The most important influence that you can make on your puppy

During your puppy’s three to six month age period, the most important thing that you can do for your puppies future mental behavior stability is to establish yourself as the “pack leader”. If you do this right and do this early for your dog, then there will be no doubt in his mind who is the boss.

As the puppy’s owner, you will appreciate what this can do for the loyalty of your dog. The loyalty shown by a dog to his or her master and the family is a manifestation of pack behavior. In this case, you and your family are considered “the pack” in which the dog belongs to. In addition, the house and its surrounding areas are considered the den and territory in your dog’s mind. So as you can imagine, getting this leadership established is a very important part of raising a puppy to be a well behaved and faithful adult dog.

Many new puppy owners ask if it is alright to just have an equal part in all areas of his new life and home. This is a big no-no. A dog is not exactly a democratic animal. And if you allow your puppy to have an equal “say” in all of his choices and activities, then his mind will interpret this as an offer to have pack leadership of the family. The puppy will then begin to coax your activities to coincide with his benefits.

As hard to believe as it sounds, if you continue to let your dog have its way as mentioned above, then eventually the puppy will grow up to determine such things as where he wants to sleep, how often he should go in and out of the house or yard, and how much attention he gets. A puppy that has a more aggressive personality may press the limits by not letting you touch his food bowl or will even snap at you or your children if you try to make him do something that he doesn’t want to do.