Living with a dog and Leadership Skills

The singular most important thing about being the owner of any dog is being a calm, assertive leader. If you fail to be that leader the dog will see a need to take on the job himself and that’s when problems arise - you can’t expect an office junior to succeed undertaking a director’s roll.

A dog, with it being a pack animal needs a pack leader and you have to become his pack leader.  99% of all dogs are ‘followers’ and don’t have the ability to lead a pack.
A dog needs rules, limitations and boundaries to be a happy dog and consistency and leadership is the key if you wish to avoid a dog becoming confused and anxious.
If you want a happy dog ‘think dog’ not human thoughts. If you think dog then you are half way to resolving any issue.

WHAT IS LEADERSHIP?
According to the Oxford Dictionary the word ‘lead’ means to ‘go with one’ and ‘to help one to go’. A leader is ‘someone followed by others’.

WHY IS LEADERSHIP SO IMPORTANT?
The leader of any group or pack is the calm, assertive one who holds their head high and walks tall with confidence - The one every one looks up to and wishes they could emulate.
A group or a pack without a leader to follow, look up to and respect produces unhappiness, anxiety and discontent.  This in turn leads to unrest, anger, ferociousness and even death.
The introduction of a leader produces happiness and harmony through rules, boundaries and limitations laid down by the leader who the others follow and respect.
By learning to be calm and an assertive pack leader to your Greyhound and other dogs you are doing yourself a huge favour. If you remain calm and assertive around your dogs at all times it will help you remain calm and assertive with many other aspects of your life. By learning to be a good pack leader will also therefore not only benefit you, but your family, friends, work colleagues and any other person you may meet during your everyday life.  I’ve found that by working towards being a good pack leader to our Greyhounds it has helped me remain calm, which in turn has helped others in their time of need.

WHAT IS A PACK?
A pack is more than one. It can be two or more dogs, a dog and a human, dogs and a human, a dog and more than one human and even a dog and a cat!

TURNING A PACK INTO A TEAM
A happy and contented pack becomes a happy and balanced team.  When the whole pack walks together they become a team and when they are a team they become happy and balanced.
A team to your dog includes all the dogs and humans in the household.  One of the most important ways of turning a pack into a team is for everyone to go on walks together.  Too many people within households today live together but live their separate lives and this is detrimental to producing a balanced team.  Walking together as a family is therefore, essential to building the balanced and happy team that your dog requires.

LEADERSHIP IN A PACK OF DOGS
The ancestors of our pet dogs were pack animals and this still stands today.
In a pack of dogs, and by a pack we can mean as few as two, the pack leader is usually the most calm, laid back one of them all, takes everything in his/her stride and is quite often the older of the two or one of the eldest if there are more than two.  He or she is like this because they are in control, has set the rules, limitations and boundaries, know they are not having to compete and have gained the others respect.  They have no need to be pushy, try to get to the front first or gobble their food before the others eat it because they know they are the leader and in control so whatever the pack leader says and does goes.
Despite what some think it’s not the boisterous, ‘in your face’ dog who is pack leader.  In a pack of dogs the young, most boisterous, ‘in your face’ adolescent is usually given the task of looking after a group of puppies when the mother has decided they are on their own. The time needed to undertake this task and the responsibility involved required by the dog to bring these puppies under control teaches that dog to ‘grow up’.

LEADERSHIP IN A PACK OF HUMANS AND ANIMALS
Greyhounds are very social animals and being with other members of a pack whether human or canine is very important to them and their well being. If they are denied this they, like any dog they will become depressed, anxious and start behaving badly.
The simplest way for a person to become pack leader is to ‘think dog’. 
A dog doesn’t do anything without a reason, so if you can put yourself in your dog’s place, and ‘think dog’ you are half way to resolving any issue.  As a ‘human’ pack leader if you can emulate the ‘canine’ pack leader you will have a happy and content dog.
One of the most important things to remember is that a dog is a pack animal – a human isn’t. If a dog is to be happy and content it requires a calm, assertive leader to follow, not a tense assertive or a tense dominant one because they can produce anxiety.  The owner of the dog MUST become that pack leader and provide the dog with rules, limitations and boundaries because without these the dog will become anxious, which in turn can lead to behavioural issues.
The vast majority of Greyhounds are NOT pack leader material so when they are living in family surroundings it’s the Greyhound's owner that MUST be the pack leader. The pack leader often falls to the one who feeds them. The job of the pack leader is to provide food, security and guidance and, if for any reason, the Greyhound's owner is not fulfilling the pack leader position the dog will try to do the job himself. As the vast majority are not capable they make a mess of it, become misunderstood by their owner and you hear comments such as 'I don't know why he's doing that', 'He won't listen to me' and 'I can't do a thing with him' - all are signs the Greyhound doesn't respect his owner nor regard his owner as pack leader so is attempting to do the job himself. Is this a problem? Not long term, because in the wild the position of pack leader changes according to circumstances, which ensures the safety and existence of the pack. This means that if an owner is NOT pack leader he can learn to change his behaviour to become one so the hierarchy of the Greyhound comes below him.  This is NOT done by force, but by the owner becoming calm and assertive, and in control, taking over the responsibility of providing guidance and training, which will enable the Greyhound to drop to his rightful position within the pack, and thus become happier because the responsibility has been taken away from him.
The hierarchy of the Greyhound should mean he comes below every person in the family, even the children and even below the cat (if there is one). If he knows his position he will be happier because he understands his place and doesn’t feel the need to prove himself. 

