Dog Training & Ownership : How to Teach Your Dog That You’re The Pack Leader
admin | February 8th, 2010
Teaching your dog that you are the pack leader, or alpha dog, makes all discipline and training easier and builds a healthy relationship between dog and owner. Become a pack leader who uses discipline and affection withtips from a certified dog trainer in this free video on dog ownership. Expert: Zephyr Clarke-Dolberg Contact: www.miami-dog-training.com Bio: Zephyr Clarke-Dolberg is a certified professional dog trainer in Miami, Fla. Filmmaker: Paul Muller
You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
Do you think Mech, Coppinger, Semyonova, Price, Boitani and others just made it up?
They didn’t watch a nature channel. They went to the source and observed behavior.
The man who popularized the term has a vid [ youtube search "David Mech alpha wolf" ] in which he debunks the old myths.
Mech, Coppinger, Semyonova and many others have established, that there are neither alpha wolves (wolves live in extended families, not packs, dogs live in fluid, ever changing loosely organized groups, not packs) nor dominant animals. Dogs get their resources or defend their resources usually through threatening gestures, not real fighting. No wolf or dog rolls another wolf/dog unless it wished to KILL it. L. David Mech, founder of the term “alpha wolf” later admitted, he’d gotten it wrong.
sigh - isn’t that the point? Dogs decide amonst each other, if the particular resources (sleeping place, food, toy, affection) is more important to the one or the other. If one dog decides to make a case of it, the other dog might show it’s willingness to conceed the point by voluntarily crawling to the other, lickin it mout, whatever. The other dog does not establish Alpha, it establishes it’s claim to this particular resource. And this can completely reverse itself for another. Read Coppinger.
@musicofnote1 Not sure why you would say this. Watch a nature channel and you will see the dogs/wolves who are not the leaders expose their bellies to the leader.
I sat a dog once who was so timid it just sat there shaking. In this case, I needed it to not be intimidated by me. I rolled over on my back and scooted toward it and not looking into its eyes. Within seconds it stopped shaking and allowed me to come to it since I had given it dominance. HOW IS IT ABUSIVE?!
For those interested in reading what professional organisations, trainers and researchers world-wirde have to say about punishment based systems, alpha etc., see beyondcesarmillan(dot)weebly(dot)com and click through the long list of links on the left side. I have no connection to any of the groups or people mentioned nor with this web site. Just an interested dog-owner and -lover.
inasmuch as I’m not a professional trainer and do not live in the US, any inferences that I’m pimping anyone else are ludicrous. I’m representing the idea, that man should not use physical or mental intrusion to FORCE his will on his best friend, especially when there are proven positive ways, scientifically based (yes scientifically - show me the scientific basis for punishment based methods such as chokers, prong or e-collars - there isn’t any) that work better - yes, I wrote BETTER.
Secondly, read Alexandra Semyonava’s 100 Silliest Things people say about dogs to find out what the differences are between dogs and wolves, socially and biologically. Science based, not fairy-tale based. google the name and you can download chapters of this book and her other research papers.
Oh no, I didn’t misunderstand him. read his papers, don’t just view his YouTube. After all, would you try to convince anyone, that basic human behviour can be best charactherized by studying jail inmates? Captive wolves are not wolves living in their natural state and their natural state is the nuclear family with neither hierarchal fighting to establish the alpha breed pair, nor alpha dominance over beta or omega animals.
@musicofnote1
I think you misunderstand what Prof. Mech is now saying (contrary to what he believed and wrote in the past). Prof. Mech now suggests that “groups” of wolves IN THE WILD tend to be breeding families. He still recognizes that in “groups” of CAPTIVE wolves, brought together in an artificial hierarchy, dominance does play a strong role. Dog “packs” closely resemble the captive wolf packs and do indeed have alphas, betas, etc. Dominance/submission DO play a big role in these packs.
well they DO live in packs but those packs are sometimes families but it is still a pack,they all have to have a leader if they want to survive in the wild.They cant all go different ways and have their plans messed up and not catch any prey.They need one of them to boss them around
L. David Mech, leaidng international wolf researcher is an ideiot, when he says that wolves do not have slphas, but rather breeding wolves and live in families, not packs? And you somehow know he’s wrong? Remarkable.
That guy is an idiot,wolves DO have a pack leader and its obvious even when you only watch a bunch of dogs,one of them will be the boss of the rest.Just because someone is a scientist doesn’t mean they are smart,their are lots of dumb scientists around you know?
If you’ve never heard of L. David Mech, you should look him up. Foremost Wolf researcher who has stated: 1) Wolves do not live in packs but rather in families - so no pack and no pack leader. 2) Dogs are not wolves and have a different social hierarchy than wolves anyway.They also do not form packs or even set groups, but rather transitory groups without any leader. The idea of becomeing a pack leader to a dog is simply old-fashioned and not applicable. And a sign for abusive training methods.
Tasteless way to market yourself don’t you think…..
Who ever is telling you to not listen to this guy is trying to pimp someone else…Totally profit driven. People, use whatever technique works for you and stop thinking that there is only one way to train your dog. Don’t beat your dog or deprive it of shelter, food and water, but train it the way that works for you. I am so tired of you people who think you are a dog god. get over yourselves.
well hes not saying he wants to be like him
the reason why the dog wants to get up is because they have a very short attention in memory. it’s not because they’re being dominant or submissive. That’s normal for a dog. The way to teach a dog is to understand dog behavior and how dogs think. if you don’t understand the basics of the thought process of a dog, you only teach your dog with fillers and not through a more accurate understanding of what the dog is doing and is going to act/react.
yeah he’s jz quoting cesar milan totally
Dude, no one should watch or try anything this guy says.
He is a horrible dog trainer. I am a dog trainer in CT and this guy is a moron, if you want take notes on anyone watch “kikopup”s videos. He methods are closer to mine and she will always get better more positive results from any dog
i guess it’s not this guy’s dog. maybe that’s the reason
you’re NOT cesar millan…
Your totally right
you are the pack leader?
look at the dog, he is not looking at you for approval, he only stays down because he fears the correction, and you have to repeat your command twice in 1 minute…
cool