Many people try to win their new puppy's love by letting the puppy always have its way.
The pup is showered with affection and attention because he is so cute and cuddly.
Buckets of affection is a wonderful thing for most puppies, but it must be tempered with
respect. If you give in to your puppy's every whim, your pup will never learn self control
and self discipline. Your puppy will never learn to respect you. If your puppy does not
respect you, it will have no reason to do anything for you. Your relationship will be like
two 5 year olds bossing each other around. Just as a child needs a caring parent; an
athletic team needs a coach; your puppy needs a leader. If you do not take up the role of
leader, your dog will; and you will end up with an unruly, disobedient, out of control,
often aggressive monster of a dog. Most of these dogs end up living a life of isolation in
the back yard because no one can deal with it; or they end up dead - euthanized at the
local animal shelter. They end up at the shelter because either the owner can't live with the
dog anymore, or a member of the public has filed a complaint against the dog and
government officials have taken the dog away from the owner. DON'T LET THIS
HAPPEN TO YOU AND YOUR DOG!
Other people have an equally erroneous misconception of this issue. Instead of showering
the dog with love and affection, they think that to earn the dog's respect they must bully
and terrorize the dog into submission. A dog treated this way will eventually bite their
owner. This is not respect. Respect is not something that is forced. It is won. A dog will
not respect someone it does not trust.