eight secrets

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EIGHT SECRETS TO BECOMINGTHE ALPHA DOG!

How To Build Dominance and Be Your Dogs Pack Leader

Copyright 1999 By Adam G. Katz andSouth Bay K-9 Academy

This document has been transcribed from an audio tape lecture.Some of the grammer and diction may be unorthodox as a result of the content

being taken from a spoken word format.

***********You are listening to "Eight Secrets To Becoming The Alpha Dog!How To Build Dominance and Be Your Dogs Pack Leader."Copyright 1999 By Adam G. Katz and South Bay K-9 Academy.

Hello, I am your host, Adam G. Katz. I am the owner of South Bay K-9 Academyand the web site,Dog Problems.com.

Today we are going to be talking eight secrets you can use to become the AlphaDog or establish dominance and be your dogs pack leader.

For starters, I would like to ask the question, What is dog training? The way Isee dog training is that is basically two things: First, it is establishing a properrelationship between you and your dog. And secondly, its developing a way ofcommunicating so that your commands are both understood... and they havemeaning. It is no good if your dog just understands what the commands mean.They also need to have meaning... so that when you say something, then the dogis going to do it and he is going to listen to you.
http://www.dogproblems.com/http://www.dogproblems.com/


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The way we do this gets back to the first key... which is establishing a properrelationship... so that your dog sees you as what we call the "pack leader."Which leads me to the next point:

The dog as a social pack animal.

Now, your dog is a social pack animal, in contrast to being a solitary animal...such as a cat... which is not a pack animal at all.

But the dog is a social pack animal. What this means is that he perceives hispack, which is like a family, as having a linear social hierarchy... which is like apecking order. Now, at the top of the pecking order is what we call the "AlphaDog." The second dog in the pack is what we call the "Beta Dog," all the waydown to the bottom dog, which we call the "Omega Dog."

It is the nature of the dog to want to elevate his position in the pack so that healways increases his position. The reason dogs think this way, or they behavethis way, is for the survival of the pack. In the wild, if the pack leader shoulddie, there is always another dog ready to step in and assume the leadershipposition. And although the nature of the dog is to elevate his position in hispack, the alterior nature of the dog is that he really wants and needs a packleader. He wants someone to be the leader, but again, if you are not going to bethe leader, then he will be leader.

The basic concept here is that your dog is a social pack animal and that he relates

through dominant and subordinate behavior. And this is a key that runsthroughout my training.

In a nutshell, dominating means being on top in both a physical and apsychological sense. Being subordinate or submissive means to be underneath.For example, if you are sitting at the couch watching television and your dogcomes over and he puts his paw on top of your foot... whats he doing? Well, infact he is actually dominating you... hes being on top. If you then rest your handon top of his head, then you are dominating him. So, being on top in both aphysical and a psychological sense means that you are being dominant. In termsof the linear social hierarchy within a pack, being on top means that you are theAlpha Dog.

You may be asking, "But why is it important to become the Alpha Dog?" Becauseonce you become the pack leader for your dog, you are basically going to seefour things start to happe:. Your dog is going to start respecting you. He isgoing to start to responding to you. He is going to start to bonding to you. Andyou will begin to see him start wanting to please you.


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If you dont become the pack leader, your dog is not going to respect you. Hesnot going to give you any real response (unless he wants to, but not if you wanthim to), hes not going to bond to you in a healthy way, and hes not going towant to please you... hes going to want to please himself. If pleasing you works

in harmony with pleasing himself, then great. But if doesnt, then, "Hasta lavista, baby!"

So, your goal is to really use what I am going to show you, in regards to theseeight secrets to becoming the Alpha Dog, so that your dog will do these fourthings: respond to you, respect you, bond to you in a proper way, and want toplease you.

The next concept I would like to talk about is that there are four primary waysthat dogs communicate. Now, if youve read the book then you are familiar with

these. The first way is body language, the second way is vocal tonation and voiceinflexion, the third way is touch, both positive and negative touch, and the fourthway is scent.

Lets go back and talk about all four of these.

Body Language

In a nutshell, if I am leaning forward or I am being very frontal, then I amexhibiting dominant body language. If I am leaning back... or I am low to the

ground... or I am making my body language very small... then I amcommunicating with very submissive body language.

Both of these type of body language will come into play, depending on what weare trying to do with the training. For instance, if I want to teach my dog to cometo me, then I will need to lean backwards which with my body language, so thatit is more inviting. If I want to give a verbal correction, then I am going to leanforward, which is going to put a little more pressure on the dog, thus behavingmore like a dominate dog.

The second one is Vocal Tonation and Voice Inflection

I use high tones for praise and low tones for commands and corrections. Thismakes commands and corrections and praise a little bit different and easier todifferentiate. But also on an instinctive level, dogs use high tonation tocommunicate non-seriousness or non-threatening communication, and low tonesfor just the opposite, very dominate or serious communication.


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In general, when I praise the dog, I am going to use very high tones. When I givecommands or corrections, because I am very serious when I give commands orcorrections, then I am going to use very low tones. So again, it makes it easier forthe dog to understand when he is doing something right or when he is doingsomething wrong... or when you are giving a command.

The third way dogs communicate is through Touch.

Dogs use both positive and negative touch. Positive touch: if I tell you to praisethe dog, what I mean is that I want you to say, good dog," or, "good boy. Andreach down and make positive physical contact. Now, heres the key: How doyou know if your praise is motivational? You know if your praise is motivationalif it is reflected in the dogs body language. A positive response to your touchmeans that since youve just either patted him or petted him, or scratched himbehind the ears... whatever works for your dog... to get the dog to show you that

positive body language. What do I mean by positive body language? Positivebody language means that the dog is wagging his tail, hes very happy, the eyesare wide, the mouth is relaxed, the tongue may be slightly out; very fluid, veryloose, very happy body language... you should know this... it should be veryobvious.

If you go to praise your dog because hes done something good, and you touchhim or give him a scratch behind the ear and you dont see any change in hisbody language... or he doesnt reflect the praise... it means that your praiseprobably isnt motivational. In order to make your praise a little more

motivational, you want to use more touch and you can also include a little bit ofmotion, or a little bit of movement... movement is positive. So well link the two.Well use both to really bring the dog's personality out and really give our touchsome meaning, our positive association.

