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Becoming Your Dog’s Alpha by Jesse Sternberg
Any dog owner knows that our furry little lovebeasts can take us on an emotional ride. Consider a sleepin-sunday kind of moment: The popcorn scent of those fuzzy little paws, that peaceful cuddle in our shared cozy nest. One could so easily be lured into a snuggly state of bliss, the kind that makes it impossible to get out of bed. Yet we must get up, because we’re expecting guests for brunch. Inevitably, when the doorbell rings, our former snuggle buddies become rogue protectors, or neurotically excited little attention hogs. It’s hard to remember the tranquility of the snuggle-bliss when our dogs are lunging, jumping, whining and scratching at the crack of the front door. Let’s be honest about something. All we know at this moment is that our dog is embarrassing us, driving us nuts, or we’ve completely tuned them out (even though our guests haven’t). Every owner knows what I’m talking about here because we’ve tried many things so far and nothing’s ever worked. The doorbell makes our dog’s go temporarily nuts.
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As a former owner and operator of a dog daycare, grooming shop and training center, I saw this very same pattern day in and day out. I’d be meditating in the back room with twenty or more dogs curled into me, then all of a sudden a client would show up at the door and mayhem would break out. This actually drove me nuts because it was always the first impression that new clients would see - twenty or thirty maniacal beasts chomping at the crack of the doorway, squealing as if to say, “get me the heck out of here, this guy is torturing us!” This is a total human projection by the way, a glimpse into my neuroses if you will. My pack was just doing what they’re supposed to do, informing me of a potential intruder. A little overkill, though, don’t you think? I didn’t need that much protection (nor do you). This inspired me to study all kinds of dog training modalities, simply because it would be great for business to show my clients how calm I could keep their dogs. Interestingly, every method I studied and applied, worked in a one-on-one situation with just about every canine (some better than others, mind you). Yet none of these methods worked on a pack of dogs. I knew there
