Читать книгу Puppy Training Book: The Quick Guide for New Owners - Daniel JD Joseph - Страница 7

He’s cute and fluffy with oversized eyes and soft fur. Totally innocent, right?

Actually, your puppy is a lean mean killing machine. Well, not really (unless you’re raising hellhounds). But your puppy is a descendent of one of the most efficient killers in the natural world – the wolf.

Thousands of years ago, wolf and man became friends. Maybe a small scraggly wolf decided he’d try and sneak a meal from some caveman’s fire.

Maybe a man found himself with an insatiable need to touch something wild. We don’t know exactly how it happened but the point is that it happened.

Dogs got smaller, nicer, and developed smaller heads (that weren’t designed for bringing down elk in the wilds of Canada). But there still one thing that they maintained through the microevolution: the pack.

Wolves are pack animals. They hunt, sleep, play, and survive with the pack. A lone wolf may sound like an exciting dark character for some mystery novel but the truth is that lone wolves get dead. A wolf on its own can’t bring down the food it needs. It can’t breed. It can’t socialize the way it needs to. Got it?

Wolves need packs. Your puppy is simply a tame wolf. He also needs a pack.

Here’s the thing though, packs are not ideal social situations. These aren’t a bunch of tree-huggers with thoughts of socialism dancing in their heads. It’s a system of hierarchy.

The pack splits into power groups. There is one dominating male (or a dominating breeding pair). This top tier gets the first pick of a kill, the best places to sleep, and the first choice in mates.

All the other wolves know and understand their lower stations. They are subservient to the alpha male. It’s all about subordination.

Sure, it sounds like a tough situation but they’re the facts of life.

Now remember, in terms of your puppy, you need to define the pack social order. Your puppy will automatically determine what this is unless you decide it for him.

He needs a chain of command to operate by. He is not your equal. He is not equal to your children. If you want to be the owner, the boss, you need to act like it.

Otherwise, when puppy becomes dog, he’s going to take that superior role. He’s going to become the alpha dog. And this is problematic unless, of course, you want to become a slave to your dog.

Put on the mantle of mastership. You’re one step closer to training.