08/11/2024
Hello again friends;
I apologize for the delay in getting to the last post about failing to assume positive leadership.
So, what are some of the common signs of, and problems created by failed leadership?
A few questions to think about.
When you’re about to take your dog for a walk, you get them in leash and collar, you go to the door and open the door, who goes through the doorway first?
When walking your dog, does your dog remain at your side or behind you, or are they leading/pulling you down the street?
If you have stairs in your home, and you start to go either up or down the stairs, does your dog feel compelled to get to the top or the bottom of the staircase ahead of you?
Let’s say you’re just chilling out, and your dog comes to you seeking attention. So you love on your dog for 10 or 15 minutes, and then stop. What does your dog do? Does he/she lay down calmly, or walk away to do something else? Or does the dog bump you with his/her nose, directing you to continue the petting?
If your dog insists on being the first out the door, and likes to lead you down the street(I do not mean to imply that this is the ONLY reason your dogs lead you), and has to be the first to get to the top or the bottom of the stairway, or directs you to continue petting in them, these are all indications of excessive dominance in a dog.
Do you have a pushy/ bossy dog, that is commonly directing your behavior? Excessive dominance.
When a dog has not been shown positive leadership, they tend to assume that they’re the alpha . Then they believe that they have to take on the responsibilities of the alpha.
There are three particular responsibilities that they believe they must assume that are problematic.
1) I must control the behavior of the pack.
2) I must lead the pack in most all situations.
3) it’s my job to protect the pack.
This is where the problems begin.
Besides the issues that I have already covered, there is another rather serious problem for the dog.
The dog that has been led to believe that he or she is the alpha will have an internal conflict, that creates an excessively high stress level for the dog, often creating anxiety issues. Here’s the conflict.
At some point deep within the dog, he or she will know that they cannot really be the alpha of a human canine pack. So the conflict is. ……………
I have to be the alpha!
I can’t be the alpha!
I have to be the alpha!
I can’t really be the alpha .
A couple of additional guidelines, to add it to the ones I gave in my last post.
Remember, that anytime, a dog elevates him/herself, they are not just elevating themselves physically, they are elevating their dominance. So, if you are someone that allows, your dog on the furniture, it should be by invitation only. If they get up on the furniture without your permission, they should be made to get off.
In the last post, I talked about how the lower ranking dogs will go to their elevated alpha/beta to seek attention, and that they do it in a very specific way. That way is that they will begin, licking the face of the alpha/beta somewhere between the nose and the jawline.
This is called submissive posturing. And it literally in canine language says “YOU ARE THE BOSS” , tell me what to do!
So, for those of you who like to kiss your dog in the face, anywhere between his nose and his jawline, you are literally telling the dog that he/see is your boss!
I am not saying, you can’t kiss your dog, just don’t do it between the nose and the jawline. What I usually recommend is to put a finger or two on the dogs nose push down, so the dog is looking at the ground, and then kiss the dog on top of the head.
So now I have talked about the two biggest most common mistakes that people make that create serious issues. I know that there are many more issues out there, that most people have no clue how to resolve.
Please bear in mind there are typically multiple options in ways to resolve problematic issues. I generally like to pick which option is the best, based on my knowledge of the individual dog!
So at this point, if there are any particular issues, that anyone would like me to elaborate on, please feel free to post them in comments. I obviously can’t promise I’ll get to all of them. And I can’t guarantee that any answer I give will be the right/best answer for any particular dog. So I will try to respond with my best answer in general, for most dogs with whatever the issue is!
Until then, Adios, friends.
