Obedience Dog Training:
A Dog's Nature
By Jan Hoadley

As pack leader what you say goes, period. That means you eat first, you get choice space. Obviously we feed and water the dog but having the attitude of "I allow you to have this" changes the dynamics in ways that although doesn't matter to us it does to our dogs!

The dog, being the amazingly adaptable animal that he is, will adopt other species into his pack. In the home this might be cats, humans of different sizes and other dogs. This social interaction is important - a dog cast to himself in the wild is in danger of attack from other packs, in danger of starvation should he get hurt and his natural behavior is altered without having other beings to socialize with.

Natural behavior in dogs means exploration. Like two year old humans they learn by touching, chewing, exploring. They do not naturally get the idea of fences, property borders and other things in the human world. When the dog runs across the street to attack the roaming dog it's not being vicious - it's his natural tendency to defend his home turf.

Unfortunately in today's world dangers lurk that the dog simply does not understand. Like a child he doesn't need to understand it - but he does need to listen to the leader (you) and behave within the borders set for him. This puts a heavy burden of responsibility on owners - erasing those natural instincts won't happen. For this reason many hounds and terriers especially can never truly be trusted off leash in public. If an interesting sight or smell comes past they can become so focused on the chase of the 'prey' that sometimes we humans are simply a background thing to be tuned out.