but by what he or she is. Become the most vital and rewarding element in your dog's
universe, and you'll more efficiently and completely make your transition to unchallenged team leader.
"Leadership should be more participative than directive,
more enabling than performing."-- Mary D. Poole
Leadership Fundamentals
Establish a privilege based system where your dog must work for and earn all privileges. This
includes coming out of the crate, being fed, being petted, play time, going in and out of entries,
resting and sleeping, or just hanging out -- every aspect of the dog's interaction with you is under
your command and control. We'll talk some more about specific leadership-building and privilege-granting
activities in the sections to follow.
Seek the positive and rewarding. Command your dog to perform explicit behaviors that you can immediately
reward.
Don't ask. Command. Make it clear, brief, and to the point.
When interacting with your dog, reduce your verbalizations to command, mark, break. Provide minimal
communications and sensory input, to make explicitly clear your intentions and expectations. Extinguish
all extraneous comments, invitations, entreaties, or admonishments.
Extinguish the use of the dog's name in relation to any commands or requests. (Please see "My Name is Trouble.")
Only use the dog's name when expressing affection, or if it is a life and death emergency and you must get
the dog's attention by any means possible.
Every time you expect your dog to comply with your command, first ensure that you have set up the
environment for success. Don't issue the "Come" command if your dog is offlead and more interested in
chasing a squirrel. Only issue the command(s) for behaviors that you are 100% prepared to ensure and reward.
Once you have determined your behavioral boundaries and set the parameters of engagement, do not vacillate.
Don't succumb to, "Oh well she's been so good, I'll let her get away with it this time...." The canine opportunist
will seize your lapse and make hay out of the opportunity to revert to strongly imprinted prior misbehaviors.
If you aren't able to micromanage the environment in which your dog will be required to successfully behave
within the behavioral boundaries you have established, then don't allow the dog to freely interact with that environment.
For example, if your dog is not yet trained to a proficient and reliable down on his mat when visitors
come to your house, then crate your dog until such time as he can successfully maintain the behavioral
boundaries that you have established in order for him to earn the privilege of meeting and interacting
with your visitors.
"Good leaders develop through a never-ending process of
self-study, education, training, and experience."-- Manual on Military Leadership
Crate Training
If you're reading this because your dog is becoming more out of control and you sense that you're in
need of a leadership tune-up, consider that you'll make much greater progress and achieve success much
more quickly if you first crate train your dog. If your dog is "kind of" crate trained, or "pretty good
about the crate," which might include poor behaviors going into or out of the crate, or while in the crate,
then rebuild your crate training from the bottom up (see the
Crate Training tutorial.) The steps outlined below are premised on completed formal
crate training as an integral part of re-establishing your leadership and setting explicitly clear
boundaries for your dog.
Utilize the crate as a safe and hassle-free respite for both you and your dog. When not under your
direct supervision and control, or during free play times explicitly permitted by you, your dog
should be in the crate.
Ensure that crate time is not a punishment. It is simply a respite for you and your dog from the
rigors of the environmental micromanagement that is a key component of leadership training. It is perfectly
all right to have a stuffed kong or other favored and safe toy or chewy in the crate during your dog's
stay in the crate. There is no downside to making the crate a rewarding place to be.
The most critical formal training components in establishing leadership are "door behaviors." A "door"
is any physical entry or exit point or boundary, be it a back door leading to the yard, a chain link kennel gate,
the sidewalk curb at the end of your street, a wooden garden gate, the back door of your car, a truck tailgate,
the hiking trailhead, or a crate door. Door
behaviors are initially and most easily taught during formal crate training. "Door behaviors" include approaching the
door calmly and under obedience; waiting obediently while the door is opened; passing through the
door under explicit control and obedience; and remaining obediently on the other side for further
direction or release. Once you have mastered total control of your dog going in and out of defined
boundaries under reliable obedience, you will have made significant advances in your overall
behavioral management. Do not -- NOT -- simply open any door and let your dog exit or enter at
will. Be the respected and indispensable gatekeeper of authority and privileges judiciously granted, not the
handy concierge of convenience and indulgences lavishly squandered.
Once your dog is reliably crate trained, you can begin teaching the "Mat" command and behavior
so that your dog can eventually transition to remaining quietly and under obedience on its designated
mat or rug nearby while you're relaxing, reading, watching TV, etc.