The thing about leadership is that you are in charge and your Greyhound accepts you as being in charge and respects you for it. As leader it is your responsibility to teach him the rules, limitations and boundaries.  As pack leader you tell him what to do and NOT your dog telling you what to do.  A dog has no right to anything in its life without the pack leader’s say so. Therefore, you say when he eats, when he goes for walks, when on a walk when he can wander to the side to do his toilet.  As pack leader you have the right to lie on his bed, eat his dinner, play with his toys and take things from him as and when you want to without him objecting.

STRENGTHS AND WEAKNESSES OF A DOG OWNER
A dog will pick up the energies of its owner.  Its owner can produce an unwanted behaviour within their dog simply because of their own behaviour. 
An anxious owner will convey that anxiety to his dog and in doing so will nurture undesirable future behavioural issues. 
If you panic in situations or get overly excited or frustrated about something, you will convey this anxiety to your dog.  How many times have you been in a rush to find your dog ‘under your feet’ so you get cross and tell him to go to his bed?  Your dog has read your anxiety and frustration and joined in!  It’s as simple as that! The same goes for children when a parent is anxious or in a rush.

Your dog skids across the kitchen floor and crashes into the cupboard because he comes running in from the garden too fast.  You run over to him screeching or crying out and cuddle and console him as you would a child - you are showing him weakness and you are nurturing his future need to worry about it happening again.  By your actions you can produce a phobia for certain types of floors - It can happen as easy as that!  If your dog skids across the floor into the cupboard your reaction as pack leader MUST be of strength and calm – you fight the need to scream, cry out or ‘flap’ and calmly walk over to him and help him to his feet, check him over to see that he hasn’t cut himself and isn’t hurt, and if he is okay you calmly carry on as normal as if this sort of this happens all the time.  If he is hurt you calmly treat his injury as it is an every day occurrence and carry on as normal – this way you will not nurture his fear and encourage a phobia because he will trust and respect your authority.  If, after the incident he goes to lie in his bed and is quiet and calm then at this point you can go to him for a love and a cuddle because you are nurturing his calmness.  NEVER give affection unless he is quiet, calm and relaxed otherwise you are nurturing his anxiety and fears.   

Whether human or animal walking with the head down, shoulders forward and a bent back to a dog is the sign of weakness and a dominant, frustrated dog will attack weakness.  It is natures way of survival Have you ever seen a small dog tugging at his owner’s trouser leg – he is not playing, he is asserting his authority on his owner because he regards his owner as being weak and therefore the follower.
Anxious, nervous and frustrated behaviour in an owner is a sign of weakness to your dog.  As soon as your dog sees weakness in you the tables turn and he will become more dominant in order to take over the leadership of the pack and before you know where you are you become the follower.

WAYS TO IMPROVE YOUR LEADERSHIP SKILLS:
‘Think dog’- Learn to understand how your dog would expect be treated as one of a pack of dogs by its pack leader and emulate it.
Don’t fall into the trap of trying to humanize your dog and treat him as if he were your child.
Apply rules, boundaries and limitations and keep to them – be consistent.
When walking your dog on the lead NEVER allow him to walk in front of you.  He must always be by your side or behind you.
Walk in a relaxed manner but don’t dawdle and keep your head held high, don’t look down at your dog, put your shoulders back and keep your hands down by your side.  Above all relax even if it means mentally thinking of what you are going to make for the tea or what you are going to do the following day - all the signs of a calm, assertive leader.
Go for walks with a positive frame of mind that all is well – and it will be!
Avoid negative thoughts as your dog will read these as a sign of weakness and will react to the way you are nervous about.  If you think there is likely to be a problem the chances are there will be because you have the wrong aura about you.
For the first ten or fifteen minutes of the walk make your dog focus on you and his walk so he mustn’t urinate anywhere, sniff anywhere or be distracted by other people or dogs.
Once the first few minutes of the walk are complete YOU allow him to wander to the side to urinate.  YOU say when and how long he can sniff something for and YOU say what he can and can’t do – he must follow what you command and not be allowed to do his own thing.
Make your dog stand calmly at the door so you walk through first.
When on walks always make sure you walk through gateways first.
Take your dog's bone or toys from him while he's chewing or playing with them, hold it a few seconds then give it back.
When producing his dinner have a biscuit behind his dish. As you are getting his dinner ready take a bite of the biscuit and eat it. Do it in such a way he thinks you are eating some of his dinner.
Ensure your head is higher than his.  One way to check this is when you are playing with him on the floor or laying on his bed with him see if he always tries to position his head lower than yours. This can be quite funny if you lay your head on the floor because he should do it also or try his best to twist and turn his head to position it lower than yours.
Walk up and down the stairs in front of him.
Claim his space.  For example:  if he doesn’t like you near his bed when he’s on it – claim it.  You as pack leader own every thing that belongs to him so stand upright, shoulders back, hands on hips and stand near his bed.  Don’t say anything to him and move slowly forward a step at a time until you are standing on his bed then stay there until he backs off it or lies down in the corner of it and ignores you.  At this point you know he has accepted that his bed is not his but yours and you are allowing him to lie on it.
Take your dog's dinner dish from him before he's finished, hold it a few seconds then give it him back.