Be a Leader for Your Dog

A fiery debate at a blog called fugly horse of the day got me thinking about why there are so many problems with animals. In particular, why are so many dogs put in a position where euthanasia seems to be a viable option for behavior issues?

To find the answer to this question, we need look no further than the mirror. The problem is us and its time for dog owners to take responsibility and say the buck stops here.

I've come to this conclusion under some influence by Cesar Millan and others. Owning horses as well as dogs, I've gotten heavily involved in natural horsemanship training. One thing that is clear from natural horsemanship is that you need to become a leader for your horse, and you need to communicate with your horse using his own language. The same is true for dogs, and this is exactly what Cesar Millan is teaching. If you're looking for a happy, successful relationship with your dog, having him around the house and hoping for the best ain't going to cut it. You need to become a leader for your dog. And like natural horsemanship teaches, "dog whispering" is about speaking to your dog in his own language.

Let's take an example. A poster mentioned that a child rang the doorbell one day, and her dog burst forth and bit the child. This is a tragic situation to be sure. On impulse, you would probably say the dog should be put down, and that's exactly what happened. The owner of the dog reports being mystified as to why the dog did what he did. But is it really that mysterious?

The dog was following his gut instinct-which is to protect the household. That is not mysterious behavior. The question we need to ask then, is why did the dog decide to inappropriately bite a child, who is not a real threat? The answer in many, if not most cases is that the dog felt it had to act because the owner was not in a leadership position as far as the dog was concerned. Without an alpha dog in the household, the dog felt insecure and assumed the leadership position on his own. So he did what came natural to him, he saw a stranger at the door and proceeded to defend the household.

I want to make it clear I am speaking in general terms here-I never met the particular dog in question and wasn't there, so can't address that specific dog and owner. That dog might have been truly insane with euthanasia as the only reasonable option. With that as a given, what I am doing is addressing the situation in general and what is usually at play in most cases.

So how can we work to minimize the chances that our dogs will attack at will when someone rings the doorbell, especially a child? What a dog owner needs to do is actively assume the leadership position in the pack. A dog would rather not be the leader. The fact is he is going to look to you to be the leader and will only exhibit aggressive behavior like that when is failing to see you acting as the alpha.

There is nothing mysterious, new agey, or flaky about dog whispering or natural horsemanship. Maybe what's mysterious is that Cesar Millan figured all of this stuff out on his own, but the truth is you can learn it too. All dog whispering is about is taking a new view on dog ownership. Some suggestions:

• Read, read, and read again. Study every book on dog behavior (and yes, wolf behavior) so that you understand why dogs behave the way they do.
• You might spoil your grandkids or your 3 year old nephew, but don't view your dog as a child that should be spoiled. When it comes to the dog, start viewing the household in terms of a dog pack.
  
• You assume the leadership position of the pack. Read dog whispering books and watch dog training videos to learn how to do this.
  
• Don't neglect basic obedience training. Your dog should be an expert at sit, stay, down, down-stay, and come commands.

That last point might be as important as any other. If your dog is well trained at down-stay, you can put him in a down-stay when the doorbell rings-and he is going to stay in that position until you tell him otherwise. That is the hallmark of a well trained dog. Don't make any excuses. If my dog can't do that-its my fault and nobody else's, and the dog doesn't need to be put down. I need to invest more time and energy into training the dog. Euthanasia should only be a last resort for behaviorial problems. Start putting energy into training your dogs properly today.

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Euthanizing a Dog for Behavioral Problems

All too often these days its easy to have an animal behaviorist come along and say a dog should be euthanized because it has this or that behavior problem. Having owned a few "problem" dogs, I think the time has come to recognize that dogs are often being put down when they don't need to be and that we shouldn't always defer to the so-called experts-animal behaviorists making life or death decisions.

My dog Tony-who is now being treated for heartworm-is one such example. He was found wandering along the river and ended up in the city animal shelter. An animal behaviorist examined him and declared him unfit for adoption. He was labeled as shy and fear-aggressive. Luckily a woman nearby runs a German Shepherd Rescue and she has a long-standing relationship with the city animal control. She happened to find out Tony was in the shelter and picked him up (they let her take him despite his supposed issues because of that long term relationship). Guess what? Tony is fine. He is the friendliest dog you could ever meet. Sometimes I wonder....is Tony really a German Shepherd? He seems more like a Labrador Retreiver wearing a German Shepherd dog suit most of the time.

Another of my dogs-Lucy the Weimaraner-has a similar story. She escaped from the yard at her previous owners and ended up in the shelter. Once again, the animal behaviorist labeled her as fear-aggressive. But Lucy wouldn't hurt a flea, even though she is definitely the alpha dog in my house.

These two cases taught me a lesson that really hit home. Had the German Shepherd Rescue not visited Tony, he might have been euthanized by the animal shelter staff since the resident expert deemed him dangerous. Same fate might have awaited Lucy. But these are perfectly good dogs that have made great pets.

Are we too eager to euthanize in this age where we desire perfect safety? I think we are. If a dog is fear-aggressive, why not work on the dog first? Start by getting the dog in basic obedience training and work HARD at it so the dog drops into a down without batting an eye. Then socialize the dog. Get it out among people and other dogs. Crate the dog when you've got company. I think people give up on a dog too easily. Remember life is precious and temporary. With a little effort a dog might come out of his shell and be a great companion. It takes a special person with some dedication to deal with a situation like this, but why not step up to the plate and try. There is already too much death in the world and people are always looking for the easy way out.

We live in an era when there are tough choices to be made. Tragic things do happen, all too often we hear about a pack of pit bulls attacking a child bringing the problem of dog aggression to the fore. But the real problem is breeding-too many dogs and not enough homes. Until that problem is solved difficult choices will continue to be a necessity.