Dog Training Case Study No. 2 - The Alpha Dog

Rebel

Rebel was an Irish Setter and our kids were fifteen, seventeen and nineteen years old when we got him, as a puppy, very soon after our dalmatian died. He came into a much different situation than did the dalmatian, eleven years earlier.

For a start, we all knew a lot more about training and caring for a dog than we did with our first dog. Also, the kids were now young adults and much more mature. So Rebel came in at the bottom of the pecking order, which wasn't at all a bad thing for him, as he got all the care and attention that is always lavished on a new baby in the home.

What helped a lot, was his beautiful temperament. That dog didn't have an aggressive thought in his head  - except for yellow labradors! Any other creature - dogs, cats, chickens, rabbits were all greeted with a gentle,  courteous interest. People were greeted more effusively.

I never knew what caused his aggression towards yellow labradors but when he saw one, he was all ready to fight - in earnest! With black labs he was fine.

Side Note: Sharda Baker, in her  DIY Dog Training at Home  Course, covers the four essentials in choosing a dog with the right temperament for its surroundings. It's a very good course.

As he got older, it was interesting to see how Rebel adjusted to his position in the hierarchy of our pack. Or at least, how he saw it from his perspective.

From the start, I was the Alpha Dog. As soon as he was able to take notice, I  started training him, just with the simple things like Sit and Come. This was partly because we had such a hard time with the dalmatian and I vowed we wouldn't go through that again. He also learned the meaning of "NO" very quickly, which was a great benefit in all his other training.

Irish Setters have the reputation of being "airheads" with a poor attention span and generally pretty scatty. This dog certainly wasn't. He was a smart cookie and picked up the training very quickly, because he obviously enjoyed it.

Each time I took him for a walk, we always included a short training session, in a large open space. I could make him lie down and walk 100 yards away and he would stay there till I called him. Unlike the dalmatian, he would come straight away.

I could also walk away so I was out of sight (but I could see him) and leave him for 2 or 3 minutes and then return to him from a different direction.

Anyway, back to his relationship with the others in our pack. My wife was obviously the Alpha female, because she fed the dog and everyone else. Dogs seem to have a special affinity for women.

I think Rebel saw my son, who was now in his early twenties as his older brother. David also took him for walks and let him sniff around the field while he practised his golf swing. He never managed to teach him to retrieve the balls!  The dog got used to obeying David and definitely regarded him as senior.

My elder daughter had a distant relationship with Rebel. She felt that we had been disloyal to our previous dog, in replacing him so soon after his death and I'm sure the new puppy picked up on this. He never made any aggressive move towards her but she used to say "he looks at me". I think it's fair to say they just tolerated each other.

With my younger daughter, it was completely different. I think Rebel saw her as his baby sister. She could do anything with him. He would stand completely still while she groomed him and follow her about the house.

To have a happy, well adjusted dog who takes his appropriate place within your family group, he must not be the alpha dog.