People frequently ask how a Dog Behaviorist and Dog Obedience Trainer relates to dogs and earns their respect and control . . . and especially that of the Dominant Dog. The first part of that answer is simply stated but difficult for many people to internalize and act upon: To relate to a dog, you must first see and treat him fully as a DOG!

Before you can deal with a dog dominance issue at home or in dog obedience training, you must recognize that dog behavior and dog comunication are NOT in line with human psychology. After all, your dog is a CANINE (canis familiaris of the Family Canidae), and not homo sapiens. So he thinks like a canine, not like a person. Your dog responds as one might in a wolf pack, not as a human family member. He or she has real emotions, but they are canine emotions, not human emotions, and not to be mistaken as such.

The basic communication system of dogs involves three critical elements –silence, submission, and leadership — sometimes referred to generally as the dog whisper technique, with elements of wolf pack communication. We will use these elements in this and subsequent dog training articles about solving Dog Dominance problems. You and I need to understand, read, and use your dog’s own communication system for optimal effectiveness in working with him.

Dogs have an inherent Pack Psychology which governs their thinking and actions. In a pack, there is one dominant one, and the rest are all followers. There is one Alpha male and one Alpha female. To relate to a dog from a position of strength, respect, and control, YOU must be the Alpha Leader, the Pack Leader, and you must use pack psychology and pack communication.

Often we see dominant dogs taken home as young pups, because people are amused by their spirited behavior. Actually, they are usually the first puppies chosen, the proverbial Pick of the Litter. However, if this high-spirited nature is not controlled, then things get out of control quickly . . . becoming worse over time . . . until the situation sometimes becomes dangerous. Dominance can lead to violence.

So you might look for a mature dog, such as a Shelter Dog or Rescued Dog. However, looking for a less dominant pet is not so easy in shelters. There a dog’s true nature is difficult to discern without the aid of an experienced person. While in the shelter, the dog rarely has an area or anything that is under the dog’s control, so there is little opportunity to observe possessiveness and dominance problems.

Nor are dogs cooped up in shelters able to burn off excess energy. It’s very hard for an untrained eye to differentiate between an excited ‘Please take me home’ and the more troublesome ‘I want to control you!’ of the hyper-active, dominant canine.

But the dominance problem quickly becomes evident when you go home and relax, for dominance shows up where perceived weakness is present. For example, petting your dog when it is submissive (e.g., sitting or lying down) is appropriate and desirable, but not when it is in an aggressive or dominant stance.

If you display any sign of soft laxity at the wrong time because of your affection, that will be interpreted by your dog as weakness . . . and then, ‘Katie bar the door!’ With dominant types, you simply cannot afford to let down your guard or to make an exception ‘just this once’ because the pup is so cute.

You must establish and maintain firm, consistent control of the Dominant Dog at all times. These eye-catching, spirited animals are highly intelligent and have great potential, but they also are usually very willful, stubborn, born leaders who seek to control you, other animals, and their environment. They want to rule the roost!

You cannot give them an inch . . . or they will take it, and take it, and take it . . . over and over, time and again. These dogs are persistent!

For example, one friend had an Old English Sheepdog puppy, an Alpha Female about eight months old, who had a very bad reaction to a toxic flea dip back in 1976. As the puppy started to tremor, the frightened owners lifted their darling onto the foot of the bed, both for her comfort and to ease their own backs as they nursed her.

MISTAKE! That one incident led that puppy and her litter-mate to sneak onto the bed whenever possible . . . a pattern the owners never succeeded in terminating for the rest of the dogs’ lives!

Too many owners just coddle the two-and-three month old ‘babies’ and think that puppy training can start later. NO! The intelligent, spirited ones, especially, must be ‘trained’ from day one with consistency, with You clearly as the Master!

Because of their high intelligence, they are ready much earlier than others for more formal types of training, too. Training helps remove boredom and release energy, while giving the prideful animal a proper goal for which to strive, and achievement about which to strut with regal, dignified, proud bearing and the clear satisfaction of pleasing.