"Leadership is action, not position."-- Donald H. McGannon
Foundation Obedience
Teach, train, and proof the basics -- Sit, Down, and Leave it. If your dog doesn't know what it should do, it
surely won't understand what it shouldn't do. The one sure way to stop unwanted behaviors is to teach alternative,
desired behaviors.
If you don't do anything else in your quest for leadership, at least teach a formal, bomb-proof Sit
(Please see the article UItimate Sit.) The "Sit"
is one of the easiest behaviors for you to teach
and for your dog to perform. It's readily rewarded, either with food, toy, verbal or tactile praise,
or a release to another more enjoyable activity. It places the dog in ready position for you to put
the leash on or off. When taught correctly, it ensures that dog is close by your side and more readily
controlled. When the dog is in the formal Sit, it is physically incapable of performing countless other
misbehaviors, such as lunging, jumping, playing keep away, mouthing -- just the types of behaviors
that you as the competent leader will not accommodate.
You'll want to teach the long "Down" if you anticipate advancing your dog from controlled crate time
to controlled mat time outside of the crate. The "Down" position further limits the dog from ready
access to a host of other unwanted behaviors. The "Down" is also the key position that places your
dog in physical submission to you.
Regardless of the training commands and behaviors, always be prepared to reward. Have enticing rewards
placed throughout the house and on your person. The more your reward desired behaviors, the more
likely they will occur and be repeated, and the less likely your dog will offer unwanted behaviors
and the less likely you will have to correct those misbehaviors. Set everything up ahead of time
to ensure success; plan to reward success; be prepared to reward success; and then reward every success.
Then observe the misbehaviors and the corrections diminish.
Prepare for and demand 100% compliance. Don't accept anything less. If you don't "think" you'll get
100% compliance, then don't "give it a try" in the hopes that it will happen. Your inconsistent behaviors
generate your dog's inconsistent behaviors. If you choose to create opportunities for failure,
then don't be surprised if your dog readily takes the opportunity offered, and fails. Set everything up for success.
"We can't solve problems by using the same kind of
thinking we used when we created them."-- Albert Einstein
Drive Based Leadership
Your dog's behaviors, good and bad, are motivated by a host of highly individualized traits, drives, and behavioral
characteristics that are created by the genes it inherits from its dam and sire. These genetic traits, drives,
and behavioral characteristics will be influenced by the environment in which the dog lives and learns, and
they in turn will influence the dog's behavioral responses to its environment. There is no separating
a dog from its genetic legacy. When considering how to most effectively apply effective leadership principles
to modify the dog's behavior, we can choose to take advantage of the fundamental biological components that
motivate the dog's behavior. By identifying and optimizing the dog's innate traits and characteristics, we can gain a most
effective platform for inducing behavioral change.
For example, the dog that possesses a highly developed pack drive is significantly influenced by our relational
interactions. Just our being present, without necessarily "doing" anything, can be highly rewarding to the
high pack dog. On the other hand, the dog that is
seriously deficient in pack drive -- that has little or no interest in
cohabiting in balance with and in a hierarchical relationship to other members of its pack -- is unlikely to
be "reached" or influenced by our presence in its life or by our attempts to make adjustments in the pack dynamic to
modify its behavior. That dog won't give a rip what we do; we're just
not that important in the dog's greater scheme of things. The dog that has pronounced play drive is a joy for
the playful owner to live with and train. The dog with no innate motivation to engage in play is eminently more
difficult to teach or train through play. The low-play dog will watch our toy-tossing antics with one eye half open,
roll over, and go back to sleep.
When considering the drive-based approach to establish (or re-establish) our leadership for the purposes of
behavioral modification, we must first evaluate and determine the dog's unique drive picture and overall
characteristics and traits, and then select those behavioral modification strategies that are the best
match for the dog's innate traits, drives, and temperament to generate the
biggest return for our behavioral modification and training effort.
If you're going to grant something
as a privilege, first make sure that it will actually have an intrinsic motivational value to the dog. For
example, don't
squander your time and effort trying to develop explicit "begin" and "end" boundaries to the privilege of
playing with you, if play itself is of no interest to your dog. Identify and choose another, more pronounced drive
trait that you can more easily and effectively leverage in your leadership practice of setting boundaries
for and granting privileges to your dog.
