When you begin training your dog, you first need to establish that you are the leader of the pack over your dog. This will make your dog training sessions much easier and your dog will be more compliant to your commands.

You see, in the dog world, the alpha dog is the leader of all the other dogs. He does everything first and he also does what he wants when he wants. The alpha dog also gets the best toys and food. He makes all the decisions for the other pack animals and the other dogs simply do what ever the alpha dog allows them to do. So, if your dog sees you as the leader, then he will learn and obey your commands much faster. Here are 5 ways you can become the leader and ensure your dog is a follower.

An excellent yet simple method to get your dog to start obeying your wants is in the way you present your dogs meals. Make sure you eat something first, even a small snack will work. Then after you are finished, you can begin preparing your dogs meal by pouring his food into his bowl and mixing it with your hands. This simply distributes your sent throughout the food, further proving to your dog that you are in charge. Then make your dog sit before you place his bowl down. Doing this will reinforce you are the boss because in packs, the leader always eats first. Then once the leader is finished eating, the others may eat. This is a simple alpha training method that will help reinforce in your dogs mind that you are in charge.

A further technique is to completely ignore your dog when you come home. I know this one will be very hard as it was for me when training my dog. Your first instinct is to praise your dog with a lot of love immediately, but this only reinforces to your dog that he is in charge because he is setting the rules on when he gets attention and love. You see, in a dog's world, the alpha or leader always gets the attention first, so be greeting your dog first and not your family, you are telling your dog that he is the alpha and that your family is the followers. What you need to do is completely ignore your dog when you come home and greet all the other people in your house hold. Your dog will soon realize he is being ignored and will calm down and sometimes he will lay or sit down, patiently waiting for you to be ready to give him love. Once he is calm then, go ahead and shower him with a lot of love. Your dog will soon learn his place and he will patiently and calmly wait for you to greet the humans first.

Another technique in your training your dog that you are the leader is to make all the decisions for him. In a dog pack, the leader makes all the decisions for the rest of the team and the rest of the team just follows what the leader says. So, if you are letting your dog tell you what he wants to do, like when to play or when he needs love, then he will see that you are the follower and that he is the leader. So try and make all the decisions for your dog. If he wants to play, ignore him until he gives up, then go pickup his toy and ask him if he wants to play. If he wants some pets and rubs your hand with his head, simply move your hand and wait until he gives up, then call him over and lather him with love and pets. I know from personal experience that this is the hardest one to implement, but when done, you dog will soon start seeing you as the leader.

Bedtime is an additional technique where you can show your dog that you are the leader of your pack. When it comes to bedtime, the alpha pack leader always gets the highest sleeping spot because he is the one who looks out for the rest of the pack. So, when you allow your dog to sleep with you on the bed, you are reinforcing that he is the pack leader and you are not. It is ok to allow him to be on the bed with you at night while you are watching TV, but when it is time to sleep you need to make him go to his own bed on the floor. This will help strengthen your position as the pack leader.

The last technique is to have a grooming session with your dog and rub his belly. What you need to do here is to make your dog lie down on his side and then brush with and rub his belly. This will work wonders on him learning his role in the pack as a follower and not a leader. You see, when a dog lies down in front of another, he is showing the ultimate form of submission and a pack leader will never do this with his followers. This is why you need to do this technique as well. This will show your dog that he is the follower and you are the leader. Once you get into a routine, your dog will soon look forward to his grooming sessions and may even lie down for you with out you asking or making him.

When you put these five methods presented above into practice, your dog will soon begin to learn that you are the leader and he is the follower. Once he learns this lesson, your regular training sessions will go much more smoothly and easier since he already knows you are the leader and he place is to follow and do what ever you want him to do.

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