You’ll hear a lot of talk about how to raise the perfect dog, but the better question to ask would be “do they exist?”

Well, does a perfect person exist? No! But, with that being said there are some pretty amazing ones out there — and amazing dogs, too. So what exactly is the trick to getting your dog to be the best they can be?

You’ve maybe seen the dozens if not thousands of videos online that will teach you how to train your dog to give you a high five, crawl like they’re in boot camp, or speak on command — but is this really your idea of a perfect dog?

I’m guessing not since you’re still reading. While teaching your dog tricks is a lot of fun and can have practical applications too, worrying about these things first is a bit like giving your house a fresh coat of pain when the foundation is faulty.

Get your base training down, and then you can move on to the “fun” things like shaking hands and such. And in the meantime, you’ll have learned important things like how to control your aggressive dog, or how to get rid of a dog’s separation anxiety.

To give yourself a firm training base with your dog, you must first learn the ONE root cause of all your dog’s behavioral issues. That’s right — all the various issues you might be having with your dog aren’t unrelated, they all boil down to ONE thing.

The “It” Factor to Training a Perfect Dog

Okay then, so what exactly is it that’s preventing me from a having a healthy, happy relationship with my dog? One where they listen to my commands, and don’t engage in any mindbogglingly frustrating misbehavior?

It’s simple: you are having behavior issues which prevent you from raising an obedient dog, because your dog is not viewing you as the leader of the family pack. To them, it’s not you that’s in charge — it’s them.

Now, your dog isn’t power hungry. They didn’t cross the threshold of your home’s doorway, and think “perfect… I’ve got this family right where I want them… the treats shall ALL BE MINE!”

What’s happened is that since you have not established yourself as pack leader, your dog has taken on the role themselves. They view it as a necessity to keep the pack together, safe, and free of intrusion from outsiders.

This shows itself in many ways, from refusing to get off the furniture or pulling on the leash during walks, to more serious issues like tearing things up around the house or being aggressive towards people or other dogs.

Fortunately, dogs will quickly allow you to take over the role of family pack leader once you’ve shown them they’re no longer needed for that responsibility. And you can do it all without ever being anything but loving or gentle with your dog.

How to Take Charge & Train Your Dog

Establishing yourself as pack leader is something that is much more easily learned by watching someone experienced rather than just reading. This will allow you to view exactly what you should do, so that you can copy the training with your own dog.

My friend Doggy Dan has been successfully helping others with this for many, many years now. He has an excellent free video series which will take you through everything you need to know to become pack leader and correct common misbehavior.

His methods work with dogs of any age and are easy to follow, even if you’ve never tried training your dog before. Start watching Dan’s free training series now by clicking here. The videos each contain a short and to the point lesson, so you’ll progress quickly.

He’ll help you to show your dog that it’s okay to relax and hand the reigns of the family pack over to you. This will lead to your dog not just being more obedient, but also being happier since they’ve got that responsibility off their shoulders. Not bad, huh?