Some time back, we were in sort of a doggie crisis. It's not totally over, but I think we are winning. During this time, I found this humorously written article about how to deal with an alpha dog. Hold on, let me dig up the link to share with you all.
::Imagine sounds of flipping through virtual paper:::
Ahh here it is, http://www.sonic.net/~cdlcruz/GPCC/library/alpha.htm
It sort of goes through steps to retrain your dog , through a sort of boot camp experience for dogs. Dogs, they say, actually dont want to be or become alpha in nature. They want to be dogs, and have to be reminded of this. We became introduced to the concept of an alpha dog while watching Snowdogs, the movie. Anyhow, we kept saying after watching it, that maybe if we just could bite Bayley's ear, then he would understand we are in control. LOL
Anyway, back to the article.... one of the ideas in it is to feed the dog in his kennel...so we put his food and water in there when we first found the article, to see what would happen.....oh gosh....to describe what happened in its fullest effect is just not possible...but imagine a big ole furry dog, having a temper tantrum as a two or three year old might. He had an absolute fit! He dug and dug with all his might at the metal flooring of his wire cage, and then bit at the wires. Now its not like he has never been put in there before...he has many times, and until recently slept in there all night as well....He splashed all the water out of his kennel....I stood out in the hall after letting him go at it alone for 15-20(all the while he is having this temper tantrum) ignoring him. I just stood there, and then he saw me and quit. I looked at him with my hands on my hips and just stared him down. I said, now isnt that just stupid.....lol....I went back to my room....and didnt let him out right away...the instructions say to wait until they have calmed down again before letting them out.....he didnt go back to having a fit, so 5 mins later....I went to let him out. he dashed out, and then stopped, ran back into his kennel and grabbed a bite or two of food that he held in his mouth....He dropped that in the living room floor and ate those bites from there....
Well at this point, we realize that he has made "some" progress, but not enough. He still wants to be an alpha dog, not just a dog. He still tries to win his ways, but usually has found that it only wins him some time in his kennel or outside on his chain on the front porch. He spends time in his kennel more once again, (though not at night), and outside more. The main thing that I want to do is to cut his hair. I can do it, I have done it, but at this point, he has become nothing more than an ornery cocker spaniel that growls at us. So much so I wrote this little poem for him:
You woof and you snarl,
you bark and you growl
and think we are to
love you somehow!
The other option is to take him to the vet (can you say cha ching....as we spend money we dont have on a dog hair cut and bath?) They cut it in January when he went in for shots. They had to put him to sleep to do so. This all added to the cost of a professional grooming that we no longer could do. We keep trying to come up with a plan to get it done ourselves. Its just silly to spend that kind of money on a dog!
I was sort of contemplating this whole issue of alpha dogs, and Bayley this week. I started thinking about it, and thought, you know, us people are not a lot different. Dont we at times need to be reminded that we are just people, created beings, and God is GOD? Don't we try to scratch and have fits and growl in order to have our way, our will be done....regardless of what our Maker says? I also had to somewhat giggle when I considered the verses where God speaks saying He Is the Alpha and omega. He had to tell us that He alone is the alpha, so we wouldnt forget it. I think we too need reminding from time to time that all we want to be are His children, his people...and we need to let God be GOD in our lives. God alone needs the authority over us, His will over ours, His plans over ours. We just need to learn to relax, and accept His yoke, and His guidance. He alone is Alpha! He alone is the Omega. He alone is God!
It sort of goes through steps to retrain your dog , through a sort of boot camp experience for dogs. Dogs, they say, actually dont want to be or become alpha in nature. They want to be dogs, and have to be reminded of this. We became introduced to the concept of an alpha dog while watching Snowdogs, the movie. Anyhow, we kept saying after watching it, that maybe if we just could bite Bayley's ear, then he would understand we are in control. LOL
Anyway, back to the article.... one of the ideas in it is to feed the dog in his kennel...so we put his food and water in there when we first found the article, to see what would happen.....oh gosh....to describe what happened in its fullest effect is just not possible...but imagine a big ole furry dog, having a temper tantrum as a two or three year old might. He had an absolute fit! He dug and dug with all his might at the metal flooring of his wire cage, and then bit at the wires. Now its not like he has never been put in there before...he has many times, and until recently slept in there all night as well....He splashed all the water out of his kennel....I stood out in the hall after letting him go at it alone for 15-20(all the while he is having this temper tantrum) ignoring him. I just stood there, and then he saw me and quit. I looked at him with my hands on my hips and just stared him down. I said, now isnt that just stupid.....lol....I went back to my room....and didnt let him out right away...the instructions say to wait until they have calmed down again before letting them out.....he didnt go back to having a fit, so 5 mins later....I went to let him out. he dashed out, and then stopped, ran back into his kennel and grabbed a bite or two of food that he held in his mouth....He dropped that in the living room floor and ate those bites from there....
Well at this point, we realize that he has made "some" progress, but not enough. He still wants to be an alpha dog, not just a dog. He still tries to win his ways, but usually has found that it only wins him some time in his kennel or outside on his chain on the front porch. He spends time in his kennel more once again, (though not at night), and outside more. The main thing that I want to do is to cut his hair. I can do it, I have done it, but at this point, he has become nothing more than an ornery cocker spaniel that growls at us. So much so I wrote this little poem for him:
You woof and you snarl,
you bark and you growl
and think we are to
love you somehow!
The other option is to take him to the vet (can you say cha ching....as we spend money we dont have on a dog hair cut and bath?) They cut it in January when he went in for shots. They had to put him to sleep to do so. This all added to the cost of a professional grooming that we no longer could do. We keep trying to come up with a plan to get it done ourselves. Its just silly to spend that kind of money on a dog!
I was sort of contemplating this whole issue of alpha dogs, and Bayley this week. I started thinking about it, and thought, you know, us people are not a lot different. Dont we at times need to be reminded that we are just people, created beings, and God is GOD? Don't we try to scratch and have fits and growl in order to have our way, our will be done....regardless of what our Maker says? I also had to somewhat giggle when I considered the verses where God speaks saying He Is the Alpha and omega. He had to tell us that He alone is the alpha, so we wouldnt forget it. I think we too need reminding from time to time that all we want to be are His children, his people...and we need to let God be GOD in our lives. God alone needs the authority over us, His will over ours, His plans over ours. We just need to learn to relax, and accept His yoke, and His guidance. He alone is Alpha! He alone is the Omega. He alone is God!
Thank you , God, for the humorous reminder this week-that I too need reminding that all I want is to just be your child, not the one in control.
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