Follower or Leader ?

We hear so many times about pack leadership/mentality within dogs. ‘Be the pack leader’ is one quote we read about from Cesar Milan, but for some reason we still allow our dogs to become pack leaders. Many dominate their owners making life with our dogs unpleasurable. With help and assistance we can become pack leaders and not followers, through an understanding of pack structure we can guide our dogs to harmony and a relationship both dog and owner are happy with.

The same thought could be said about humans. Some people are natural leaders whilst some are happy to follow the crowd. With the shooting season in full swing I’m already starting to have the conversations about allow dogs to do more than they are capable of. On a shoot they’ll always be the ones who say “just let you dog off, it’ll be ok”. NO, don’t listen.! You know when your dog is ready so if you’re taking your dog to experience the shooting environment without being off lead then stick to it. Patience is important and many time if you look at the persons dogs who are telling to let your dogs off they are unruly and hunt/work for themselves.

Remember they are your dogs, your sport and more importantly your time and money that you’ve invested in the training to ensure you have a obedient working dog that’s a pleasure to work with.

Posted: October 3, 2016