DON’T MOVE WITH THEM, YOU LOSE THEM!

I, too, have had a trying personal experience with an aggressive Alpha Pup. I brought home a beautiful Rescued Dog, an eight-week-old retriever puppy from the Humane Society. She turned out to be the most willful and stubborn dog I have ever seen, striving for dominance in all things! There is no way she would have lasted in a ‘normal’ home. However, because of my sheer determination with consistent, proper training, she is becoming a loving, playful, and obedient sweetheart who, without loss of any spunk or pride, nevertheless submits to my command by a mere glance. I am her undisputed Pack Leader.

Still, it wasn’t easy to get her to that state. In great frustration, I eagerly sought the advice of two other trainers with vast puppy experience. So I say to beleaguered Owners of aggressive, dominant puppies and dogs, ‘Don’t be embarrassed. This can happen to anyone! Never be ashamed to ask for help from a Dog Trainer.’ (Just make sure they really understand pack psychology.)

If you have a dog dominance problem, there IS a specific training technique that will work for you, and it centers on FOCUS. It applies the communication system of ‘silence, submission, and leadership’ and is a dog training technique which is effective with most dog dominance issues. [It's much more effective and pleasant than hitting and yelling!]

So get help with control of the dog dominance behavior, and restore a right relationship with your pet, and peace and harmony in your home!

PawPersuasion © Copyright 2006. This article may be freely distributed if Rena Murray’s author resource box and this notice stay attached.

As a nation, we claim to love cats and dogs. Millions of households have pets, and billions of dollars are spent yearly on pet supplies and food. But as a nation, we should take a hard, sobering look at a different annual statistic: the millions of dogs and cats given up to shelters or left to die on the streets. And the numbers tell only half the story.

Every cat or dog who dies as a result of pet overpopulation—whether humanely in a shelter or by injury, disease, or neglect—is an animal who, more often than not, would have made a wonderful companion, if given the chance. Tremendous as the problem of pet overpopulation is, it can be solved if each of us takes just one small step, starting with not allowing our animals to breed. Here’s information about this crisis and why spaying and neutering is the first step to a solution.

Visit http://www.brightlion.com/ for more information.