Now, when we talk about negative touch, we try and replicate the way themother dog would correct the puppies or the way the Alpha Dog would correctthe subordinate dog.

The way they do this is by giving a quick, sharp nip... and usually its to the neck,but sometimes to the ear, to the muzzle, or to the flank... but predominately tothe neck. Which is the reason that we use a training collar around the dogsneck, and not on another part of the dogs body.

When a mother dog corrects a puppy, she gives a quick nip and release. Itsnever a bite and hold on and walk around with the first dogs neck in theirmouth. Its always a quick nip and release.


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We want to replicate this when we give a correction... which well talk aboutmore in a few moments... by always popping and releasing the leash. So if youfind that your training collar is staying tight when youre giving acorrection...you're not doing it right. Thats not the way the mother would do itto the puppies.

Now, a lot of times what well find is that when the mother will give the puppy acorrection or a more dominate dog will correct a subordinate dog, and theyllgive a nip to the neck... the dog receiving the correction will let out a highpitched yelp. This high-pitched yelp is not so much out of an, Oh my goshyoure killing me type of communication. But rather a way of saying, Alright,Ive got the picture... you dont have to do that again! A lot of times the dogthat is giving the correction... if he doesnt get the yelp or if he doesnt see anyresponse... hell go back and correct again, in order to make the correction havemore meaning or be more motivational.

So thats touch. We have both positive and negative touch.

The fourth way that they communicate is through scent.

In terms of scent, theres not a lot that we really use scent for in regards toobedience training. But there are some things that you can do for buildingdominance which Ill touch on toward the end of this tape.

How do dogs use scent? Dogs use scent predominately by marking their

territory. A dog will go around the perimeter of a new territory and urinate...which is leaving their scent. And to a dog, this is like writing his name onsomething, or leaving his calling card. If a more dominate dog comes into thepicture, hes going to put his scent on top of the first dogs scent. Why on top?

To get you thinking along the lines of dominance and subordinate behavior,think about this: Being on top is dominating. So he doesnt urinate to one sideor the other of the first dogs scent... he marks on top of it, as if to say. Itsmine.

So, with the dogs it ends up being something like the broom stick game... whereone person grabs the broom stick and the next person puts their hand on top ofthe first persons hand... and then the third person comes and puts his hand ontop of the second persons hand... until you get to the top of the broom stick, andthats the person who wins. And the dog will try to become the pack leader ifyoure not going to provide the leadership he's looking for.


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The third concept that I'd like to talk about are The Three Keys to SuccessfulBehavior Modification. Again, this is also in your book. These are: timing,consistency and motivation.

Were going to talk about all three... and later youre going to see how these

relate to building dominance and becoming the Alpha Dog.

Timing, for the dog, is the ability to associate either the praise or the correctionwith any specific behavior. On average we have about 2-4 seconds, but we canextend this 2-4 seconds by another 7-9 seconds or in some cases as long as even12-14 seconds by using a bridging technique.

Whats a bridging technique? A bridging technique basically marks the eventright when it happens...and then it links either the praise or the correction withthat event... even though it may come a few seconds afterward.

Lets say I put my dog in a down-stay. I tell my dog to lay down and I walk off,50 feet from the dog. Now, as I walk off and get away from the dog, all of asudden... the dog gets up! Because I told him to do something... and I need toenforce it! I need to get back to the dog and correct him for breaking the down-stay. If I just walk back to him, then whats going to happen? Well, 50 ft.awayby the time I get back to him, its going to be more than 2-4 seconds... andI get back to the dog, and at that point the dog is watching a plane fly overhead.And if I correct him... in my mind the correction is for breaking the down-stay...but in his mind, he likely thinks that the correction if for watching the plane...

because at this point, hes completely forgotten about breaking the down-stay.

So if I correct him, and I put him back down... and then I walk away... and the"dumb" dog gets up again... The reality is that its not the "dumb" dog, but ratherthe "dumb" owner, because I havent taken into account the dogs ability toassociate the praise or the correction with the specific behavior... which again, onaverage is only about 2-4 seconds. So what do I need to do? I need to use mybridging technique.

Lets take the same scenario. We put the dog down, we walk 50 ft. away, but aswe get to the 50 ft. mark... the dog gets up. As soon as he does this I am going toyell out, No!... which immediately marks the event and time for the dog. Then,as I hustle back to the dog I am going to say, No, No, No, No! all the way backto the dog, and once I get back to him I am going to put him back into the downposition by repeating the down command and then putting him down.

Whats happened here is that Ive said "No!" and then I forced the dog to focuson what he was being corrected for so that he doesnt have a chance to get


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distracted and forget. Again, the bridging technique is basically marking thatevent in time by saying, No! and then running back to him and correcting himif he has done something wrong.

Lets take another example of timing. Lets say I adopt a new dog and hes not

completely house-proofed yet and I make the mistake of leaving himunsupervised in the house while I go out to dinner. And as soon as I leave thedog, he gets into the trash and he throws trash all over the house and makes areal mess. Then, when he is done and he is bored with that, he goes to myrefrigerator and he grabs himself a beer and he sits down on the couch and startswatching baseball on my television. Then, he leans over and goes to sleepbecause he had too much beer (this a little joke, but you get my point). An hourto two later, when I get back from dinner and I look around and I say, Oh mygosh... look at all this trash! If I grab the dog and correct him... the dog thinksthat I am correcting him for sleeping on the couch... or maybe for watching

baseball or drinking my beer (which in and of itself may not necessarily be a badthing) but thats NOT what we are trying to correct the dog for. We want tocorrect him for digging in the trash. So what Ive done is that Ive lost theelement of timing... the ability to make the dog associate what my correction isfor.

