~ Where am I & Who's in Charge? ~

Cute face or conspiring canid ready to take over your household !?!

I came up with the phrase ''Where am I and who's in charge?'' when I realised that there is a small window of opportunity when our new addition joins us. Sadly humans tend to leave a breaking-in period for the dog/pup to 'settle in'. However your dog is asking himself those two questions for the outset... and since we are being so nice to him (free food, shelter, toys, attention whenever he desires it) his ultimate conclusion is that he is in his own kingdom where he must be in charge...

Education, training and a little discipline should start the moment your new addition arrives home. Dogs are very hardy animals, and most people are amazed at how young and how quickly they can learn.

Raising a Dog

A concept that sprung to my mind recently is about raising a young dog into a well balanced adult and how hard that actually is. We have many unbalanced dogs running about who get to do their own thing, and their owners either don't know how to control them, or don't care. They have  raised themselves by pot luck experiences, they go by their innate instincts, which normally we call 'bad behaviours' (chasing livestock, being aggressive towards other people or dogs, generally doing their own thing and coming back in their own time).

To NOT raise one of these we have to do a few things...

- Don't rely on luck, go out of your way to setup good experiences

- Your dog is being TRAINED with every interaction you have, make sure you are teaching him the right things

- Find balanced dogs to raise your own dog around

Private sessions are highly recommended, and are even popular for people who are waiting to get a puppy, as we have many dogs for you to practice on, and learn from. If you are a beginner, your puppy is too, so it is a good idea to learn as much as possible for your new pup's well-being.

Let's look at Life from the Dog's Perspective !