Training Tip: I Don't Get No Respect

You always hear talk of how us dog owners need to be the "alpha human" over our dogs. But just how do we attain and maintain that position?


There are a lot of different exercises you can do to achieve this. Trainers take their cues from watching the alpha in a dog pack. The alpha says who eats first, doles out the discipline, and lays down the rules.


If one of the problems you're having is that your dog won't always listen to you, here's one exercise that will help gain respect and solidify your alpha position:

• Put your dog in a down.
• When doing this, say "down", but don't say "stay".
• Look directly at the dog repeating "good down, good dog, good down".
• Make sure to maintain a position over and/or above the dog.
• Continually keep up a dialog with the dog...
  

If the dog breaks that down in ANY WAY, do the following:

• YELL very loudly "EH" (Hard to spell this "word", but a loud, short sound is best. Don't say "No" for this exercise.)
  
• Yell this only once.
  
• Put the dog back in a down.
• Rinse. Repeat.
• When done, say OK to release the dog.
  

If the dog is doing well maintaining the down, gradually throw in distractions that you control. Start moving around the room, slap your hands on your thighs, talk in a high happy voice... anything that will keep the dog looking at you, and that you think might get the dog to break it's "down" (short of calling the dog to you or saying "ok", of course).

Your goal is to get the dog to break this down so you can issue the loud correction many times. This way, you start to show the dog that you will not allow the dog to break the down under any circumstances. What you say goes. Period.

After releasing the dog from this exercise with "OK", some dogs may not release right away. They'll wonder if they heard you right. At this point, they really don't want to make a mistake. That's a good thing. Take the opportunity to assume a more subordinate posture by lying on your back on the floor and talking in a high voice. Show the dog that OK means OK.


I was recently talking with a friend who's having some problems with her kids teasing their dog. This is one exercise that will fail miserably if there has been teasing going on.

My rule: NEVER tease a dog. It's one sure way to break a dog's trust in humans, and it'll make the job of training that much harder in the long run.


Try adding the above exercise to your daily routine. Spend just a few minutes per day solidifying your position as alpha in the house. Have other humans in the house also give it a try.

Good luck!