Now, you are probably wondering how I would go about fixing this type ofbehavior? Well, what I would do is to first make sure that the dog gets amotivational correction just as he goes and starts digging in the trash can. I cando this a couple of ways: I can set him up by leaving something tasty in the

trash can and then walk around the far side of the house and spy on him throughthe kitchen window... and as soon as he goes for that piece of chicken in the trashcan, I am going to yell, No and then run inside and correct him. And probablyI am going to need to have left either the training collar and the leash or thetraining collar and the tab (which is a 1 ft. leash Ill let dog wear inside thehouse)... and run inside so I can have something to correct him with. Or anotherway I can do it is to make dog think that the trash can jumped up and correctedhim. To do this, I could leave a mouse trap in the trash can. The dog goes andsticks his nose in the trash can, and it snaps and scares him... or maybe it clipshim on the nose a little bit. In any event, youve got the dog receiving thecorrection right when he does the behavior.

Now the second key element to successful behavior modification is the issue ofconsistency.

Consistency means that the dog gets the same thing every time he doessomething. Lets take digging in the trash for example. If the dog goes and hedigs in the trash and I correct him the first time, the dog will say, Okay, I got a


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negative for that. Well, maybe that in and of itself isnt enough. The dog isgoing to say, Well, let me try again... just to make sure! Maybe it was a flukethat he happened to correct me once, or maybe I misunderstood. But let me tryone more time.

So the dog digs in the trash a second time, and I correct him... and then maybe hetries just one more, to be sure. Immediately, I correct him and after that thirdtime, the dog says, Hey! There is nothing good associated with digging in thistrash can. Every time I do this, Dad jumps out of the bushes or wherever hehappens to be, and he gives me a correction. Or maybe, Every time I stick mynose into the trash can, there is a mouse trap or something that gives me a littlesnap and really scares me! After the third time, the dog says, Hey! I am never,evergoing to do this again! So, right there youve fixed the problem behavior.Since you were consistent, it only took you three times to get the dog to drop thebehavior.

But now lets look at whats going to happen if we are inconsistent. Let's say thatthe dog goes to dig in the trash can the first time, and gets a negative. Thesecond time he also gets a negative. But the third time, we werent on the ball,and went out to dinner... or we forgot about him... and the third time, he endedup getting a piece of chicken or a piece of chocolate, or something really tasty inthe trash can. So, he says, This is great! This tastes good! Im coming back tothis trash can for more! Now, even if we correct him the fourth time, the fifthtime, or even the sixth time... the dog is going to go back perhaps one moretime... or maybe even an eighth time, with the intention to "Make sure there isnt

a little piece of chicken in the trash that I might be able to steal.

If you correct him the seventh and the eighth time, then he is finally going to say,Ah, alright... theres nothing more thats good thats going to come from thetrash can, and all I get is a bad association from digging in the trash. So, that'sall! Im going to drop the behavior because its just not worth it!

But look what has happened: Because weve been inconsistent with ourcorrections, it has taken seven, eight or nine times to fix the behavior! However,if we were consistent from the beginning, it would have only taken us threetimes.

So thats consistency. Now we have timing and consistency. And with those twokeys you can get results. But realistically, its going to take you about two tothree years to train your dog... unless you use the third key which is what wecall: Motivation.


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Motivation is the ability for the dog to understand that whatever you do hasmeaning, be it your praise or your corrections. Lets look at this through ananalogy. Lets pretend that the dog can drive an automobile, and is speedingdown Pacific Coast Highway in a shiny red Porsche. And you, the dogtrainer/owner are the cop. And since you pull him over just when he speeds...

and you are going to pull him over every time he speeds... and you go ahead andgive him a ticket.

But the problem (for our example) is that your ticket isnt motivational. In otherwords... it doesnt have any meaning. Through our analogy, whats happened isthat weve just given the dog a $2 ticket. Now in the real world, after I give thedog 100 to 200 $2 tickets, I am probably going to get so frustrated if Im the cop...that Im going to quit my job and say, Forget it! Im not getting any results. Itsjust not working!

Actually, its not the technique... it's just that the ticket lacks motivation.

If we increase the motivation of the ticket, which means that we start giving thedog a $200 ticket... then all of a sudden these tickets start having meaning. Inother words, theyre now motivation. Youve only got to give a speeder two orthree... or at the most four $200 or $300 tickets before he decides to stop speeding.

Just remember that different dogs have different temperaments. You may endup with an Ivana Trump type temperament, where you have to give the dog a$2,000 ticket in order for it to be motivational. Or maybe its got to be a $20,000

ticket. On the other hand, it may be a dog that is more like your grandma, thathas a very soft temperament, and all you need to do is give her a stern look and awarning and she is going to stop speeding.

So, motivation is different for every dog and its the task of the dog owner or thedog trainer to figure out what is motivational for your dog.

Let me review real quick. Timing: the ability for the dog to associate either thepraise or the correction with any specific behavior. The second one isconsistency. Consistency means that the dog gets the same thing every time hedoes something. And the third one is motivation. Motivation means thatwhatever you do has to have meaning.

The next thing Id like to talk about are basically the secrets of the leash and theimportance of keeping a loose leash when working with your dog. Nowremember the Alpha Dog, if youre the pack leader, youre always the lead dog...youre the dog in front... youre the dog making the decisions... youre the onewho decides where youre going to rest and where youre going to sleep. You


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decide where the rest of the pack is going to rest and sleep... where youre goingto go to play... when youre going to play... and where youre going to hunt. Youare the one making all the decisions.

Now, think about this. When you take the dog for a walk, and the dog is pulling

on the leash... and hes going from left to right... then hes walking in front ofyou. Whats happening is that he is exhibiting behavior that says, Hey, Im theAlpha Dog. Now, if you are the pack leader then the dog will be watching you,rather than you walking behind him and watching him decide where he wantsto go.

What we need to do in order to establish dominance is to first teach you how towalk with the dog on a loose leash. I recommend a 6 ft. leather leash, either or5/8 for most dogs. I like leather because its easiest on your hand and its notgoing to accidentally give the dog a rope burn. And a good leather leash will last

you ten or 15 years. It kind of becomes like an old baseball mitt. It takes on aquality that basically compliments you and your handling style. I like the oneswhich are braided and stitched because these are really the best quality leashes.And make sure that you dont get one with a heavy snap, unless you areworking with a large breed dog like an American Bulldog or a Mastiff or a largersized Rottweiller. But the main point is that it is 6 ft., since this is going to giveyou enough slack to do the exercise.

