When Your Dog Won't Mind

When Your Dog Won’t Mind

When the Alpha wolf issues an order – pack members listen and mind or they don’t survive. When dogs choose not to mind their owner they are in effect saying they do not respect that person giving the commands. In other words, they don’t respect the consequences they have experienced in the past when they ignored a command.

To solve that problem corrections need to be consistent and they need to be at a level that the dog remembers the next time it thinks about not following commands. Dogs are extremely observant. It does not take them long to determine that the trainer must be listened to. It also doesn’t take them very long to recognize an inconsistent handler. The fact is a dog that doesn’t follow directions doesn’t respect that handler giving those directions.

When that happens dogs begin to think they can ignore commands they don’t like. With some dogs (thankfully not all) this can lead to a dog that challenges an owner or family member because they don’t want to do what is being asked. They have not learned to respect the correction.

This is the exact point where some dogs will start to show their teeth, growl at the owner, nip at the hand that tries to take a toy away etc etc etc.

Had this same dog gone through training for correction and distraction at a younger age the odds are this situation would never have evolved. Dogs that have not gone through correct training end up being dogs that seem to live peacefully with their family up to 12 to 18 months of age and then suddenly change into CUJO.

When dogs reach breeding age their hormones start to flow. All of a sudden rank within the pack becomes a big thing to them. They have learned that they don’t have to follow direction from pack members they don’t respect because there has never been any serious consequences. When many dogs lack a strong pack leader they will step to the line and try and become a leader. They instinctual know that corrections on lower pack members have to be enforced.