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<\/a><\/p>\nIt is well-known that because dogs are pack animals, there usually is a pack leader. However, when the dog of the house sees itself as the leader of the pack, problems arise. The dog may refuse to obey commands from the owner, demand preferential treatment and will often bully other pets in the family. Adhering to some basic house rules can prevent this.<\/em><\/p>\n <\/p>\n In the dog\u2019s eyes, the pack leader in a household can be either another dog or a human. It\u2019s up to the owner to ensure that he is the pack leader; the alternative is often unpleasant for everyone involved.<\/p>\n Dogs do not suddenly become dominant – it\u2019s usually a gradual process when a dog with a strong character takes over as the leader in the household. It\u2019s a process through which the dog is allowed certain behavior patterns; like sleeping or lying on the bed, chair or couch and then refusing to get off when told to do so. Or the dog can demand to be fed before anyone else, including the family; go through doorways first, demand and receive attention whenever it seeks it or it may become possessive with objects and people.<\/p>\n When a dog is allowed to behave in this way, the owner confirms its superiority. However, behavior or privileges like those described above, belongs to the pack leader and not the dog. A puppy with a strong character that can potentially grow into a dominant adult needs to be handled in a kind but firm way. The owner may want to indulge the puppy, but it should not be allowed to behave in the ways described above. This is why consistent behavior towards a dog is so important \u2013 to allow a puppy certain behavior because it\u2019s cute, and then suddenly prohibits it when it gets older, will just confuse the dog.<\/p>\n Prevent the puppy from going first through doorways by physically holding it back and giving a command like \u2018back\u2019. Give the puppy its food in the kitchen among other activities. Get it into the habit of sitting for a moment before you give the food \u2013 the food must not be given on command, but when the dog earns it.<\/p>\n The need for food is a basic instinct and no dog, or puppy, should be teased or hindered when eating.\u00a0 To teach the puppy that a human around its food is not to be feared, it\u2019s a good idea to add something extra to the bowl while it\u2019s eating. If possessiveness around food is a problem, try putting one morsel at a time in the bowl. This is an area that can be especially sensitive when you adopt a dog that has gone hungry at some stage in the past or been mistreated around food. Special care should be taken in these instances and the dog\u2019s background taken into consideration before trying to correct it.<\/p>\n Dogs may also be possessive around objects. Try introducing toys while playing with the dog, with the owner introducing the toy and taking it away at the end. Make a game of it and encourage it to bring the object to you \u2013 then praise it and give some treats when it obeys.<\/p>\n A final word of warning: it\u2019s not unusual for a small dog to rule a household. It happens quite often as people are inclined to spoil and pamper them. Just because the dog is small in stature, doesn\u2019t mean it can\u2019t develop a massive superiority complex! So be on the lookout for the signs, unless you want to be relegated to just another member of the pack\u2026<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" It is well-known that because dogs are pack animals, there usually is a pack leader. However, when the dog of the house sees itself as the leader of the pack, problems arise. The dog may refuse to obey commands from the owner, demand preferential treatment and will often bully other pets in the family….<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/pethobs.com\/pet\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/153"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/pethobs.com\/pet\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/pethobs.com\/pet\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pethobs.com\/pet\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pethobs.com\/pet\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=153"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/pethobs.com\/pet\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/153\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":215,"href":"https:\/\/pethobs.com\/pet\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/153\/revisions\/215"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/pethobs.com\/pet\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=153"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pethobs.com\/pet\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=153"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pethobs.com\/pet\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=153"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}