Dog Obedience Training & Passive Aggression

First let me state that you are the Alpha Male doesn't matter if your a female dog owner. If the dog does not understand or believe that you are the dominant or alpha personality your dog will not obey you or will test you at every opportunity. It's your responsibility to let the dog know that you are the one that is in charge not the dog, if you expect to have a master dog relationship that is beneficial to both you and your dog.

Now that I've made that clear lets get into some of the problems which are causing your dog to disobey the commands you are giving him. First you need to make sure that your dog is actually disobey your commands or just doesn't understand what it is you are conveying when you give a command. If your dog does not understand then further training is required so that the dog can learn what you need it to know.

If your dog is disobey your commands and you'll know this to be true if sometime he obeys and at other times he does not, then what you have is a passive aggression situation in which the dog is testing you to see how much he can get away with or how he can influence your behavior instead of it being the other way around. What it simply boils down to though is that the dog does not respect you period!

So now let us talk about the alpha male which should be you in this human dog relationship. It is very important that your dog understands that you out rank him, that you are the one in control and that in this social hierarchy that you are the alpha male. In a dog pack all members of the pack are subservient to the alpha male. They do as he wishes them to do and no other member dare get out of line unless they are willing to challenge his standing as the alpha male.

This essentially means that you control every important aspect of your dogs life. As an example when feeding your dog the dog should eat after you and your family have eaten and the times that he is fed should vary from day to day so that he does not get accustomed to any particular schedule. This tells your dog that you are in control of his feeding and that you decide when he can eat. In the wild or in a dog pack the alpha male will eat first then the other members of the pack get their turn in order of their position in the packs hierarchy. The same must apply in your family structure.

When you're taking your dog out, the dog should follow you out and not the other way around you are the leader the dominant one in the relationship; if you're in your car the same thing applies you leave the car first then the dog follows. When the dog wants to play you do not start playing with him immediately, make him wait several minutes and then when you're readily initiate some play time with your dog. This lets the dog know that you are in control and that when you are ready then things will proceed much the way it would in a dog pack with the alpha male.

Make sure that you also have certain areas in your home off limits to your dog, your bed, the couch certain rooms much as it is in a pack a subordinate member would be denied access to certain areas and things.

Another thing that many dog owners do, when they arrive home and their rushes to greet them they are hugging and showering their dog with affection, this is something you need to avoid. Make your dog stand down settle yourself into your home get relaxed then interact with your dog this will indicate to your dog that you are the dominant partner in the relationship.

Lastly another way to counteract your dogs disobedient behavior is to begin and maintain a basic obedience training program that you conduct with your dog for 10 to 15 minutes per day and that is targeted at enforcing commands.

A workable dog obedience training program needs to be one in which you can always enforce immediately the commands that you have given your dog. You should issue a command to your dog only once and he chooses to disobey your command you must take action immediate to reprimand your dog.

For further information on typical dog behavior, including a brilliant resource for training how-to's and loads of detailed information on preventing and dealing with problem behaviors, check out Secrets to Dog Training. Written by a professional dog-trainer, it's an absorbing guide that deals with all the subjects a responsible dog-owner could ever want to know about - well worth a look.