Dog Training Classes Enmore – It’s You or the Dog! Or Is It?

Is Your Dog in Charge?

We all love to spoil our dogs. And it’s completely fine… to a point. Have you starting to feel like your dog wears the pants in your relationship?

There are a lot of dog training myths out there. One of the most popular one is about dogs being dominant. Unfortunately, television programs with trainers coming to people’s homes to accuse them of not being the pack leader are very common and popular. And why wouldn’t they be: it’s an easy solution for everything. Your dog’s pissing on your lounge – you’re not the leader! Your dog’s pulling on lead – Because you’re not showing the way as a leader! You’re dog is reactive towards other dogs – You’re not the leader so your dog has to be! Sounds familiar? This is an easy fix for any dog trainer and a great way to blame you instead of their own incompetence. In my dog training classes in Enmore (Sydney Park) we tackle this myth by teaching dogs new, better behaviours!

Dog Dominance Myths

Does your dog look you in the eye? Dog likes to go out the door before you do? You feed your dog before you eat? Does he pull on the leash? Does he jump on you? Puppy pee on your bed? Believe it or not, but these are all used for explaining dominance.

The fact is that dogs don’t spend time plotting to take over ours with dominant dog behaviour. First of all, they don’t have theory of mind. This means that they don’t plan their future. Becoming a pack leader over you would mean that your dog’s planning his actions ahead in order to achieve this goal. They aren’t capable of this kind of thinking. Dogs live in the moment and do what benefits them. So if jumping up leads to attention from you -even yelling- it was beneficial for your dog. If pulling on lead ends up with your dog been able to get forward or to even meet other dogs, pulling was beneficial. If you left your puppy unsupervised and he peed on your bed…Well that’s on you. It’s like leaving a young child to run around without a nappy. Accident will happen!

Be a Teacher – Not a Leader!

Dogs don’t need us to be their pack leader. They need us to be a teacher, and even better, a great teacher! You don’t need to be a professional dog trainer to know how to become one but you can always learn from one. Join my dog training classes in Enmore and learn how to train and raise your dog.