You are the leader of the pack, at least you should be!
Being the leader is an honour but comes with responsibilities and sacrifices. If you are in control of food and movement, you are by default the leader of the pack. Many people don’t understand that or think it’s a good cop/ bad cop situation and they don’t want to be the bad cop. In the dog world someone has to be a leader. They are a bit OCD about this. Because of the lack of leadership in the people/dog packs we get a lot of behavioural issues where there wouldn’t be problems, if people understood that basic principal. Let’s say, we got a million dollar cooperation and to mix up things we decide that the copy guy should be the CEO. Chances are that the copy guy would have a heart attack in no time. Not everyone is wired for that kind of leadership level and it would probably just feel totally wrong just to be in the corner office….. Not having a leader, the human, do its job, forces the dog to take up the leadership role. This is really confusing and stressful for a submissive dog and can lead to aggression in a dominant dog. Basically the world makes no sense for your dog and can also cause health issues. Just like in humans constant stress is not contributing to health. This is why dogs with owners that understand, that they are the leaders and take their job serious, often have healthier dogs. Their dogs are relaxed, feel safe even in stressful situations and can be trusted to perform their tasks, which then allows you to give them more freedom. I call this a win - win situation.