June 17, 2009 – One of the elemental principles in dog training involves leadership, as is true of many other things. There isn’t a respectable training theory that doesn’t involve the alpha idea – the dog has to know someone is in charge. The controversies always come over how that is done.
  Positive reinforcement methods suggest reinforcing good behaviors and ignoring the bad ones where possible. Dog training is, in general, a catastrophe in America. There are plenty of trainers, books, TV gurus and gasbags, but only a tiny handful of well trained dogs.
  Most training methods work well for the trainers, but are hard for everybody else. People feel foolish, and so they give up. Having four dogs, going through an intense period with Frieda, I’ve been honing my training thoughts. None of the conventional theories work for me totally. Pack training is sensible, but in the wrong hands, a license for bullying and abuse. Positive reinforcement is great, but if you are not 100 positive – that would be me – it is flawed.
 In Frieda’s case, as with my other dogs, training began with my showing Frieda that she was not in charge – a strange idea to her. I was. I did this by some body posture, by feeding her, and by a lot of obedience repetitions. A dog that has to lie down for you a hundred times in a week will see you as a leader, sooner or later. And you don’t have to shout.
  Once Frieda knew I was in charge, she relaxed and didn’t have to push everybody else around. Good training is personal. It doesn’t come from a book or one TV personality. It is a blend of things – your nature, the dog’s nature, breeding and background, the environment and other people and dogs.
 I do believe dogs need leaders, and they don’t settle down until they know who that leader is.