New dog…mindset part 2
More on mindset when getting a new dog…. In addition to loving your dog, and making it a pleasurable addition to your life, you should have the mindset that you're the leader! That its gonna be YOUR dog, and it should listen to you, and learn to please you. And in turn you show it that you're going to love and take great care of him or her. Dogs are dominant by nature! They are pack animals and their social structure is based on a hierarchy or pecking order, or whatever you wanna call it. Many times you'll help hear people refer to the “pack leader” or the “alpha dog”. Well when you bring a dog home into the “people” world, the “human” world, their social structure doesn't automatically change and adapt to ours. In other words a dog can't be your brother, can't be your aunt, your cousin or your bestie (well they may become your best friend). A dog can only be a dog! And therefore it is purely functioning from the innate functioning of a dog. So for example; when dogs are hungry they chase, corner, and kill. Yes, dogs in the wild will actually pursue prey kill it, and eat it to feed themselves. They don't get goutmet meals handed to them on a platter, or pick from a menu. And if you didn’t feed your dog, it would most likely find something to eat on it’s own. Even if that meant stalking some prey. In other words, dogs don’t stop being dogs just because we bring them into our world. They acclimate to environments that we put them in, but that doesn't mean they stop being dogs. And because dogs are dominant by nature, when we bring them home we have to find a way, usually through obedience training , to establish ourselves as the leaders so that the dog doesn't eventually try run our household. I’m sure you’ve known people who have dogs that run the house and try to be controlling. And that usually doesn't work out very well because then certain habits and things start to develop that are not what we wanted. SO…..your mind set has to be one of a leader! Start putting yourself in a leadership position right from the start and you will help your dog clearly understand what your relationship with it is.