The other piece of equipment that I recommend is what is called a pinch collar.A pinch collar is basically a collar with little prongs or little pinchers on it. When

I first saw one of these I thought it was some kind of medieval torture device...and it can be, if you use it incorrectly. But if you use the pinch collar correctly,its actually one of the safest training collars on the market and Ill explain why.

If you look at the pinch collar, youll see right at the bottom (in the middle) iswhat we call a safety ring. The safety ring is the one that has the two parts of thechain off to each side which hook to the linked prongs. What the safety ring doesis that it prevents the handler from accidentally choking the dog because thediameter of the collar can only go so far closed before it stops. Now, this isdifferent from a choke chain or a slip collar.

The choke chain is a piece of chain with two rings on the side. The slip collar isthe same but instead of a piece of chain it is a piece of nylon or material and it ismade to look like a letter "P" which is then put around the dogs neck. Theproblem with these collars is that they can end up forming a noose. And we'vefound that the harder you pull... the tighter it gets, until there is absolutelynothing. In addition, there have been studies which have been documented froma couple of different universities now that have found that if you use a choke


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train or a slip collar, you can actually put pressure on the dogs trachea as well asirritate the skin and the hair on the dogs neck.

With the pinch collar, you cant do this because there is a safety ring. It preventsyou from accidentally choking the dog out. Plus, if you are using this correctly

you are just giving the dog a little pinch. And this pinch is designed to replicatethe way the mother would correct the puppies or the way the Alpha Dog wouldcorrect the subordinate dog. Of course, you can use your mouth but you areprobably going to get hair in your teeth... so I wouldnt recommend it. Irecommend you use the pinch collar.

The other benefit to using the pinch collar is that you are going to find that thepinch collar is like using power steering when you are driving your car. Itsreally easy, you dont need to use a lot of force, you dont have to jerk hard togive a motivational correction, you dont have to use a lot of muscle in order to

give a good correction, and even an amateur can learn to give the dog correctionin about 10 minutes.

Now, the way the pinch collar workslets talk about this. Theres a couple ofmistakes people tend to make when they put a pinch collar on:

1.) The difference between sizing and fitting the collar. The size is determinedby the size of prongs... not the diameter... because I can add or subtract as manyprongs as I want, which will change the diameter or the fitting on the dogs neck.The sizes generally come in small, medium or large. The larger are generally

used for the large breed dogs like the Mastiffs, the Rottweillers and theBullmastiffs. The medium size prongs you can get away with most Shepherdand Retriever type dogs, and a lot of Spaniels too. And the small pinch collarsare used for the smaller breed dogs like the Cocker Spaniels and such.

In general, I want to have enough prongs so that usually it will fit correctly atabout 7, 8 or 9 prongs... once you get to have too many prongs like 11, 12, 13 or14 prongs, usually you want to bump up to the next size collar.

2.) How to fit it: What youre going to do is to grab one of the prongs in themiddle and break it apart right in the middle. You'll need to put it around thedogs neck like you would a necklace. If you try to slip a pinch collar over thedogs head, what you are going to find is that the fitting is going to be way tooloose and its not going to work well for you. So, when we fit the pinch collar, wewant to add or subtract prongs so that when finally it is on the dogs neck youcan put between half a finger and a finger and a half space beneath the prongand the skin of the dogs neck. If you put 2, 3 or 4 fingers in, it is going to rub


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and irritate and if you can jam a finger in there too tight, its always correctingand thats no good either.

Once you have it on the dog, its okay if its a little bit on the tight side or a littlebit on the loose side... thats not a big deal. But again, on average about a finger

space beneath the prong and the skin of the dogs neck.

How to keep the leash loose.

Hook the harness snap of your leash to the ring on the pinch collar that lookslike the little apple or "D" ring. It doesnt matter if the little "D" ring or the littleheart shaped ring is on the back of the dogs neck or if it is underneath the dogsneck because the Alpha dog will bite from on top or from the side, or fromunderneath.it doesn't really matter that much . Make sure that the safety ring,which is against the dogs neck, and the two chains didnt get twisted when you

put in on the dogs neck.

So now you have the pinch collar on correctly and youve just attached the leashto the dog. Now what you need to do is to grab the leash about 1/3 to the waydown, and pretty much glue it to your waste. What we are going to start doinghere is to start showing the dog that he is going to walk on a loose leash withyou. So you are going to pretend to glue the leather leash to your waste area,and you are going to start walking down a imaginary straight line, as if you werea tight rope walker. What usually happens is the dog starts running forward.When this happens, right before he hits the end, what I want you to do is to do a

right-about... which means turn 180 degrees... just completely turn around andstart walking back the direction you came.

Now, whats going to happen is that the dog is going to continue to travel in thedirection you were initially going in... well say north. But youre going to bewalking south... and whats going to happen is that, because the dog is on thepinch collar... he is going to hit the end of that leash and its going to hurt a littlebit. Hes going to say, Ouch! And you are going to continue walking.

To do this exercise properly, youve really got to walk fast. You want to walk ata brisk pace, like theres a sale at Macys... and they close in 10 minutes! Andboy-o-boy, you guys gotta get there before they close!

So, you turn around, you walk away real fast, and what happens is that youvegot two bodies walking in opposite directions. The dog hits the end of theleash... it goes pop... and after it goes pop, if you want to you can say his name tokind of coax him to come and be with you.


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The dog, more than likely, in the beginning is going to then run up to you... andthen completely run past you. And as soon as he goes in front of you, you aregoing to do another right about and walk the opposite way. Hell hit the end,itll go pop, and then you can say his name. And then when he comes up to bewith you, you can praise him while you continue walking.

While youre walking, if the dog decides to stay with you, he should get nothingbut praise. If he decides to ignore you or forget about you, then he learns thatyoure not going to stand there like an idiot... instead, you are going to take offrunning the opposite direction! And what the dog is going to learn is that it ishis decision. If he decides to stay with you he... then he gets nothing but praise.If he decides to forget about you, then youre going to take off and hes going tohit the end of the leash... since hes the one on the pinch collar. Again, this iswhy it is so important to be using a pinch collar... because it makes it real easy togive the dog a correction.