The drive categories provided below assume a dog that has a balanced drive picture overall. Some may work
very well for you and your dog, others won't. You'll want to adjust your leadership practice and associated
behavioral modification strategies in accordance with your dog's unique drives, traits, and characteristics.
"Leadership: the art of getting someone else to do something
you want done because he wants to do it."-- Dwight D. Eisenhower
Pack
Understand that by adopting and apply your leadership practice, you are NOT reducing the love, affection,
and attentiveness you regularly give to your dog. You are simply setting boundaries for when it explicitly
begins and ends. The hallmark of a good leader is establishing the ground rule that all of the
privileges of living and interacting with you and other family pack members must be earned by
acceptable behavior. Don't waiver on this.
Don't make the potentially disastrous mistake of assuming that your uninterrupted presence and companionship
100% of the time from 8 weeks to old age somehow fulfills your dog's pack drive or that it is in any way
beneficial to your puppy or dog. It most certainly is not. Set boundaries on your dog's access to
you, whether visually or physically. Create opportunities when you are away from your dog for
incrementally longer periods of time. A consequence of effective leadership is the leader being able
to trust that his charge will learn to behave appropriately in the leader's absence. It is your responsibility
to proactively create that trust by increasingly granting the privilege of unsupervised independence
and self-reliance. And yes, this principle applies to Assistance Dogs also, perhaps even moreso.
Owners of Assistance Dogs are likely to be in situations where their dog can not accompany
them. It is grossly irresponsible to raise and manage any dog to be
completely unprepared and unable to remain calm and without undue anxiety in the owner's absence.
Do not allow your dog to push for or demand attention. Dispense all attention at your complete
discretion and control. Maintain an explicit command beginning and end to your attentiveness. For
example, give the "Pets" command to initiate ear rubs and chest scratches, then command "That's
enough" to end the session and then physically move away from the dog and initiate an alternate activity.
Don't succumb to the dog's nudges, pawing, or mouthing to initiate physical contact with you.
You direct all activities, from exiting the vehicle to eating breakfast to giving and getting head noogies.
Do not allow the dog to paw at or jump on you at will. If you like full body contact with your dog,
then train a specific command that grants that privilege at your discretion, and a secondary
command that ends the activity (such as "Hugs!" and "Get off.")
Modify the tone of your praise and affection, so that it clearly is rewarding to the dog, but that
it does not encourage the dog to ramp up and become over-excited.
Family Dynamics: Your human family is your dog's pack. If other members of your family are not
fully committed to supporting your leadership program, then your dog will likely receive confusing
and conflicting signals about its place in the pack hierarchy, and your efforts to establish
leadership could be significantly undermined. Establish "buy in" and cooperation from all household
members. Communicate that this is a short term program to establish your leadership and your dog's
respectful compliance with it. In some cases, you may need to stress the importance of establishing
leadership now before the dog's problem behaviors become so unmanageable and out of control that
your dog may no longer be able to successfully and safely co-habit with the family, or in the
worst case scenario, the out of control behaviors may ultimately cost the dog its life.
"A good leader inspires others with confidence in him;
a great leader inspires them with confidence in themselves."-- Unknown
Food
Apply your leadership to all eating activities, whether mealtime or snacks.
Eat your food before you feed your dog. Don't allow your dog to be nearby while you eat, certainly
not at your side or waiting under the table for windfall. Allow some period of time to pass between
completing your meal and preparing your dog's meal.
Command your dog to "Sit" or "Down" before lowering the bowl to the floor, and increase your dog's
compliance until he is maintaining that obedience position throughout the process of your placing the
bowl on the floor and explicitly releasing your dog to eat.
Feed your dog in a consistent location. Don't allow your dog to pick food out of the bowl and eat it
elsewhere. If necessary, place an X-pen or other containment around the feeding area.
Provide enough time for your dog to comfortably eat its meal, then remove the food bowl. You
determine when it's time to begin eating and when it's time to stop.
"Effective leadership is not about making speeches or being liked;
leadership is defined by results not attributes."-- Peter Ferdinand Drucker
Play
Introduce obedience training into your play. Maintain an aspect of training in all structured play
engagement with you. Don't just toss the ball in the backyard. Teach your dog to first sit on command
("Sit"), and then chase after the ball on command ("Fetch it!"), then bring it back to you on command
("Bring!"), and then release it on command ("Give").
