007. Ya gotta show a dog who is boss.
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This article is from the Dog Behavior FAQ, posted to rec.pets.dogs newsgroup. Maintained by Cindy Tittle Moore with numerous contributions by others.
007. Ya gotta show a dog who is boss.
To some extent, this is true. But what many people think this is comprised of are usually quite wrong. You don't show a dog "who is boss" by hitting it, yelling at it, or via other methods of punishment. You show a dog who is boss by being its leader. Show it what to do, how to behave. Most dogs are waiting for you to take the lead. There are actually only a very few dogs who will actively challenge you for "top dog" position. Rather, most dogs take the "top dog" position because their owners have made no effort to do so, and not only that, their owners don't recognize what is happening -- until the dog starts correcting them for their misbehavior!
Interestingly, many forms of behavior that have been touted as showing dominance over a dog backfire badly. This is because in many cases dogs really aren't contending for the "top dog" position: applying techniques to "show him who is boss" in these instances results in the dog being alienated from you and distrusting you because you corrected it for no good reason. The alpha roll, long touted as the "best" of these methods is in reality a last ditch, all out correction. It's what you do to your teenager after he's taken a joyride in your car and totalled it, not when he first asks you for the keys. Being unfair to your dog in this way can create a fear biter, one who has lost all hope of being treated fairly and defends himself the only way he knows how.
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