Tips To Be The Alpha Dog

November 6, 2007 at 5:30 pm · Filed under Puppy, Dog Tips, Dog Training

What is Alpha Dog?

What does Alpha the word Alpha means? Alpha is the first letter of the Greek alphabet. In general, it means the first one, or the strong one. Alpha Dog means to be the leader or the dominance over your dog.

Some history about dog

Wolf are the ancestor of today’s dog. Deep within the psyche of your dog lies instincts they have retained from their wild ancestors. Wolf are pack animal and they live by rules and have a social structure. You will often see that in the movies related to “werewolf” such as “Blood and Chocolate”. The entire pack will be lead under a single leader. The leader will enjoy and eat first, then only followed by the rest of the pack.

Take note: When your dog growls at you when he is eating, he is saying “I am the leader, and you must wait.” Dog owner must learn to train your dog dog not to have this behaviour.

Why is Alpha Dog important?

It is important that the owner be the Alpha Dog because you don’t want your dog to be overpower you and do not follow your command. This will lead to a lot of behavioral problem and training difficulties in the future. Start early to exercise Alpha Dog when you first bring home the puppy. Once you establish this relationship, your dog will seek you out. He will want to be with you and will treat you with respect and affection. After he learns to submit to handling, all other tasks such as grooming, nail clipping, cleaning ears, and medicating will be easier to accomplish. But first he must learn that you have the power to handle him, and that handling will not lead to any harm. He must come to trust you entirely.

How to learn to be the Alpha Dog?

1. Never let your dog start growling at your or your children. Growling represent their intention to be dominant over you.

2. Leader always walk through the door first - if your dog rushes out when you open the door, use leash and tell him “No” and ask him to “Wait”. You walk in, then only permit him to follow from the back.

3. Avoid to let your dog sleep on the same bed with you. This is important to conform your Alpha status. Place the dog’s bed on the floor beside your bed will be the best.

4. Increase socialize activities such as bring him to the park or introduce to the neighborhood who also enjoy dog’s company. Let you dog familiarize, respect and love to be around with people.

5. Try not to over baby your dog. He need to learn and explore himself and be independent. You may not be with him 24 hours. When he acts afraid of something that he should not be afraid of, tell him it’s okay and show him the object or person. Your confidence will make him a confident and dependable dog. If you feed his imaginary fears, he will become a snappy and untrustworthy dog. He may also develop fear aggression.

6. What is fear aggression? An example of fear aggression could be a dog that sits in its owner’s lap and growls at people or other animlas. He will continue to do that if you pet him and say “It’s okay” at this time. The correct method is to tell him no and put him down off your lap. If you do not handle fear aggression properly, your dog will become snappy when children or other people try to pet him. So it is very important to use the right method.

7. Do not play tug of war with your puppy. Play fetch and tell them to release the ball gently. Pass him a treat or another toy to exchange if he doesn’t drop.

8. Spend time to play with your dog. Train him and love him like of your own children. Once you decided to rear a dog, you have the full responsibility as the mother and raise a good child. Bad dog behavior is failure of owner’s proper training.

Comments (4)

My Miniature Schnauzer Puppy

November 4, 2007 at 9:35 pm · Filed under Puppy, Miniature Schnauzer, Puppy Wallace

I am not too sure about other Miniatures Schnauzer puppy out there, but my Wallace seems to be very “baby-like”. He can make those sound like small baby crying when I hold him after come back from outside a few hours. I will feel bad if I don’t hug him immediately, cause the sound is really like crying out for love and need a mom to pet him calmly. As I don’t really put him in the crate, he will follow me whenever I walk around the house. Luckily he get tired sometimes after running around, so that I can write blog and do other things at home….

Smelling my toe.

Comments (1)

What is the best age to bring home a puppy?

October 22, 2007 at 9:10 pm · Filed under Puppy, Dog Tips

Before bringing home a puppy, it’s wise to learn at what age, you should get it from the breeder. Ideally, the age to bring home a puppy is between eight to twelve weeks old. This is considered the critical socialization period in a puppy’s life, the time when he learns the most about his environment and begins to adjust to his surroundings.

