Should There Be A Primary Dog Trainer In Your Household

Hi,

My name is Greg Williams and I just received your book and videos yesterday. I've read almost all of the book and watched all the videos.

[To read about the book and videos that he's referring to, please take a look at http://www.dogproblems.com/newvideos.htm]

I wanted to save my one question until after I actually started training, but I couldn't wait, so here goes...

My wife and I have two young black lab females, both around 14-15 months old, but not sisters. They get along fine and we've been good about working with them to some extent, at least the best we knew how before the videos.

We walk them at least 4 or 5 times a week for a half hour or more as well as play ball in the back yard, they are both fully housebroken, they both know "sit" very well and "stay" pretty well, and they don't "correct" each other much (except barking a lot at feeding time.) I plan to get our pinch collars this weekend and begin more formal training (thanks to the videos).

My question is... My wife and I both love being with the dogs and working with them. So how should we go about training them and being the "Alpha" dog? Should one of us be the primary trainer for both dogs, or each pick a dog to be the primary trainer, or switch off between the two so they get used to both of us?

Also, if you don't mind a second question... at feeding time one is very quiet (but can get defensive) and the other barks a lot. The barker doesn't like the first one near the food, but doesn't "correct" her other than barking. Should we try to correct this barking behavior, or just find a way to feed them separately?

Thanks so much. Looking forward to trying out the training. By the way, I love to watch Forbes [Adam's dog] on the video... amazing work.

Greg Williams

Dear Greg:

It would be best if you both worked the dogs. See, your dogs don't care who is more dominant in your relationship with your wife. All your dog thinks is, "When Greg issues a command, is he dominant to ME?" And, "When Mom issues a command to me, is SHE dominant to me?"

So, if your dogs gets worked twice a day by you... and twice a day by your wife... your dogs will learn commands VERY QUICKLY! (As long as you're both using the same commands and techniques/approach to training).

As for your second question: All dogs should be fed separately. Confine the other dog while the first dog is eating. Then, when you feed the second dog, you're going to want to confine the first dog.

That's all for now, folks!
Adam