Being a Pack Leader

I have learned more training dogs than I have in my years of University. I have learned how to assert myself using voice and body language, and how to demand respect not only from dogs, but from people. In a sense, I have learned, and am still learning, how to be a pack leader.

There is one thing that doesn’t seem to change with almost every client I meet – none of them seem to understand how to be a pack leader. Most of them are afraid to try. Most don't want to be 'mean' to their dog. I spend almost every lesson repeating the same thing to them in different words to reinforce an idea that is foreign to them: you have to be a pack leader; your dog is NOT happy being allowed to do whatever it wants.

Dogs are pack animals by nature. They live with a leader they respect and follow. This leader rewards good behaviour and corrects bad behaviour. In this way, the leader controls the pack and the pack learns how to properly interact with each other. This interaction is through the use of tones in the dog's voice and a bite on the scruff of other dogs. This is how dogs communicate, and this is how the leader demands respect from its pack.

Prong collars are a human’s way of mimicking that bite. If used properly, the collar ‘bites’ the scruff of the neck and releases, imitating the pack leader. The problem is that they look like a medieval torture tool. Most people don’t understand that it is, in fact, less damaging than a choke chain, and more effective (in most cases) than purely positive training.

In the hopes of creating a quick, but well referenced fact sheet on prong collars, I stumbled on so many blogs and anti-Cesar Milan sites thatI was shocked at how ignorant many comments were. Most (take http://whitney05.hubpages.com/hub/Cesar-Millan-is-Bad as an example) spew out ‘facts’ with no references and condemn the use of prong collars and assertive leadership as ‘barbaric’ and ‘outdated’. I am tired of being referred to as abusive to animals.

I have put a prong collar on almost every dog I have trained. It has been successful with 100% of the dogs I have trained. Many of these dogs are aggressive and come from referrals from ‘positive-only’ trainers. Prong collars are not a temporary solution, as people call it, but a permanent solution. Once I have corrected a dog once or twice with this collar, the dog understands its place in the pack and no longer fights against me, meaning that I never have to use the collar. I am NOT dragging the dog around, as some blogs seem to suggest, nor am I creating a fearful dog. Dogs under my training respect me and listen to me because of the consistency and leadership I bring, not out of fear.

While purely positive training can teach a dog to do something, it is fairly ineffective at teaching a dog not to do something. A balanced approach is very important when training a dog – positive reinforcement for doing something right, and a correction for unwanted behaviour. This is the clearest way to communicate with your dog, since it does so in a way that he/she understands.

Dogs are wonderful companions and mine are truly my best friends, but I find our society has humanized them to the point of nonsensical. Dogs are beautiful creatures because they live in the present, however, this means that they do not reason in the same way as humans. By humanizing them and expecting them to understand our train of thought, we lose touch with the nature of dogs. Dogs lives in the present and want a leader to guide them. Not everyone is a natural leader, but everyone has the chance to become a leader with the proper tools. So please do your research carefully before deciding on your method of training, and ensure your research is from a reliable source. You will be surprised by what you learn.