Cheree is the founder of Mill Creek Animal Rescue. Download a copy of the free report: Five Dog Training Myths. Visit The New Pet Zone for the latest news and product reviews for a healthier happier pet!
The reason dogs are such good pets and fit so well into human society is that they are social animals by nature. Their greatest psychological need is to be part of a group. Whether it's a family or just you and puppy, or a boisterous household full of children and pets, in order to be happy your new puppy must feel secure about her place in the group.
If you watch puppies at play, you will see a lot of growling and tussling. There is more to this play fighting than meets the eye. Those little guys are already deciding who is going to be "top dog". Whether you realize it or not, something very much like this play fighting is happening at home between your puppy and the rest of the family.
To be confident and secure what puppies need most is a master they can depend on. For your dog to have a happy life and be a pleasure to own, at least one person in the family must become such a master. Dogs have no mental concept of "friends and equals". Somebody has to be boss.
There is virtually no difference between this jockeying for position for domesticated dogs as there is for members of the canine family traveling in packs in the wild. Someone has to be boss! In the case of your new puppy, that someone had better be you!
I have seen this scenario play itself out over and over again in my rescue work. There was only one time when I thought one of my little rescue pups wasn't going to get with the program. A very handsome Catahoula mix I actually considered having put down because he was constantly getting into fights and I was frequently being bitten and scratched up trying to separate the fights. But, with time, patience, and firmness, he finally settled in.
Assertive puppies will grow up trying to be boss, which won't make either one of you happy. A submissive puppy may spend its entire life fretting and worrying, never sure what is expected. Everything usually works out just fine automatically--puppies find their place in the family without much trouble and everyone is happy with the arrangement.
Wondering what ever happened to that aggressive pup of mine? Well, he's still at my shelter waiting for his forever home. I ended up calling him Boss, because he thought he was the boss for such a long time. He's a love now, and was the lead-in dog in a the recent Obama dog adoption petition video at YouTube.
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