One of the most common mistakes that people make in thinking about their dog's behavior is to think of them as "little people in fur coats". Nothing could be farther from the truth. Dogs are living, breathing creatures which experience emotion and (we are convinced) creative thought. BUT, they do not think like people, they think like dogs. Thus, to understand your dog better, you must learn just how your dog does think.

Since dogs first became a species, and wolves before them, all canids have had a rigid social order called "The Pack". In the wild, a group of dogs will form a pack with a definite hierarchy or pecking order. One dog will be the leader, the so-called Alpha dog, and all the others will follow the Alpha's orders. This allows the pack to survive with a minimum of internal disputes.

This pack structure is so ingrained into the dog's thinking that it perseveres to this day. In fact, whenever you take a dog into your home, in the dog's eyes, your family becomes its dog pack. Since every dog pack must have an Alpha dog leading it, the first thing that the dog does is to look to see who the Alpha is. If the dog does not see an Alpha in the pack, he will apply for the position himself and simply start taking charge. People do not think in terms of pack structure and can easily miss seeing that this has happened. Nonetheless, in the dog's eyes, he is now the leader of the pack. He will then expect the rest of your family to follow his orders. Sooner or later, you are going to tell the dog what you want him to do instead of the other way around. This can lead to a "war of wills" between you and the dog. This is obviously not the best situation.

In order to reserve the position of Alpha for yourself, you simply have to act like a leader. You should make the rules and should require the dog to follow them, every time. The rules must be reasonable and must be enforced consistently. If you let the dog "get away" with something every once in a while, it will try to get away with it all the time. The laying down of rules must be a family decision. For the dog's sake, everyone in the family must have the same set of rules for the dog to follow. Otherwise, the dog will become very confused if certain things are alright when one family member is present but not when another family member is around. He will become like the child who goes from one parent to the other if the first one has said "No."

Many of the problems that people have with their dogs can be traced to inconsistent enforcement of the rules or rules that are basically unfair. If the rules or the way the rules are enforced changes often, then the dog will always be confused as to what he can and cannot do. This confusion leads to stress and conflict between the dog and the family. Thus, it is far better for the dog and the family if everyone knows their places in the pack. Naturally, you want your place in the pack to be the Alpha. The dog will be perfectly happy with whatever position in the pack he can rise to. He does not have to be the Alpha to be happy, he just has to know his place.

There are certain ways that puppies play in order to express dominance or to try to move up in the pack. Two easily recognizable ways in which a puppy attempts to gain dominance are nipping and tug of war.

Nipping, biting and holding with the mouth are ways with which the puppy tries to assert that he is more dominant than you. Because of this, we start discouraging this behavior as soon as they begin to show it.

Tug of War is a game where the puppy and you go "one on one" to prove who is the better dog. Unfortunately, most of the time the people tire or the game first and let the puppy win. This allows the puppy to believe that it is stronger than you are and that it should be the Alpha, not you. Not the best result for you! Obviously, if you really are to be seen as the Alpha you would not even allow a direct challenge by a young upstart. The other consideration is that Tug of War will tend to pull the puppy's teeth and jaws out of line.