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What is all this about being an "Alpha?"
To a dog it's everything. The Alpha is the leader of the pack. The Alpha may be female or male. This instinctual hierarchy to this day is responsible to how your dog and puppy learns. How they make and hold an established order in their world and understand their place in that hierarchy. This gives a dog a wagging tail! Canines are pack animals. Their behavior would be very similar to that of wolves, a canine cousin.
"Everything that a dog needs to know, after it's weaned and then throughout its entire life, it learns from its pack leader."
In any pack the Alpha Male or Female is the Leader. As such all of the activities and responsibilities of the "family" fall upon the Alpha Leaders shoulders. The other pack members follow this leadership. All dogs have this instinctual mode of living and compromising any part of this hierarchy does damage to one or more aspects of your pet's overall health, happiness and obedience. As for everything in the very beginning of a pup's life its mom is its pack leader.
It's understandable if this takes a moment to sink in but we'll hope it does. Despite what may be your current beliefs on this leadership, a pet that lives within this fairly rigid structure or hierarchy actually have overall better health and are emotionally more secure in this defined role.
When you read of dog attack's which have given some breeds an unfavorable reputation the reason too many of these attacks occur is not the dog but the handler. As such some breeds gain a negative reputation as more prospective owners add this breed to their home and then fail to make the commitment to be an Alpha. Another truism, if the owner or handler will not take the leadership role the dog will. This means that the ground rules for behavior and "attitude" rest entirely on your pet and he or she view you as subordinates. A dog does not want this leadership but with no other recourse will do what thousands of years of instinct provide, assume leadership, maintain the pack integrity and be responsible.
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If you are the Alpha then you set the tone. You decide when the pack eats, where the pack goes, when it's playtime and when it's not. When the Alpha takes responsibility for the pack's needs then the pack can relax knowing the "boundaries" of what is correct pack behavior and what is incorrect pack behavior. Also it's important to understand the breed or be keen enough to see the dog's personality. Many of the best dogs come as crossbreeds or what we used to call "Mutts." Yet many of these mutts have been the most intelligent, well mannered dogs I've ever come across. Knowing yourself and your household, your habits and drives, your time and energy make a direct connection to the "type" of dog that you should choose and when you get a dog or puppy on the spur of the moment and then do not give the dog leadership once the cute puppy peeing on the floor stage dies the animal then becomes an advertisement on a "pets listing" usually for a "nominal adoption fee?"
When it comes to training your pet that pesky word "time" comes back into play. It's understandable that many do not appreciate this need for so much time so allow me to explain as best I can. It has everything to do with the growth patterns of your puppies. At just a few months old they're already in what humans would refer to as the "terrible two's" and by six months your puppy is now 3 ˝ years old. That growth mentally and emotionally is far more rapid that the aging process. The first year of your puppy's life is by training standards the most important. All conditioning once established is either followed or can be altered readily.
The wonderful tricks that we've seen dogs perform are nothing more than rapport, time and training and even that training is not so difficult when patience and a gentle hand have been employed to train your pup. To understand the dog's view of things you have to understand the dog's instinctual drives and motivations. Dog's and Wolves are pack creatures as are many other types of animals on this earth. In a pack there is an order, a caste system as it were, just like for humans at work, you are the leader, the boss or . . . well you're not. But the one's who are not the boss just have to fill that certain function that they joined the pack to do. You perform your task and at the end of the week you are compensated so that you can get groceries and bowl, watch Sponge Bob and eat Suzy Q's.
In a pack there is an "Alpha" and that is the leader of that pack. A human clan of an older time has similar qualities. The leader is the one who makes the decisions that give the rest of the pack groceries and direction. The alpha decides where to go and the direction that we will take to get there. The alpha decides when to eat and sleep, when to fight or flee.
Now, this is an important note!
Dogs in general would prefer not to be the Type "A" personality. They like knowing that their food awaits them at a certain time. They enjoy that they get to go out and walk and play without worry over where shelter will be found for the night. They know that they have a place to be with other pack members.
BUT . . . A dog will assume the role of Alpha if no one else steps up to the plate. Let's try this again, your dog from Chihuahua to Norwegian Elk Hound will take the lead dominant role as the Alpha if the owner or owners do not fill the void.
A dog needs a leader and barring any other members of the pack taking charge the dog instinctually will and with that throne also come all the behaviors that owners complain of. When dogs are given to shelters due to these behaviors (the dog doing what it instinctually has to do) it's very sad because the fault is not with the dog but with the family that did not learn the lessons of pack dominance and alpha behavior. And even for those really pathetic people who just let their dog go and when gone claim it ran away have caused so much harm to animals that have so much good to offer. It is hard to make this clear without everyone who reads this to understand its importance but this "Pack Hierarchy" is the difference between a long life with an empathetic companion and hell. It amazes me how many have chosen the latter.
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For too long I've messed with the wiring in my head. Now it shorts out more oft than not. But at my age I just sit and enjoy the sparks. RJM '07
Many Exceptional Free and Pay for Images Available here Fotosearch.com
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