If a puppy is detached from his mother younger than six weeks, he may develop issues with separation anxiety and poor socialization habits. The anxiety and stress of missing his mother and litter mates, may cause health problem as well.

Puppies go through five critical periods…and it’s very important that they remain with their mother and littermates until 7 to 8 weeks of age.

1. During the first 3 weeks of life puppies have next to no mental capacity and their basic needs are provided by their mother. Little or no handling by humans is required (assuming all is well with mother and puppies). But handling at this time will go a long way in development of the pups.

2. About the 4th week puppies become aware of other living beings and have very slight trainability. This is an extremely critical period and puppies should not be removed from their mother or littermates. Introduction to humans should be started–but carefully controlled.

3. Weeks 5 through 7 they begin socialization within the litter and also with humans. At this point they are capable of responding to voices and to recognize people. Training by their mother is in progress and they are becoming aware of the differences between human and canine socialization.

4. During the 8th through 12 weeks puppies are removed from littermates and mother. They require human socialization, love and security. Play with children should be well supervised. They are capable of learning simple training such as Come-Sit-Stay-No. It is important that children or other animals not injuring the puppy, either accidentally or maliciously. Introduction to people is important but should be closely supervised. Gradually expose to loud noises such as autos, washing machine, vacuum, etc. Puppy Kindergarten classes during this time are very important.

5. At 13-16 weeks puppy’s mental capacity is fully developed and needs experience. During this time puppy needs love, attention, socialization, discipline and security. Puppy will also try to establish itself as the dominant one. Your puppy is now capable of undergoing formal obedience training — and can adopt a good or bad (positive or negative) attitude about training so please select your trainer with great care! Praise and reward for correct behavioral response will go a long way in training your puppy!

Comments (1)

Preparation to welcome a new puppy!

October 13, 2007 at 8:40 pm · Filed under Puppy, Puppy Wallace

Keeping a puppy, is no easy job. As an owner, I need to take full responsibility, to take care of him like my own baby. So, 2 days before he arrived, I have to follow the following note to make sure our house is safe for him to play around.

Puppy-Proof Your House

To avoid any unforeseen accidents, you need to make sure the house is safe for the innocent puppy to move around. Get down on all fours and look around. Take note of electrical wires, cords dangling from the blinds, chewy shoes on the floor. Those are very dangerous and attractive to the puppy!

In the kichen:

- Keep all knives and sharp other sharp edge utensils away in the drawers

- Get a trash with a tight-fitting lid

- Keep all household cleaners in cupboards that can be closed securely

In the house:

- Tape up or cover electrical cords and consider a childproof covers for unused outlets

- Knot or tie up any dangling cords from curtains, blinds, and telephone

- Put away all potential dangerous item like medicines, vitamins, cigarettes, pen, pencils, pipe and laundry products

- Move breakable items off low tables and shelves

- Keep all small and chewable items like remote controls, cellphones, shoes, books, magazines and anything that can be chewed on

In the bathroom

- Keep all household cleaners, shampoos, perfumes, and other chemical items in the cupboards

- Keep the toilet bowl lid down always

- Don’t use toilet bowl cleaners that release chemicals into the bowl every time you flush

In the yard 

- Put the gardening tools away after each use

- If you have a pool, keep it covered or restrict your pup’s access to it when there is no one to supervise

- Inspect all fence and gates and make sure no gaps or holes in between

- Make sure there is no toxic plants in the garden, you pup may accidentally eat them!

Things To Buy

There are quite a number of item to buy. I’ll be a long list if to list out all. I just buy the necessary for him at the moment

- Food and water dishes

- Leash

- Collar

- Pet carrier

- Nail cutters

- Grooming tools (will elaborate more on next post)

- Toys & Chew Toys

Things To Bear In Mind

Expect some sleepless night like I did for the past 2 nights as the puppy will not get used to the new environment and will cry a few times. They have feeling like us too, they will miss their mom, and their brothers too. Be patience and gentle with them. It depends on individual puppy, some may be more noisy than the other. Luckily my Miniature Schnauzer doesn’t make very loud noise, and cry about 3-4 times when he release himself and need me to clear for him. After I pet him to sleep, he sleep sweetly like a baby.

Comments (2)