Rather than allowing your dog to "run off" energy in the yard or at a park, play indoor training
games (such as "Two Squeakies" or "Find Your Ball!") that establish your role as the most important
and exciting element in the universe.
Separate and apart from structured, training-based play sessions, also allow the dog to have regular
breaks throughout the day during which the dog is not under any command whatsoever. Understand that
during these unrestricted "dogtime" breaks, your dog is free to do anything it wishes, so determine
the optimal environment. In other words, don't release your dog for uninhibited free time in the
livingroom if you anticipate having to correct him if he decides that his idea of play is chewing
on the silk sofa pillows. Set up his free play for times and places that will not generate any
reason to correct or attempt to control the dog's behavior. The point of "dogtime" is to allow
both of you a break, when your dog can just be a dog without your micro-management and control.
Don't leave the collection of dog toys strewn about the house or yard. Collect and then distribute
them singly as a specific privilege that you are granting. This increases the association between
you and highly rewarding toys, and gives you an opportunity to interject an opportunity for your
dog to earn each opportunity to play with a desired toy ("Sit", "Take it", "Break!"). Two Squeakies
and Find the Ball! (or favored toy) are terrific indoor or outdoor exercises that build the
association between you and highly rewarding play.
When retrieving, start with "Two Squeakies" indoors and then advance to longer retrieves out of
doors with explicit commands. Don't allow your dog to manipulate you into doing all of the work.
Your dog must bring the ball or toy directly back to you to initiate another toss. If your dog
stops short of you and plays with or drops the ball or toy, simply walk away. Game over. Privilege
of playing with you lost. Do not verbalize entreaties to your dog to "Bring it, come on, bring it
over here, right over here, blah blah blah blah." When you try to entice and cajole your dog into
participation, you're only reaffirming that your dog is in charge of the retrieve. And if your dog
retains control of all aspects of how, when, and where you play with him, how do you
think he'll respond to relinquishing his control of how, when, and where you live, train, and work with him?
Never underestimate the power of play. Keep it fun, but on your terms.
If you have two dogs in the household, separate them. You and your leadership training can't
compete with another dog's highly distracting excitement factor.
Command an explicit beginning and end to your play sessions. Establish boundaries in all of your interactions
with your dog. Communicate to your dog "That's enough" or "That'll do" and put the toys (or yourself) away
and initiate the next activity of your choosing.
"Leadership is much more an art, a belief,
a condition of the heart, than a set of things to do.
The visible signs of artful leadership are expressed, ultimately,
in its practice."-- Max DePree
Prey
Teach prey games to explicitly turn the chase on and off. Teaching a motivational "out" or "give"
is imperative. See Two Squeakies.
While it may be "cute" when your herding breed puppy chases and bites at your ankles, shoes, or
pants cuffs, this cuteness is short-lived when at six-months he does it to the mail carrier who
trips and breaks his arm and your dog ends up labeled a "dangerous dog." Provide an alternate
behavior (such as formal retrieve shaping, or rag tug and out) to satisfy and deflect his
pre-driven behaviors.
Control the dog's access to cats or other household pets that may induce prey behaviors. Teach
and train the "Leave it" command.
Territoriality
Re-establish rules for going into rooms or on furniture, bed, etc. This is not to say that the
dog that previously was allowed onto furniture is necessarily restricted for its lifetime -- just
for a period of time, during which you establish that sharing household furniture is a privilege
that is granted only on your explicit command. Equally important is the policy of ending the
privilege at your discretion, by commanding that the dog get down from the sofa, bed, etc. Feel
free to arbitrarily establish as your sole territory any area or piece of furniture in the house. For
example, establish the leather chair as your territory, or the bathroom, or the bedroom, and
be consistent about restricting your dog's access to it. Setting clear boundaries that limit access
to a specific object is the start of setting clear boundaries for permitting behaviors.
