Dog Dominance Behavior - Dominant Dog in the House

There are some who say that it's wrong to allow one dog to be dominant over another in a household. The ones who say this need to consider something.

Yes, you the Owner need to be Pack Leader over your dogs.

However, one of your dogs will become dominant over the other(s) when you are gone - in order to keep structure in the dog pack.

There's nothing wrong with having a dog who calmly asserts himself and helps you, the Alpha Leader, keep the others in line... Especially handy when you have puppies!

You definitely want to exercise your dogs at least 45 minutes before leaving them alone throughout the day. Otherwise, they may choose to fight it out to see who's the dominant dog while you are gone.

A Glimpse into Real Dog Pack Life -How Much Exercise?

There are quite a few misconceptions going around about how a dog pack functions. The dog pack absolutely DOES NOT exercise 8 hours each day! Rather, it's more like this:

The dog pack goes hunting - of course, led by the Alpha Leader. But if one pack member has a better sense of smell than the others, the Alpha Leader allows that one to lead the hunt - until he is certain that he is on the trail well enough to lead it himself. Also, the dog who is most skilled at herding is highly respected by him.

Each dog pack member is respected for each thing that he can do well, and is called upon to do it in any emergency situation. Say a helicopter came overhead and the frightened dog pack ran, forced into another dog pack's territory. The Pack Leader would hand the reins over to whoever grew up there (most likely a female), as that one would know the cracks and crevices. The Leader of the Pack is definitely not macho!

As danger passed, the dogs would return to hunting. Only about one in ten hunts is successful. However, once they do succeed in bringing down prey, they stay with it until only the bones remain - mostly eating and sleeping.

So contrary to the popular belief that all the wild dogs do all day is run, it's more like: "We hunt a couple of times a week, and the rest of the time we eat and sleep!" - With occasional trips to mark the territory (the human equivalent of a field trip) and fairly regular games of chase.

Yes, a dog needs regular exercise. There's no denying that. I'm a firm believer in twice a day, 45 minutes each time - 30 minutes the second time for some - but there are several dog breeds who could never keep up with that pace.

I mean really ... can you picture this Chihuahua trying to keep up with a German Shepherd?

The amount of activity you do with your dogs has to be based on their individual physical and psychological needs - not on what you've heard about the dog breed.