Solving Dominance Issues Of Your Dogs
There are a good many ways to establish and maintain leadership with your dog. Some dogs, particularly those that might be considered “guard dog” breeds, have a natural instinct to defend themselves if attacked. This is purely a natural instinct. However, some of these dogs may be inclined to fend off attacks by establishing their dominance and becoming aggressive.
Manhandling and punishing a dog of this nature only exacerbates the problem; the dog is in a self-protecting, aggressive mood, and your attack only intensifies his mood. This is one of the reasons why those who understand the more assertive dogs constantly preach the value of obedience training. Punishing will not control aggressiveness in a situation like this. The dog may well return your “attack” by attacking you!
Petting and trying ton soothe the dog will not help the situation either. He may take your soothing actions to mean approval for his behavior. You must put the dog under the authority by having him obey your command. This makes him submit to you. Responding to the down command puts the dog in a passive role rather than challenging or encouraging his unwanted behavior. If you have ever watched nature films on television, there is no doubt you noticed who ate first when the pack brought down a kill-it was the pack leader. If your dog eats his evening meal about the same time as you have your dinner, make it a point to eat first and then put your dog’s food dish down.
Some dogs are most anxious to please the pack leader, and other dogs don’t care if they please him or not. In the wild, dogs of the latter classification are likely to enter into the battle with pack leader for dominance. This seldom happens in the human/canine relationship, but do note that I said seldom and not never. It’s easy to see where the “I don’t care” kind of dogs can develop problem behaviors. However, even the more dependent dog can sometimes manifest behavior that will drive an owner up the wall.
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