Trusting your intuition about your dogs will make you a better pack leader

What I was noticing was the start of tumor several years before it grew to block my dog's air way.  She suffered a long time as it grew.  I continued to ask the doctors but not one of them did the right thing to find out what really was going on.  I went as far as asking them directly about her breathing and why she was panting so much and the night before she died I even went as far as to ask if they thought she was choking on something.  I was assured it was her lungs.  It wasn't her lungs. 

GUIDE TO DOG SYMPTOMS AT PETPLACE.COM





It is a sad story and I know many people have tragic, heart breaking stories about losing their dogs to some illness or accident.  But I wanted to explain to you the bond you will have with your dog if you use you other senses more when you communicate with your dog.  You will also have to use you calm-assertive energy to make sure your dogs get the proper care they deserve.  I did not do this with Bobo, and I made the mistake of relying on the "experts" and asking family if they thought something was wrong.  Everyone said she looked fine but I should have been more assertive with the doctors.  It may have helped avoid some needless suffering if the tumor could have been treated at such an early stage.  I don't know for sure but I learned a good lesson about my own intuition and my assertive behavior.  I have been much more assertive with the doctors and I have also made sure to be a lot more informed about what certain symptoms could mean.   

Being the pack leader is a lot of things besides just holding your dog on a leash.  It is something that will impact your life forever.  If you can learn to be a great pack leader you will be doing all the things you need to do to have a healthier, happier and more successful life.  Our dogs have so much to teach us if we are willing to listen. 

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Dog Walking as Part of over all Dog training

It is hard to over estimate the importance of walking your dog during training. The dog whisperer way is big on dog walking and using this exercise as a way to reinforce your bond with your dog. It is also a chance to act like the pack leader and be in control of your pet. The biggest issue that has to be corrected on the walk, which is having the dog walk you, can be fixed very quickly if you can take over the role as the calm assertive leader.

A lot of dogs are trying to fill the void if their masters are not behaving like the alpha dog. As I mentioned before in a previous post, dogs want structure and they are very willing to follow the pack leader. They won't just follow you because you think you are top dog, you have to act like it and have the energy of the pack leader. The calm, assertive energy that displays leadership and strength to your pack must be the default energy level. As humans, we sometimes fail to realize just how perceptive dogs are and just how in tune they are with our energy. They are monitoring us all the time and they will pick up even the most subtle of cues as they will act accordingly.



Don't believe this? Think of another example when your dog knows what you are going to do about 5 minutes before you even start to move. Do you start to think about going for a walk a few minutes before you want to leave? Have you ever made the effort to get ready to go without making any mention of a walk or going out to your dog? How does the dog know something is going to happen soon?

You move up from your chair casually and try to plan your mission to get everything ready for the walk so you can then spring it on your dog just as you are ready to leave but it never works. As soon as you move from your chair with the intention of getting ready for a walk, your dog starts to get excited, barks and head for the door. They gather a lot of information very quickly without you ever saying a word.

Of course you know if you even say the word WALK your dog will go wild. You may even have to resort to spelling the word out one letter at a time, only to find out that as soon as you say W it will trigger your dog to get ready. This doesn't say anything about sensing your energy but it says something about dogs ability to learn. They are intuitive and intelligent so it is our job to be the pack leader to give them a stable and well balanced life.

Dogs have outstanding senses and will pick up on our assertion to be the pack leader if we can manage to stay calm and exude the right energy. You can make walking with your dog a great pleasure. Once you become a great pack leader you will never again fear being pulled down the street by your Rottie.

Walking your dog really can be fun.



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Dog training for the human pack leader

Dog training takes a tremendous amount of patience.  Dogs, especially puppies can be trying on our nerves and if we are not careful we will make things worse by being a poor pack leader.  Maintaining our calm assertive energy at all times is a must.  Easier said then done or at least that was the case with me.  Dogs are willing to follow us in the pack and do what we want but first we have to be trained in the art of living like a dog so to speak.  Well, we don’t have to go that far but we do have to adopt some of the behaviors of the alpha dog and of a good pack leader.  First and foremost is to keep our mood as even as possible no matter what our puppies do to drive us up a wall.  Our unstable moods or unstable energy will be acted out buy our dogs and they will not be able to be calm and stable until we learn to be calm and assertive as the pack leader. 

I was lucky enough to find 3 beautiful Australian Shepard puppies at the dog park one night many years ago and it changed my life in many ways.  In the short term it changed my house a lot too.  By this I mean so long to the new carpet, hello to the new bushes and new sprinkler drip system and hello to a major makeover of my personality. 

I already had 3 dogs that I rescued but they were getting a little older, very set in their ways and our routine was simple and low stress.  It is hard to say way I would take on such a task as to raising three high energy puppies but it might just be that they saw me coming a mile away and visions of dog biscuits started dancing in their heads.  For whatever reason I took on this challenge I can honestly say it changed my life for the better. 

It was funny that I soon realized that my patience was thin and that my dogs didn’t take well to me yelling at them after they chewed up my telephone.  It seemed to confuse them more than anything.  It was soon

there after that I became more interested in the dog whisperer and Cesar Millan way of dog training. 

I was fascinated by his control over his pack and how he was able to maintain such a calm and assertive energy under all types of circumstances.  I was also amazed at just how quickly the dogs took to his methods and how much more under control his dogs were than mine.  What I didn’t expect to learn was that my behavior was the primary cause of my dog’s energy output and placement. 

It was really a human psychology education rather than an exercise in dog training.   So was the beginning of my journey and education on being a good pack leader.  The “dog training” label just seems to be a way to draw you in until you find out that the dogs are really not the problem. 

Dogs are natural followers if they have a strong pack leader to fall behind.  It is just nature’s way and it has been part of the evolution of the dog because these instinctual behaviors lead, in part, to the survival of the species.  Wolf packs and other wild dog packs need an order to their pack structure or they would be constantly fighting one

another over limited resources and likely would have extinguished themselves thousands of years ago.     

The reality is that dogs know how to behave in the pack structure.  They just need a good alpha dog that is a strong leader.  This is where we humans come into the mix.  By default we have become the pack leader for our dogs but if we act in ways that are not conducive to being a good pack leader or if we are unable to channel our calm assertive energy our dogs will try to take over the lead role. 

Dogs and teeth Cleaning

There has been more and more concern about dogs teeth and a lot of talk about the best ways to keep them clean and healthy.  It is becoming more and more common for dogs to get their teeth cleaned at the Vet which was something was rarely done 20 years ago.  The theory is that the bacteria in the dogs teeth will spread to other areas of the body and cause illness.  Now teeth brushing is even fairly common among dog owners so the awareness of how important it is to keep your dogs teeth clean but people are much more hesitant to put the dog under anesthesia.  Even though the teeth cleaning procedure may seem fairly minor there is always the risk of complications when putting your anesthezing your pet. 

However, fortunately for those of us who have a little difficulty getting Fido to sit still while brush their teeth and who would rather not have their dog in for unnecessary surgery the standard procedure is lots of chew treats that hopefully will help reduce the tartar and plaque build up.  There are assortment of treats that can be good for your dogs but only if they are chewers.  If your dog doesn't like to chew on the raw hides or nylabones you can rely on milk bone biscuits.  If none of those do the trick you might have get your dogs teeth cleaned by the vet in order to prevent complications later in life. 

Dog teeth cleaning is one more good reason to always consider dental insurance as well.  Some insurance plans may cover certain preventative maintenance procedures like teeth cleaning or yearly check ups.  If you have more than one dog or cat you will definitely want to look into a couple of different types of insurance policies to keep the rising cost of pet care under control.