Another subject I'd like to talk about is how to give a motivational correction.The main point you want to be aware of here is that when you give the dog acorrection, you should say, No and thengive a pop and release on the leash.

When you give a correction, you want to correct the dog for any negativebehavior... any behavior that you dont like. If youre the pack leader, then itsyour choice... its your call... to decide what the dog should and should not bedoing.. Its always got to be fair to the dog in the dogs mind, but it can also bearbitrary in terms of whether you want the dog to lay on one side of the room or

another side of the room... or if you dont want to let the dog lay in the sun... it allbuilds dominance. The dog doesnt need any justification as to why you aremaking the decisions you are making. You are making them because you are theAlpha dog, and thats all he needs to know.

Part of making decisions is being able to set some boundaries and tell him whenhe does something wrong, that he is going to get a correction for it. And the waywe give the correction is you are going to say the command, no and then youare going to associate a pop. And when you do this, you want to grab the leash atapproximately 1ft. to 1 ft. down from the snap. Then, you are going to say,No! and then you are going to reach in toward the collar to create slack, comeback so that it hits the end. It will pop, and then it should immediately comesback in and releases... so youve got the leash going loose-tight-loose.

You should be starting so that the leash looks like a "J." In other words, so thatyou have slack. With your hands glued to that one spot on the leahs, you shouldbe reaching in, then pulling out so that the leash becomes tight, or "pops," and


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then releases again. The release part is really important because it makes thecollar replicate the nip that the mother would do to the puppy.

If you look at what we are doing when walking on a loose leash, whatshappening is that, because you keep moving and the dog moves in the opposite

direction, he is actually giving himself the correction and then also automaticallyrelaxing the leash as he moves toward you... and then gets the praise, so youdont have to actually move your hands for the "Walking on a loose leash"exercise. But if the dog should run back to you and then jump up on you,you areshould correct the dog by saying, No! and then grabbing the leash short andgive it a corrective jerk, or "pop" and release.

If I'm correcting the dog-- either for jumping up or any other behavior-- is that Iam going to take him back to make sure that he learned, that he understood, tosee where we are going with it. So, what we are going to do is to immediately

walk back up to the dog say, Do you want to jump? And if the dog jumps up,then Im going to immediately say, No, and Im going to give him anothercorrection. Usually this means that the first correction really wasnt goodenough, so you want make the next correction a little harder.

If you tempt him a third time, and sits down, then you should praise him. Why?Because he just made a decision, and it was the right decision.

But if he jumps up again, then you are going to correct him. A big mistake that alot of people do is that, right after they correct the dog... they immediately start

praising him! And in their mind, what they are doing is saying, Well, hestopped doing something. But he didnt actually stop doing it. Instead, youmade him stop doing it. Remember, bank robbers dont get rewarded for notrobbing banks. We dont want to praise him for ceasing to do a negativebehavior. But we do want to praise him if he makes a decision and it's the rightdecision. So, if I tap my chest and I tempt him to jump up... and he says, Noway, Jose! ...then he gets the praise. If he jumps up, then I am going to correcthim.

A word on tempting the dog: Its fair to tempt the dog, as long as youre notgiving him any formal commands. So, as long as I dont say, Forbes (the dogsname) do you want to jump up on me? in which case he'll hear his name... andhe is going to respond to his name and jump up and ultimately... in which case Iwill have inappropriately attached a negative association with his name. Andwe dont want to link his name to anything negative. Also, I dont want to dothings like call the dog to me and then correct him, because the dog is going toassociate coming to me with getting a correction... or he is going to end up


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confused. To be safe, you can say, Do you want to jump up? But dont say,Forbes, do you want to jump up?

Lets talk about a couple of other exercises that can actually help you builddominance.

Boundary and perimeter training. What you want to do is set boundaries andperimeters so that the dog knows he cant just automatically go anywhere. Thismeans that you decide where he goes... and what areas are off limits... and whatareas he is allowed to be in.

The easiest way to start is to walk up to the edge of a curve. The concept is thatwe are going to teach the dog the difference between a hot zone and a safe zone.You can use any area thats obvious. It can be the street to the sidewalk, or grassto cement, or dirt to grass... anything that is very specific and very obvious.

For the boundary training, I am going to tempt the dog to go into the street. Thiscould be as easy as just walking into the street myself. As soon as the first of hisfour feet steps into the hot zone, you want to think of it like a child resting hishand on a hot stove. He immediately gets burned, and he should want to get hishand off real fast, so the thing is... it's up to the dog trainer/owner to create the"burn" which is the negative association the dog receives when he walks off thecurb.

As soon as the dog steps into the street, you are going to say, No! and you are

going to pop in the direction of the safe zone... which would be the sidewalk.What really works best is to grab the leash short, pop, and then immediatelydrag him back into the safe zone... running yourself, too, up onto the sidewalk.

The most important point here is that you want to relax the leash the minute hislast foot comes off the hot zone. He shouldnt be getting any negative associationwhen he is in the safe zone. Next, immediately walk right back into the streetand tempt him by saying, Do you want to go into the street? If he doesnt go,if he stops that is... you are going to praise him. But if he goes into the streetagain, then you are going to repeat the process.

The third time you go into the street, if the dog stops... then you should praisehim. If he goes into the street a third time, you want to really start making yourcorrections harder. This exercise is very, very easy for the dog to learn becauseits just obvious that, If I step into the street, then I get a correction. If I dont,then I get praised. So you can see whether or not you are giving goodcorrections... whether you are doing it correctly... its very immediate in terms ofdoing it right or doing it wrong... you'll know you're on the right track.


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How do I teach him the Sit-Stay? For Sit-Stay, basically I am going to standwith the dog on my left side. I will then say the command, sit, and then I amgoing to pop straight up... and then immediately relax the leash. As I do this, Iam going to pop up with my right hand holding the leash about 1 ft. down from

the snap, my left hand is going to be on the dogs posterior (his butt). Im goingto say, sit, then Im going to pop up and Im going to push down with my lefthand. The dogs going to then go into the sit position, amd once he is in the sitposition, I'll praise him.

