As a first-time dog owner or maybe a multiple dog owner with a new dog that has “issues” you have bought all the necessities for your loyal companion. You have treats, toys, food, dog bed, collar with ID, leash, microchip, veterinarian, flea medicine. You are excited by your new dog yet not completely sure what to do, figuring you'll learn as you go.
And then time goes by and some “issues” develop or don't go away and you wonder why. Your new dog soils in the house or destroys things of value. Or when you walk him he lunges to go after other dogs, people, cars, skateboards, bikes to no avail. Maybe is fighting with other animals in your home or charging guests as they enter the front door.
Maybe he is afraid or nervous of people and this puts you on edge.
All these behaviors are undesirable and are the number one reason a dog is relinquished to a shelter. If the shelter is not a no-kill facility, your dog will be on the list of dogs to be killed. And since so many dogs are brought to the shelter to be relinquished sometimes it happens within a few days. Is this what you want for your dog?
Why do you think dogs develop behavioral problems? The reason why is because people DO NOT UNDERSTAND what their canine companion needs. Although dogs have been domesticated thousands of years ago to live with humans, they essentially have the same genes their ancestors had. What this means is that dogs still have the very same drives and instincts that influence their mindset. Nature has hard-wired them to be controlled through a system called hierarchy. When people unknowingly treat their dogs as equals they are counteracting the force nature has intended to create order. Although a dog will be happy to follow you if you do not assume leadership status your dog will become the leader and boss you around as this is their nature. So when you try to get him to stop doing something undesirable he simply does not hear you. Does this sound familiar?
How long will you wait before you give up your dog? Are you prepared emotionally to accept that you are bringing him to his death? Or if you keep him and we talk one year from now, will your situation still be the same and nothing has changed?
Trying to become a leader isn't easy for people without guidance. Learn leadership skills and how to understand your dog with Animal Communicator Susan Hill. Susan has spent many years communicating and learning how to control dogs the way nature has intended it. 949 309 0808
Controlling Your Dog the Way Nature Intended It. Home visits serving all Los Angeles, Sherman Oaks, Studio City, Hollywood, Beverly Hills, Encino, CA. Phone consultations available.
Learn to think like your dog. Dog training (man made) is based on rewarding your dog which is unnatural in the dog world.
Dog Behavior Consultations instead of Training Your Dog.
If aliens landed in your back yard and they asked your dog, "Take us to your leader," would your dog point to you?
All Dogs Are Created Un-Equal
People have problems with their dogs when they humanize them and treat them equally giving them higher status within the family than they actually need to be good dogs. Some dogs are okay with anything you do, making every wildest possible
mistake and those dogs are the ones who are simply followers and not challengers. Usually we mean a good dog is one that listens to us and does what we want. In short a good dog is a good follower. However the problem begins when people treat challenger dogs equally. A dog's mind is not the same as a person's mind. Dogs need to treated unequally, i.e., as a subordinate with less privileges. This does not mean that they are unappreciated and under-valued...those are human beliefs,not dogs, to associate lesser in importance and value with lesser ranking. Nature tells us that every single being is absolutely important to the whole. Hierarchy creates a structure encoded in your dog's DNA that tell him or her that they are to lead or follow. But they can never be equal.
That is the way nature intended it. When people treat dogs as equals dogs feel they do not need to respect their owners. What I can do is help you to see how you are falling short in the alpha department (the leader). I can help you to see your dog the way he sees you. I can help you to understand what thoughts you are holding surrounding your dog that are getting in the way of you
becoming alpha. Often people project their emotional needs onto their dogs probably because they aren't getting their needs met by their human counterparts, (especially women but not exclusively). Dogs love people but when they are not allowed to be what nature intended them to be they become frustrated and start doing "bad behaviors". These bad deeds are really the product of being forced into an unhealthy relationship with their humans. These problem behaviors are really a communication from your dog that your relationship is amiss.
Unless people are 100% committed to uncovering their own invested psychological and emotional dysfunction nothing will change. It doesn't matter what trainer, which collar, what food or anything else you do. It is all about your relationship with your dog.
Recreating your relationship is the key to changing your dog's behavior.
Dogs react instantly to the system of hierarchy. They may respond to treats and rewards but only when they want those things. And alpha dogs command respect from their followers through having higher rank with more responsibility and perks whereas
their followers must follow and must wait for food, affection and sleep in a less comfy spot. The guy with the power gets the better stuff.
Understanding what your dog truly needs to be healthy mind and body is different than what people need. Although we have been taught to believe that spoiling our dogs and rewarding them constantly is good, in reality it is confusing to them. People generally don't want to be dominated but we allow it in order to achieve a goal. Dogs like it. And they need it. Many people dislike the word "domination" and feel that it means being mean, forceful and violent to a dog. It does not mean that. "Domination" in the dog world simply means "to exercise control over another through specific physical cues such as facial expressions, ear and tail placement and vocalizations to indicate that the recipient show submission and therefore a willingness to follow and simultaneously give up the authority to lead." So as humans guiding and persuading our dogs to follow us we obviously cannot move our ears and tails but we can raise our voices and move our bodies in such a way to demonstrate authority status. So in this sense it is synonymous with the the word which is popular today "leadership".
Somehow "leadership" is kinder and gentler and people feel more humane using it vs. the word "dominance". But did you ever watch the TV show, "Fatal Attractions"?
Every time an exotic animal eats his owner, (yeah that's what the shows plot is every week) do you think that animal was thinking about being kind and gently leading their human? Absolutely not. I really think they were following their animal instincts, stressed and having seen weakness from the human caretaker, decided to dominate them and finish them off. Now you probably think that exotic animals are different than our domesticated dogs, right? Did you know that aggression is at an all time high now with dogs and cats? Yes dogs and cats are not wild animals but they are not human beings.
Resolving problem behaviors with dogs, cats, birds and horses requires entering into their world and seeing things from their unique point of view. The first step is to have awareness that we are putting our own projections onto them. We must step back and see with right vision.
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