Pack Structure Articles

After 50 years of training dogs, over 30 as a professional dog trainer there are a few sayings that make a lot of sense to me: 1) "Dogs don't know how to be good unless we show them." 2) "You create your dogs value system." 3) "People don't give birth to a brat!" 4) "You can feed, water, and love your dog and he will like you, but he very well may not respect you." 5) "Dogs know what you know and they know what you don’t know."

Not understanding or not recognizing pack behavior in the family pet is the root problem for many many behavioral problems. Pack behavior is a genetic component to every dog. Pack behavior can be alleviate by weak pet owners, by adding dogs to the family pack, or by moving to a new home.

A year or two ago I wrote an article titled "The Ground Work to Becoming a Pack Leader." This article has been well read but over time it has become obvious that I should have written two articles; one for adult dogs and one for puppies. This article will address the ground work that should be done with puppies

Bringing a new dog into a home is always an exciting time. It's like adding a new family member or guest to the household. While much has been written on bringing puppies into the home - very little has been written about bringing new adult dogs into the home. This article should help you make some decisions that will ease the transition.

One of the most common problems that dog owners email us about is unwanted dog aggressive.. There are many reasons for dogs being aggressive to other dogs, cats or other animals. This article will only address a the most common reasons.

To begin to understand the solution of dog aggression one must first understand what triggers the aggression. There are 20 to 30 categories of dog aggression. We will only touch on a few in this article.

A list of questions we've received through email on Dog Packs. These questions are answered by Ed and Cindy.

I am often asked how to make a new puppy (or dog) get along with the family cat or cats. My answer is always "this is a simple thing to do as long as you are willing to educate yourself on canine pack behavior and make a few changes in the way you live with your cats." I remind people that cats can instigate problems with dogs. This is not always a one sided problem.

This article will detail three topics concerning dog parks: 1) The original purpose of dog parks. 2) The problems and dangers of taking your dog to a dog park. 3) How to prepare for a dog park. 4) How to handle and protect your dog while in the dog park.