We've all been there. You find yourself saying the same things over and over again. Working through the same old problems. The dogs start to annoy you. The clients really start to annoy you. You feel like your skills are not improving and maybe even worsening. You feel like you've “lost it”.

You're in a rut.

Sometimes you attend a seminar, or read a new book, or simply allow the passage of time to get you past these frustrating points. Other times, you need something else.

I recently went through one such rut. I didn't feel like I was getting any better at what I do. I wasn't communicating to my clients efficiently. It was like there was no real energy behind my words... no conviction. I was speaking like someone who had said the same things over and over again. I felt like a robot programmed to explain the concept of “house training”.

It's human nature for us to want to control our resources and our environment. We become anxious and stressed when we loose the ability to predict and plan or when control is taken away from us. This applies to some people more than others. 

So when it comes to our dogs and our family 'pack' why is the top dog method so very popular? Why do we find it fairly easy to implement and in many cases we clearly enjoy implementing the pack rules?

The pack rules involve the human in the relationship displaying a number of behaviours around the dog in order to reinforce that the human is in fact the alpha wolf or alpha domestic dog! This will also include human infants and children demoting the family pet wolf, I mean dog into the position where the dog understands they are at the bottom of the family pack hierarchy.  

I have often heard it said on this site that we (the bloggers and readers) are preaching to the choir.  I hear this as, "Yes, we agree.  But the problem is all those other people who don't care and don't listen.  WE already know this."

I find it discouraging and I have spent countless hours trying to figure out if anything I write on this site makes a bit of difference at all.  I don't mean to sound victimized or fatalistic, but rather realistically inquisitive about the value of sharing information in a forum where readers tend to assert agreement with and knowledge of the subject.  I can't help but wonder if it's a waste of time.

My first introduction to structured, group dog obedience classes happened more than 26 years ago in Jacksonville, N.C.  We were a young Marine family, my husband newly transferred to Camp Lejeune, and along with our infant (human son), young Irish Setter Casey, and Irish Terrier Fiona, we moved into base housing.  I thoroughly enjoyed the "mommy and me" classes and baby playgroups during the day, but I wanted to do something with our dogs at night.  So I enrolled in my first dog obedience classes run by the Jacksonville, NC Kennel Club.  I'd always taught my dogs obedience and tricks on my own, ever since I was a little girl.  I was mostly self-taught, drawing on what I read from books I'd gotten from the library and had even won several pet contests run by our local 4-H.  But this was completely different.  I was introduced to the competition obedience Novice, Open and Utility exercises, and I have to admit, I was in awe.