And when I'm ready to let him up, I'll tell him, take a break. One thing you'llnotice about my training is that I dont use the stay command. Its really adouble command, you dont need it to confuse the dog. Sit actually meansstay. Theres really no time I would say, sit and the dog would be expectedto immediately get back up. So, if I say, sit, I dont need to confuse him by

saying stay, wait, dont get up, dont get up, wait, stay, I just say, sit, andkeep it real simple.

Then when its time to get up, Ill come back and Ill tell him, Take a break.Take a break should be accompanied by a little bit of touch and a little bit ofmotion... showing the dog that its okay to get up, and communicating, gooddog, very good. And once again, I am going to say, sit, pop straight up andgently push down with my left hand on his rump.

After a number of repetitions youre going to find that the dog will start going

into the sit position without you touching his backside, and this is where youwant to be... the point where you can just give a light flick upward with yourhand and the dog goes into the sit position.

The Down-stay is pretty much the same thing, but before we get into the Down,let me tell you a little bit more about the Take a Breakcommand. If we move backto the Boundary and Perimetertraining... if you are doing something like temptingthe dog to jump up on the bed or to jump up on the couch, theres going to be notime where you are going to use the Take a Break command in such a context.

You'll need to tempt the dog to jump up on the bed, and if he jumps up, you'llsay, No! and correct him. Then, just like the street training, immediately bringhim back, tempt him, and if he doesn't jump, you'll praise him.

By the way, its a really good ideato not allow the dog to sleep on the bed. Whathappens is that the dog sees you in a submissive position when you are lyingdown, when youre sleeping at down. Usually the dog is in some way on top ofyou... hes putting his paw on top of you... or hes putting his head on top of you.


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Even if he isnt, he is seeing himself being allowed to sleep on the same level asyou, and this runs counter to the concept of being above the dog. So, its best ifthe dog sleeps on the floor and you sleep above him on the bed. Even better is ifyou can find him something like a crate or a tie down which well talk about in afew moments.

If we are doing something like street training... weve got to have a way to tellthe dog its okay to cross the street. So, the way I am going to do this is to teachthe dog the "Take a break" command. I'm just going to gently say, Take abreak. Im going to touch him and use a little bit of motion, if I have to kind ofpull him into the street, it shouldnt be a negative... it shouldnt be a correction...and then Im going to praise him and tell him, Good boy, its okay. After youdo this a couple of times, its really amazing. Youll literally start to see the dogunderstand that if you say, Take a break first, he is going to get the praise. Ifyou dont say, Take a break the dog is going to get corrected back up into the

safe zone.

So its a lot like Moses coming to the Red Sea and the Red Sea parting because hesays the magic words... but if he doesnt say the magic words, the Red Seadoesnt part.

It's the same with the dog. Its like the concept of an invisible gate being there,and if he walks through the gate... its going to feel uncomfortabe. If he waits forthe special password or the key command, which is, Take a break, theneverything is fine, and he can walk through the invisible gate which is your

boundary.

The Down. I am going to teach the dog to go into the down position by firstputting him into the sit position. Now, what I am going to do is I am going tosay down while I am standing up. I dont want to start bending over firstbecause the dog is going to associate the act of bending over as the command...rather than the verbal command being the command.

So I tell the dog, Down, and I am going to grab the leash at about 1 ft. from thesnap and I am going to pop in a downward direction... pop and release... rightbetween his two front paws... and at the same time, I am going to put my lefthand right behind the shoulders (withers)... there is a spot which is a pressurepoint. I am going to say, Down, and I am going to pop and release... and at thesame time I am going to push and rock him to the side. Then, his legs will foldunder him and he is going to go straight down, quickly.


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You want this to be over and done with quickly. Within the first week that youteach the dog the command will determine how fast he goes down thereafter. Soyou want to say, Down, and make him go down quickly.

Now to let him get up, you are going to say, Take a break, (Big surprise,

right?)

The next thing is to start working around distractions. So, you are going to say,Down... and you put him down. If the dog should get up, you are going to sayDown and put him right back down.

Now realistically, the dog is going to do one of four things. First thing he mightdo if you walk to the end of the leash, is that he might actually stay there! If hestays there, then you are going to walk back and praise him. At that point, youcan decide whether or not you want to let him get up by giving him the Take a

break, command or have him stay there and go off and do something else.

The second thing he might do is that he might stand up. If he stands up, but heis still standing right on the spot where you put him down, you need to go backto him, immediately say down, and then walk away.

The third thing he might do is that he might get up and move away from thespot where you put him. Whats really important is that you say, No, and givehim a pop as you walk him back to the first spot... the spot where you originallyput him... and then repeat the command, Down, and then "pop." This is

important. Otherwise the dog will learn that he can get up and go down... get upand go down... and move from one side of the room to the other side. If you putyour food down, hes going to get up and move and lay down next to your food.So the consistency thing is saying that Im going to put you down right here andyoure going to stay right there." And why? Because I am the Pack Leader and Isay so... I dont need any other reason.

Remember that everything you do... everything you make your dog do... is goingto build dominance. So... if you make him walk on a loose leash, hes got tofollow you... and hes going to watch you. He cant watch everything else... hesgot to watch you. He has to go where you go.

If you teach him boundary and perimeter training, it means that you are saying,You cant go here. You can only go there whenItell you that you can do it,...and that builds dominance.

It's the same thing with the Sit-Stay... and especially the Down-Stay... because thedown is a submissive position and youre placing the dog down. And by the


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very nature of standing next to him, you are dominating him. So, by putting himinto the Down-Stay you are building dominance.

The heel command. The heel is basically just positioning the dog... but oncemore, youre saying, I want you to walk and I want you to walk right here next

to me. Now, the heel basically means that the dogs right leg is lined up withmy left calf. Thats the heel position.

The way I teach the heel is that I am going to walk along a straight line... just likewe did with the Walking on a loose Leash... and once I say Heel, I am going topraise the dog any time he is lined up right next to my left calf.

