Absolute Alpha is a term that I use to define the “true way” to lead.
In the event that you are not aware of the basic concept of Black Belt Dog Training (even after reading the name)… the philosophy stems from my background in traditional martial arts. If you understand the ways of the traditional martial arts, you must embrace the way of Zen. In Zen, everything is nothing and nothing is everything. That is to say, in this situation you must become everything, yet remain humble.
See: online dog training
I see so many people yelling at their dogs, jerking them around, hitting them and fighting with them in a feeble attempt to prove to the dog that they are the alpha. The true alpha does not need to show it by means of force. Yes, there are times you will need to be strong with your dog, very strong in order to correct a bad behavior and guide him toward understanding. But if properly done, your dog will understand that you are the alpha and you won’t have to prove it every day. If your dog doesn’t “get it” perhaps you are not showing it properly.
To be an Absolute Alpha, you must show more compassion than aggression, you must love more than you correct, you must understand more than you expect to be understood. If this all sounds like a bunch of New Age mumbo jumbo… you are wrong. These principles date back hundreds perhaps thousands of years.
To put the concept simply, yes your dog must respect you, but respect and fear are very different concepts. The stronger one is respect. As respect can contain love, fear does not. If you have love, then your dog will want to please out of love not fear. Love will drive your dog to do anything to please you, fear will drive him to do just what you want him to do at the moment you ask, and only because he’s afraid.
Love is the first thing I embrace in any dog I train, this love is akin to compassion, not romanticized love. Respect comes next, as well as understanding. I am the more evolved of the two of us, so I must understand more than I expect to be understood. That is the basic principle of the absolute alpha. Complete compassion, love and understanding is what the dog I am training can expect from me, therefore when I expect proper behavior in return, it’s a very fair trade in the dog’s mind. Wouldn’t it be in yours too?
This is not to say I am not strong with the dogs I train, I believe that a dog needs a strong hand, but that hand should come from a place of love, not anger.
Understand this and all the dog training in the world will make sense… fail to understand it and you will be lost with your dog forever.
