Guard Dog Training: Establishing Leadership
To get the most potential out of your guard dog, you must learn to become a truly effective leader. The key is learning to balance the various demands of a leader and apply them to raising your dog. You must be consistent to establishing leadership with your dog. You must avoid all levels of confusion by using the same speech pattern and words, habits, leadership style, and how you handle reward and punishment. If you are not consistent in your training of your dog, then you can’t expect your breed to ever learn obedience if you have no discipline of your own.
The first thing you need to do in establishing leadership with your dog is to develop a leadership protocol. A leadership protocol is simply a list of standards you are going to apply to training your dog. This list consists of a framework of attitudes and actions you will use consistently when training your guard dog. Without proper protocol, you are not developing the fundamental building blocks of leadership needed for your dog to learn commands and obedience.
You have to understand that fundamentally all dogs need leadership. Whether it is a small yapping Chihuahua or a strong blooded German Shepard, all dogs need to understand their role. The main problem with understanding your role is that some dog trainers are confused in the expectations they have in their animal. Some want a vicious Rottweiler to attack on command, while at the same time; they want a lovable goof like a Labrador retriever. Not having a clear role defined between dog trainer and guard dog will cause confusion early and make training difficult.
To be an effective leader, you must manage the time you spend with your dog. You have to create a schedule of when you will train and when the dog is truly on his own. Most experts recommend starting immediately with crate training as this allows the dog to know when it is time for training and time to just be a dog. By being a fair leader that knows what the rules are, who sets structure and maintains boundaries, who understands the need for discipline, you will make guard dog training and obedience training much easier for you in the long run.
The key to guard dog training, or any kind of obedience training with a dog, is being consistent in every aspect of your dog’s life. This one point can never be stressed enough when it comes to dog training. Remember that consistency leads understanding and understanding leads to greater levels of expectation in your dog.
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