If he starts to forge a little bit, I am going to do quick "right-about" turns, or I cando a left-about... that is, kind of crash into the dogs nose and do a very tightturn... almost pivoting like I am staying on my tight rope and then making the

dog work around me as I walk back towards the opposite direction.

If the dog is lagging, I am going to gently pull him up so that it is slightlyuncomfortable for the dog to be behind me... so that the dog wants to come backinto the heel position. And then I am going to praise him, once he is in the heelposition... and then immediately make sure I say, Take a break, so that the dogknows when he is allowed to leave the heel position.

The more you make the dog be somewhere like (in the heel position) or in theDown-Stay, you're building dominance.

Now lets talk about the specificEight Secrets to Becoming the Alpha Dog.

The first secret is to adopt a boot camp-type attitude. What this means is thatyoure looking at the dog and youre saying, Alright, you have a job to do andwe need to re-establish a proper relationship, or if its a new dog, "We need toestablish a proper relationship right from the start." What this means is that thedog is not going to have any privileges that he would get if you were already thePack Leader. But more than that, it means, Hey... we got a job to do and we aregoing to makethe dog do the things that we want him to do. We are no longergoing to be a push over, and we are no longer going to let the dog call the shots.

From now on, we are the sergeant and the dog is the private, not the other wayaround.

The second key to building dominance is using the crate, the tie-down or thekennel run.


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The best crate are the Veri-kennels... or the Furrari's... and these are the bigplastic ones that are approved for airline travel.

The crate is a wonderful, wonderful training tool. Why? Because what you aredoing is confining the dog to a specific area... and this builds dominance in and

of itself because youre saying, You dont have automatic freedom to goanywhere in the territory that you want. I am saying you have to be right hereand you have to stay here until I say you can come out. And this really buildsdominance. Furthermore, its going to play upon your dogs den instinct.

See, dogs are den animals... and this means that they derive a sense ofconfidence, security and well being from being in a small, enclosed, tight space.This is why we often see dogs go and sleep underneath a desk, or underneath thebed... or in a cubby hole type area... because its very secure and closed. A lot ofdogs will actually climb into a closet because its like a big crate... it gives them

the confidence and security, and it brings out the den instinct.

I train the dog to the crate by putting the dog into the crate, closing the doorbehind him, and let him stay in there for, at first, just a couple of minutes. Thenyou can let him out.

Next, you can put him back in for about five minutes... and then let him out. Heshould be fine from there.

The next thing I'll do is to put him in the crate when I go to bed at night and not

let him out until the morning.

Now, a lot of dogs-- when you first introduce them to the crate-- dont like it.They bark and they whine.

But if you go and let the dog out when he barks or he whines, youve just taughthim that barking or whining will mean that youll come and let him out... so youmust be careful about which behaviors you're rewarding.

In about two to three weeks you'll find that the dog is actually going to startenjoying his time in the crate. You can make this happen even faster if you startfeeding him his dinner in his crate.

So, you let him eat his dinner and then keep the door open... and when he isdone, then he can wander out. Again, this creates a positive experience with thecrate and this is what the crate should be. It should not be punishment. Itshould just be used for confining the dog to a specific area.


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So, you put him in the crate at night when you go to sleep... or you put him inthe crate if you want to do something and you cant pay attention to him... or youcan put him in the crate just to build dominance and for no other reason... simplybecause you want to. Its a wonderful training device.

I specifically like the Furrari-brand crate, which is very similar to the Vari-kennels. The main difference is that the Furrari-brand has side mount clipswhich allows for taking the crate apart in a matter of seconds, rather than thewing nuts, which most Vari-kennels have.

An alternative to the crate is what we call the "tie down." The tie down is a pieceof cable. You can make one at your local hardware store. Its basically a plasticcoated piece of cable, roughly 2 - 2 ft. in length. We strip about 2 off bothsides to expose the actual wire, loop it around and use a crimper to crimp thewire in a bracket... so that we have one loop on one side, and then on the other

side, we loop it around just the same, but we attach a harness snap.

Then we can wrap the tie down around the leg of a heavy dresser or a bed andthen hook the dog with his collar on, to the tie down. And this pretty much doesthe same thing as a crate... it limits the dog's range of motion.

Now, the crate in many ways, depending on if youve got a puppy or if youvegot a new dog... can be a lot better because-- with the tie down, the dog still hasaccess to chew on the carpet and to make a mess. In contrast, with the crate, its alittle bit more confinement, and this tends to work better for some dogs. Plus,

you are also preparing him for travel or for being left at the veterinary clinic or atthe groomers. But the tie down is a good alternative, and it prevents you fromhaving to keep a big box in the middle of your house.

The third alternative (which you can actually use in conjunction with the crate orthe tie down... is the kennel run. Kennel runs are great because you can put thedog outside and you can leave him for longer periods of time. With the kennelrun, the dog can defecate and urinate on one side and sleep comfortably and stayclean on the other side. You can use pretty much any enclosure where the dogcannot get into any trouble.

Let me add a couple more words about using the crate: During the day, youshould not confine the dog for more than four to six hours without letting himout to exercise and eliminate. Keeping the dog confined for longer... especially ayoung dog during the day... is cruelty.

Now at night, that's a different story. If you go to bed at 10:00 or 11:00 p.m., thenput the dog in the crate at night, and the dog should stay in there until morning.


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But confining the dog all day, and all night is not good. It's too muchconfinement.

Another question we get asked very often is whether to put water and food in

the crate: The answer is no.

In fact, you dont even want to give the dog access to water or food an hour ortwo before you put him in the crate, because you dont want him to eat and thenget full and have to eliminate. There should be nothing in the crate except achew toy or a bone, or something to let him entertain himself with.

The third key to establishing yourself as the Pack Leader is what we call settingup a strict dog training regimen. In a nut shell, doing training builds dominance.

What I want you to do is to use the different exercises that I have outlined a fewmoments ago... Walking on a Loose Leash, the Boundary and Perimeter training,teaching the dog the Sit-Stay, teaching the dog the Down-Stay and the Heelexercise... and I want you to use those throughout your day-to-day life withyour dog.

