Clever Dogs and Crazy People

I cannot count the number of times when people have said to me, as if it was the only thing that mattered, how much they love their dog. The problem with this is that there is also the notion that their dog, inevitably, will love them back.

Dogs have all sorts of ‘feelings’: they feel hungry, tired, thirsty, hot, etc. But they don’t feel love. This is a human emotion.

I understand that many dog owners believe their dog has a soul and is therefore capable of love, and even of greeting them in the afterlife.
I have no real proof as to whether a dog has a soul or no soul. Similarly, if you claim that your dog loves you, I will not dispute it.

All I am trying to do right now is give you the opportunity to step back emotionally so that training your dog will be easier for you.

I am not saying you should not love your dog: that is why you got it in the first place. But preferably you must love your dog in a way that establishes you as a leader and not as a lover. Leadership is what will give your dog the great ‘love’ all dogs desire.

So what exactly is leadership? It is not aggression, or harsh discipline, or intimidation. In human terms, a good leader is often beside you, so you work together as a team. In doggy terms, it is more about you making it clear what you want and expect rather than yelling or smacking. This reflects ‘the social order’ of the group that you’re working with – that is, your dog or dogs as part of the human family – your terms, his context.
When you arrive home and greet your dog first you are acting as a human, because as humans we greet our family almost immediately when we enter the household. If you greet the humans in your family first and your dog last you are acting as a leader.

So humans first and dogs last. It is as simple a rule as that, but the changes in your dog when you act differently, as a leader and not as a lover, will be instant and noticeable.

In all the years that I have trained dogs, I have noticed that a dog’s diet has a strong correlation to their ability to concentrate and learn new behaviours’ in training as well as hold that information easily until the next training session. A bad diet does affect your dog’s ability to listen and do as you ask.
What is a bad diet?

That is anything taken directly from your plate to their mouth when you are sitting at the table! (as they have been sitting watching and dribbling all the way through your dinner) Or when you take your plate to the kitchen and then put it on the floor for them to ‘clean’. Yes this is a bad diet!!

If you really want your dog to have a few left over’s transfer them to their bowl and give it to them with their regular meal and make sure you have down sized their regular meal a little to accommodate the extra’s.

It is up to you what you feed your dog but how you do this is part of the balance of love and leadership. Keep it simple, do not confuse your dog with food from the table.