Terminology of a dogs life and behaviors ALPHA DOG

What is an ALPHA DOG ?

When the term Alph Dog is used, it refers to the dominant dog in a pack setting.
First and formost, it is important to understand the pack mentality. An Alpha Dog dominates the other members of his pack. There are both male and female Alpha Dogs in a pack. The other members of a pack are referred to as Beta Dogs, as they are less submissive.

Alpha dogs rule the roost, they eat first, breed first, and control the Beta members. They show confidence, they maintain control through their body positions, their expressions, and when needed they will growl/snarl and even nip to get the point across.

In a single dog home, the dog will assume that he/she is in that position of being an Alpha dog, and it is important in these homes that the dog understands she is part of a people pack and she must submit to the pack, without this there is a possibility of aggression/behavior problems.

Good training at home with the people pack being calm/consistent and applying discipline without emotions and positive reinforcement in the home will lead to a calm adjusted dog.

I can't stress enough that training is needed in a home with dogs, be it one or 10. Without establishing a balanced home, you train an unbalanced dog. That is where problems begin. Once behavior problems start it is difficult to untrain.

Our dogs have a pack structure within the house, with us at the top and each of them falling into their own separate ranks. After we established dominance over the pack, we decided to let them work it out amongst themselves, which worked out beautifully - and I am the owner of a Pit Bull and American Bulldog - both males, that live in a house with another Pit Bull mix/Staffordshire terrier; they are all inseparable.