What is Leadership? What is “become an alpha to your dog?”

Being a leader to a dog is looking after his or her basic needs.

When we look into how to become an alpha to our dog we learn about our dog’s needs and outlets.

The better behaved our dogs will be, creating well-balanced and happy canines.

We have uploaded 2 videos for you to watch this week about Free time and avoiding playing inside.

https://youtu.be/anE2JWy32nM

https://youtu.be/b6b6dhwI_-0

Affection

• Affection is useful for building a relationship with our dogs. However, you might think how to become an alpha to your dog surely does not involve affection.
• Actually, It is something we can use as a reward when the dog has done something for it.
• If we give too much affection or affection on the dog’s terms too often, it can become devalued as a reward and can harm our relationship.
• Things such as demanding behaviour, separation anxiety, overprotectiveness, and aggression (when they are not in the mood to be petted).
• Because aggression when reprimanded by their owner, can all happen as a result of too much affection.

Outlets

• If we fail to give dogs the correct outlets, unwanted behaviours can start to arise, such as becoming demanding, restless, bratty (stealing socks/shoes etc), stubborn, or showing more aggression and becoming more possessive.
• Burning a dog’s energy physically and mentally makes them easier to live with and keeps them in good health.
• Structured walks are a key part of owning a dog. Four days a week at 45mins to 1 hour is a good starting point.
• Then on top of that, three off-leash runs or walks where the dog has more freedom are necessary
• More or less may be needed depending on the dog and the size of your property.
• Structured play, such as fetch and tug, are great ways to stimulate your dog – just make sure the correct structure and rules are in place.

Resources

• Controlling things that the dog sees as resources is a crucial part of training a safe pet that is safe to have around.
• If we fail to put appropriate rules in place, it is not uncommon to see picky eating, aggression around food or toys, guarding the front door, guarding the crate, hiding toys, and protecting the spot. In some severe cases, you may see malnutrition, roaming, severe resource guarding, and severe guarding of resting places.
• Rules to prevent these things from happening include: not giving the dog too many toys, having rules around the toys like you must drop when I tell you, waiting for food, and not leaving food out for more than 5 minutes.
• Correctly socialising your dog with other dogs will also help because commonly dogs don’t get enough socialising, and by socialising them correctly from a young age, in most cases, these issues won’t happen.

Structure

• Dogs thrive off structure – knowing when they will be fed, knowing when they go for a walk, and consistent rules are given by their owner (leader). This makes them feel comfortable and safe.
• If there is a lack of structure, it is likely the dog may become anxious, confused, listen less, become stressed, destructive, and many other issues can arise.

how to become an alpha to your dog?

Do you feel like you are now enabled with some tools to help with the challenges you have been facing? If you would like to know more we have amazing obedience training