How To Establish Authority With Your Dog

If you want to have a happy, healthy relationship with your dog, understanding how the hierarchy of a pack works is extremely important. Many people who own dogs do not understand how to incorporate them into their lives properly and most importantly, they don't understand how to establish their position as pack leader. Your dog must have someone that they see as the leader of their pack in order for them to lead a stress free life. They must learn to trust that you know what is best for them, even if in the beginning, they don't want to submit to you.

But, what is submission in a pack environment? In order for submission to take place, aggression (or perceived aggression) must have taken place first. Dogs that meet each other on the streets or in the wild will not typically fight each other unless they are both attempting to be dominant. To avoid the fight, one of them must submit to the other. This is natural for them and in a pack that contains humans, a similar event must take place for you to establish to your dog that you are the one who is dominant. Since you are probably bigger than your dog (unless you happen to have a very large breed on your hands), establishing dominance shouldn't be a big problem.

When it comes to knowing when to submit, your dog understands two main things: being trapped and being in pain. But, you don't have to put your dog in pain for them to understand who the dominant force in the pack is. Holding them on the floor in a submissive position is typically enough; use just enough pressure to keep them in place, no more. Crying and clawing is normal when you do this, but they will soon give up and submit to your authority. This is what you should respond with if your dog tries to bite you and the response should be immediate. Swatting it on its rear or spanking it like a child doesn't show dominance. Full control over them, however, does and it does it without having to cause them pain.

If your dog doesn't have a pack leader, it will live a life full of stress and anxiety, because it sees itself as being in charge and being responsible for protecting the pack by itself. Take this weight off of its shoulders and you will have a much happier, much more laid back dog. When they understand that humans are above them in the hierarchy, this leads to the odds of your dog displaying aggression towards other people being slim to none.