Your Dog Won’t Mind – Now What?
The Pack
 Editor’s Note: Charlie Jurney of Terrell, North Carolina, the author of “Finished Dog,” trains all breeds of dogs but focuses primarily on Labrador and golden retrievers and Boykin spaniels. His dogs compete in the Hunting Retriever Club Division of the United Kennel Club and in the American Kennel Club Hunt Test Program and the North American Hunting Retriever Association Field Test Program. He’s titled hundreds of grand master hunters, grand hunting retriever champions, master hunters and hunter retrieving championships and has won 10 Boykin Spaniel National Championships, all performance-based retrieving titles.
“ Dogs need three things to survive,” says Charlie Jurney of Beaverdam Kennels in Terrell, North Carolina. “Dogs need a quality dog food to keep them healthy. They also must have shelter.” At one time, dogs lived in a hole in the ground, a den, but now if you provide a dog house or allow them to live in your home, according to Jurney, you’ve taken care of their need for shelter. However, most importantly, dogs need to understand their relationships to and their roles in the pack. “Dogs have a pack mentality,” Jurney explains, “The pack protects and defends them against predators. Dogs are happy if they’re under the protection and the direction of the Alpha member of the pack and they’re a Beta member of the pack. A dog’s pack is his family. Your dog will willingly be a Beta member of that  family if he understands that as his role. If your dog is not doing what you want him to do when you want him to do it, then he’s asserted himself to the Alpha member of the pack, and you have become the inferior member.”
Dogs frequently, sometimes daily, sometimes monthly, sometimes yearly, will challenge their owner to become the Alpha member of the pack. That’s when the owner must correct the dog, so the dog understands he is the Beta member of the pack. Jurney says that just like you won’t drive your automobile without insurance to protect you and your family, neither shoul d you allow a dog to become unruly. When a dog won’t mind, it’s in harm’s way. The dog may run into danger and get hurt. According to Jurney, four commands will make them mind and keep them safe. “Here, no, heel, and sit.”
To learn more, go to www.finisheddog.com or email finisheddog@yahoo.com. Or, you can call or write Charlie Jurney at Beaverdam Kennels at (828) 478-3101 or (828) 478-3943; 8200 Hwy. 150 Terrell, NC 28682. For more information on SportDOG Brand collars, call (865) 218-4088 or 1 (800) 732-0144 or visit www.sportdogbrand.com.
Tomorrow: How to Have an Obedient
Dog
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