If you find yourself realizing that you probably should be participating in a program of establishing
your leadership of your dog, and if you are currently allowing your dog to sleep on the bed with you,
consider that your dog may not yet have earned the privilege of sleeping on the bed. Personally,
I don't have any problem with people allowing their dogs to sleep on the bed with them, provided that,
there are no other behavioral issues and the dog has earned the tremendously rewarding privilege of sleeping
on the bed. You may need to reorient your training and daily habits accordingly, and for the time
being limit access to the bed and recreate that activity as a distinct privilege that must be
earned. Powerful stuff, that sharing the pack leader's bed.
Guarding/Defense
Acknowledge the guardian breed's natural characteristic of barking to warn of approaching strangers
or trespassers on the property. Associate a specific command ("Watch") with the barking behavior.
Make a habit of going to the dog to examine the source of the alarm bark. Acknowledge that you have
identified the source as a non-threat, command the dog to cease barking ("That's enough"), and
command an alternate behavior ("Leave it, Sit" or "Leave it, down.") The competent leader depends
on others to provide environmental feedback, and then assesses the threat level of that feedback.
Teach your dog that as the leader, you will determine if something is indeed a threat. The key to this
aspect of leadership is to consistently and clearly communicate to your dog that while your dog's
natural instinct to alert you to intruders is acceptable and even welcomed, any excessive alarm
barking or excitement behaviors will not be tolerated, and that you, as the competent and trusted
leader, will manage the situation as you deem, whether with or without your dog's participation or
contribution.
Note that the dog vocalizing an alert bark upon its awareness of an unknown intruder on its
home turf is doing its biologically hard-wired job as guardian of home and pack. However, the dog that
indiscriminately barks and reacts to anyone and everyone it sees, whether on its own familiar territory or
when out and about in public, is not demonstrating appropriate behaviors. Such excessive
reactiveness would not be affirmatively acknowledged by the owner as a desired behavior, but rather
must be addressed and resolved with a behavioral modification and obedience training
plan specifically tailored to the reactive dog. (Please see
Of Knuckleheads and Buttheads: Managing the Reactive Dog (Part I).)
"The only test of leadership is that somebody follows."-- Robert K. Greenleaf
Summary
Expect that as you make these changes in how you interact with your dog, and specifically in how
you are now requiring your dog to actually earn its phenomenal paycheck of getting all that food,
play, drive satisfaction, and affectionately attentive companionship from you, the previously "indulged"
dog may choose
to protest the new plan. From whining to pawing to chewing on the leash to throwing itself to the
floor in an all-out tantrum, anything might happen when we decide to change the formerly imbalanced "first dog, then maybe owner" dynamic
into one of our consistent, firm, and fair leadership with the owner assuming his or her primary position in the relationship hierarchy.
Put on your "poker face" (and "poker emotions")
and ride it out without capitulating to your dog's potentially tempestuous protests over the
"new order of things." This is why it is so very important to first practice, practice, practice without your dog.
When you practice and refine your consistent behaviors, then your command presence will be so
well-practiced that your commands, posture, leash management, and overall attitude will remain
unflagging and consistent even if your dog throws everything but the kitchen sink at you in his attempt to get you to
return to the old way of seeing and doing things his way. With your unfaltering persistence, your
dog will quickly learn that you are not to be swayed, bribed, cajoled, or broken down with his amazing
repertoire of paw-stomping entreaties and laughingly pathetic facial grimaces.
Stand firm. Be fair. Set limits. Follow through.
Understand that your new leadership practice may not be easy to adhere to on a daily basis. Set your
sights to adopt and put into practice your new leadership strategies for a two-week period. You'll see
demonstrable behavioral improvements in both you and
your dog in just a matter of days, and you'll come to appreciate how effective your renewed leadership is in shaping the
balanced relationship you both want and need and the obedient, responsive dog you want to live with. In no time
at all, your newly acquired and practiced leadership behaviors will come as "second nature" to you in all of the little ways
you interact with your dog on a daily basis. All those little moments contribute to the big
picture of how your dog comes to understand its place and position in the hierarchy of the
relationships it has with you and other people, familial or stranger, and the interactions and events
that ultimately transpire.
It's your job as the leader to create the consistency, balance, and equilibrium that your dog naturally craves
and that he will readily respond to if only given the opportunity by his competent and confident team leader to do so.
"A successful team beats with one heart."-- Sarah Redmond
Please also see:
You'll find additional training articles in the NorthWest K9 Reading Room.
Information about private team training programs is found in our Client Training
department.