By Rebecca Hyman

Tue Jan 13, 2009, 06:24 PM EST

Lakeville – An 8-year-old yellow Lab mix was rescued from the side of the road in Carver on Nov. 27. He doesn’t have a name, at least not one he is able to tell his new caregivers at the Lakeville Animal Shelter.
The abandoned pooch has sweet, sad brown eyes and a friendly disposition, but he might have trouble getting adopted because of his age, Animal Control Officer David Frates said.
Frates said he’s noticed a big spike in dogs like the abandoned Labrador retriever being “dumped,” set loose away from home and left to fend for themselves, many of them in Freetown-Fall River State Forest, since the economic downturn.
“They can’t afford to go to the vets. They’re losing their houses. That’s a big thing. Landlords don’t want dogs,” Frates said.
“I think sometimes people are just backed into a corner, where they can’t get into an apartment, and they need it for their children, and they can’t find a home for the dog.”
The Lakeville Animal Shelter on Montgomery Street boards dogs for Carver, Rochester, Berkley and Freetown, in addition to the town’s own lost and abandoned animals.
Frates said he has picked up 27 dogs dumped in the state forest and the surrounding area in the last four to six weeks.
The same thing happened last year, but not so much in previous years, he said.
“It’s only happened since the economy started to get bad,” Frates said.
He said the dogs are generally found around nearby houses rather than in the forest itself. They don’t stay in the forest because there’s nothing to eat.
Frates said some people may dump their dogs instead of surrendering them to avoid the $50 fee.
He suspects the dogs that are dumped in the forest are from out of town, probably Fall River and New Bedford. Most of the dogs he finds in Freetown are lost and eventually reunited with their owners, Frates said.
He said the dumping isn’t confined to the forest, but extends to the entire surrounding area.
A couple of weeks ago a couple of German shepherds were dumped on Howland Road in Lakeville, he said.
He said the dogs are generally larger breeds such as shepherds, labs, Dobermans and boxers.
They are in fair condition for the most part and don’t show signs of abuse.
“They don’t stay out in the cold very long,” Frates said.
Sometimes, he sees indications the owner still cared about the animal.
In one case, somebody left two German shepherds in the forest with a bag of dog food, he said.
Frates said dogs come to him for a variety of reasons: they are abandoned, surrendered, lost or seized from their owners for one reason or another.
The peak time for lost dogs is around holidays such as Christmas and Thanksgiving when relatives are coming and going and dogs can bolt out the door and the Fourth of July, Frates said.
The Lakeville Animal Shelter took in 316 dogs in 2008. It also takes in cats, but just from Lakeville.
It is not a no-kill shelter but euthanizes very few dogs. Frates said 16 were put down in 2008. The shelter only euthanizes vicious dogs deemed unadoptable, he said.
Friendly dogs that simply fail to get adopted are given to rescue organizations, he said.
In 2008, 115 dogs were adopted, Frates said, while many others were reunited with their owners.
Frates used to work in the highway department. He pitched in temporarily when the former dog officer retired in the mid-1990s and decided it suited him. He loves animals but is able to resist adopting every hard luck case that comes through the door, he said.
For Frates, the job brought him full circle.
In the 1960s, his father was the town’s dog officer.
Those were the days before the town had a shelter, when the animal control officer boarded dogs in doghouses at his own house. It was Frates’ job as a child to help care for the canine houseguests.
He admits he hadn’t yet developed such steely reserve.
“We used to keep half of them in those days,” he said.
Frates said the shelter has had excellent luck finding adoptive families for abandoned dogs. Five have already been adopted out since the new year, he said.
He said one reason is the shelter has night and week-end hours. It is open Mondays from 6:30 p.m. to 8 p.m. and Saturdays from 1 p.m. to 3 p.m.
“A guy can’t tell his boss he’s going to leave work to go get a dog,” Frates said.
The shelter currently has nine dogs being boarded, five of which were either surrendered or abandoned and are available for adoption. Anyone interested in possibly adopting them may call Frates at (508) 947-3891.

If you have read any part of this blog you know I work at the Second Chance Animal Shelter in East Brookfield, Ma.. Currently there are eight dogs residing at the shelter at the moment, and I’d like you to meet them.

1. Stevie : 9 month old, neutered, Black Lab.  Stevie is very sweet & lovable. Being a pup He has lots & lots of energy. Stevie walks great on leash, and just loves to play.

2. Diesel : 6 month old Lab, neutered, Pitbull mix. Speaking of energy, Well…nuff said. This guy is very friendly and loves to go for walks. Very lovable guy.

3. Brooklyn : 6 month old white & tan male Pitbull. So lovable, and is walking great on leash. As with any puppy he has mucho energy, but he is the sweetest guy.

4. Dharma : 9 month old brindle Pitbull Terrier. One of the most sweetest & lovable pups you’ll ever meet. Energy abound though. Needs a family that is very active. No lap dog indeed!

5. Ronny : 2 yr. old Alaskan Husky. Very friendly, and its a pleasure walking him(he walks great on leash). Whoever is fortunate to adopt this guy will have a friend forever. Great Dog!

6. Logan : 7 yr. old male German Shepherd. Beautiful dog, and very friendly. Needs a lot of running room. At 7, still has plenty of energy & loves to go for walks. Good on leash.

7. Carmine : 4 yr. old Pug- Retriever mix. Very cute & friendly, and treasures his walks everyday. I love Carmine, and I know he’ll find a forever home soon.

8. Inky : I have few details on inky, as he just arrived a few days ago. He is a little shy, but I have spent some time with him, and he’s come around nicely. It’ll take some time, but I know he will make a great addition to someone’s home. Patience is the key with Inky. You can check out these beautiful dogs below. And also visit http://www.secondchanceanimals.org/ for more in depth information about these wonderful pets. Make sure to click the zootoo banner to help this shelter win a much needed makeover. Thanks,  J. Foley