The alpha leadership role is obtained by developing mutual trust & respect and through effective communication with your dog. Learning to "speak dog" is the first step in developing mutual trust & respect. If your dog doesn't clearly understand your expectations and if he doesn't trust & respect you, he will challenge your alpha status. Remember that every moment you spend with your dog you are training him!

If you are treat-training your dog, he learns very quickly to manipulate you to get what he wants - food. He is not willingly performing obedience exercises for you - he is working only for the food. In essence, you are nothing more than a "pez dispenser" to him. No one, not even a dog, respects or trusts someone they can manipulate or push around.

Sadly enough, treat-training is one of the most common methods used by those who know little or nothing about real canine behavior. Why do they do it? Because it's easy to get a dog to learn a few simple tricks for a food reward - so easy in fact, even a young child can do it. That's how chain pet stores have their "trainers" teach your dog - they hire someone who may have little or no experience in canine behavior, give them a couple weeks of training, then turn them loose to essentially mold your dog's lifetime character, personality & behavior. The majority (at least 90%!!) of problem behavior cases we see involve dogs who were trained using treats. If you train using our leadership principles & consistently follow through, your dog will most likely never develop a problem behavior!!

Alpha is always humane, patient, fair & trustworthy. Alpha is always clear in their expectations and never holds a grudge. Effective communication & proper timing are essential in developing the trust & respect necessary in building the human-animal bond you desire with your dog. Trust Alpha K9 to show you how!