For example if you sit down to watch an hour of television, then use that as anexcuse to put your dog in a Down-Stay during the program segments, and thenmake the dog do Sit-Stays through the commercial breaks.

If you are eating dinner, then bring the dog into the kitchen, put him on a Down-Stay, and let him watch you while you eat. By the way... the Alpha dog alwayseats first, then the second dog eats. So, feed your dog AFTER you have dinner...not before!

If you go out to get the mail, make the dog heel with you as you walk out to themail box. Make him sit while you get the mail. Then give him a break, Take abreakgood boy,that type of thing. The more exercises you can use aroundyour day-to-day life, the more opportunity you get to work the dog, and thus themore you work the dog, the more you build dominance.

The fourth key to building dominance is to teach and frequently use the Down-Stay command. Once again, the down is a submissive position for the dog. Sothe more you put him into the Down-Stay, the more you build dominance.

Key point number five is to spit in the dogs food. This sounds a little bit silly. Alot of people dont understand it. But in truth, what you are doing with your


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saliva, when you spit in the food... is that your saliva carries your scent and yourscent is like your name or calling card. So what youre doing is:

When you put the kibble in the bowl, a good idea is to first run it under warmwater and make it like a stew. What weve found is that dry kibble can expand

up to 30% and if you feed it to your dog dry, its going to expand that 30% in thedogs stomach. And this can create hyper activity, anxiety, and gastrologicalproblems.

So what you want to do is to wet the food first, let it sit for 10 or 15 minutes... letit expand in the bowl... and then right before you give it to the dog... spit in thefood. It doesnt have to be a lot, just once or twice... spit in the dogs food andthen give him the food. What dogs know instinctively is that the top dog eatsfirst, then the second dog, and then down to the bottom one. Again, the PackLeader gets the prize meat. He gets to eat his fill, and hes going to be the

healthiest and the strongest. Instinctively the dog knows that, when he eats... healready smells your saliva which contains your scent on it... and to the dog, thissays, Well, whos eaten first? And since youre the one eating first, then youmust be the Pack Leader. And if youre Pack Leader, then I should respect you,respond to you, bond to you and want to please you... and do all these greatthings for you.

Spitting in the food gives you one more tool... one more way to say, I am thePack Leader. So, once again we are going to say, Its not automatically yourfood, its MYfood... but Im letting you have it.

The sixth key is to always be "the first." What this means is that you must be thefirst to eat. Youre the first to go through doors. Youre the first to come throughthe gate. To come back on to the home territory, or property. Youre the first toplay with the toys. And then the dog gets what you've already gotten... afteryou! So, as the Pack Leader, you always get the best of everything... you alwaysget the first.

The seventh key is that you must always be the decision maker. This means thatYOU decide when you are going to play with him. And you decide when youare going to go out. And you decide when you are going to lay down to sleep.And not just for you, but for the dog as well. This is important because whatwell see very often with dogs that think they are the Pack Leader is they willwalk up to the owner with a ball or a toy in their mouth and theyll say, Playwith me now! Or theyll say, Pet me now! Or theyll say, Lets do this now...lets go play... lets go rough house, or whatever.


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Now, if youre the Pack Leader, then you are the one who decides when youregoing to do all of these activities. What you'll need to do if the dog comes up andsays, Play with me now, is that you'll say, No way, Jose! And then youregoing to put him in a Down-Stay. And later you can come back to the dog... andwhen you want to play with him... then you are going to play. So, be very aware

of this. Start watching the dog and understanding that YOU are the one whomakes the decisions as to when to play and when to not play.

A very common question I get from clients is, The dog comes up to me and says'Lets play!'... and Ill want to play, so Ill play with the dog." But remember,weve now got a boot camp-type attitude, which means that we want to use anyopportunity we can to build dominance. So, what I am going to do if the dogwants to play is that I am not going to immediately play with him.

Instead, I am going to put him on a Down-Stay or a Sit-Stay or Im going to make

him go and lay down in the crate, or do something else... and even if it is just forfive minutes. And then Ill come back and Ill say, "Alright, lets play. But thekey point is that we're doing it on my terms, not on his terms. Why? BecauseIam the Pack Leader.

So number seven is always be the decision maker.

The eighth secret to building dominance is to make sure that EVERYTHING youdo outside of a training environment (which means in day-to-day life) hasmeaning. In other words, you must enforce everything. So, if you let the dog

into the back yard and you call him... and he doesnt come... then you need to bein a position to makehim come.

If hes got he ball in his mouth, or a toy, or a bone... and you want to take it andyou want to put it away... then youve got to grab it and youve got to take it. Ifhe runs off, youve got to pounce on him and youve got to take it. If he learnsthat you say, "Give me the ball," and then he can ignore you and run off... thenyou've just let the dog show dominance over you.

So make sure that everything you do has meaning... specifically in a trainingcontext... but also most importantly, outside of the training environment.Everything must have meaning and everything must be enforced.

Youve been listening to: Eight Secrets To Becoming The Alpha Dog! How ToBuild Dominance and Be Your Dogs Pack Leader.

Copyright 1999 By Adam G. Katz and South Bay K-9 Academy.


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About the Author:

South Bay K-9 Academy is owned and operated by Adam G. Katz. Adam is agraduate of the University of California at Berkeley, where he received hisBachelor of Arts degree while also studying canine behavior under prominent

Israeli dog trainer Alon Geva.

He has worked as a technical consultant and dog handler for the CanineCommunications video production How to Keep Your Dog Out of the Dog House.

Adam has also lived in St. Louis, Missouri, where he worked with Tom Rose, aninternational Schutzhund competitor and author of Training the CompetitiveWorking Dogand Dogs That Love and Protect. In addition, he has trained dogs forthe Dog House, Inc., a kennel and training facility also in Missouri.

Adam has done training for obedience, competition, behavior modification, drugdetection, tracking, schutzhund, police work, agility, film, and personalprotection.

He is currently raising a Pit Bull/Rhodesian Ridgeback mix, named Forbes,working with clients, and providing other dog trainers with information abouthow to make money in the fascinating and lucrative field of dog training.

For more information about getting your dog trained in the Los Angeles area,please call South Bay K-9 Academy at (310) 530-7833.

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