I’m sure we’ve all done it, tried it, and seen it before. We bought a dog. We take the dog home. We invite the dog to the family. Then we try to train the dog. What usually follows would be fun if we weren’t experiencing it ourselves. The dog barks, digs, bites, howls… he does almost everything we don’t want him to do. And more often than not, the problem can be traced to one thing you probably did from the time you brought your new puppy home.

The biggest mistake dog owners make when training their dogs, and at any other time, is treating them like they’re human and not a dog at all. That’s it. And you know exactly what I’m talking about. Talk to them when they are puppies as you would a human baby. Have conversations with them with the strange idea that they understand what you are saying. We all have. Now is the time to undo it.

Let’s think about it logically for a moment. Dogs are descended from wolves. Wolves live in the wild, in packs, with their own language, rules, and wolf hierarchy. The reason your dog doesn’t respond to your training is because you don’t treat him like a dog. You’re messing with thousands of years of evolution and probably confusing poor Rover.

Here are some things to try:

1) Ignore when you get home – When you get home and walk over to your dog right away, all you’re telling him is that you’re not in charge. You are not the alpha dog. In the wild, the alpha dog basically ignores the rest of the pack when they reunite after being separated. He ignores the dog until he has stopped his routine for a few minutes and is calm, then call him. You will notice a big difference.

2) Don’t stop eating – When a wolf or wild dog kill and finish eating, they walk away and leave it. They don’t have food prepared for them all the time. For the next few moments, put your dog’s food bowl down and when he stops and walks away, take it away. Then put it back the next day and do the same. The one who is in charge of distributing the food is in charge of the whole herd.

3) Ignore ‘Every time you get separated’ – In a dog’s world, any time they are apart is a time when the position of top dog is on the line. If you leave the room for any reason, be sure to ignore him for at least a couple of minutes when he returns, especially if he starts his “missing you” routine.

Remember, your dog doesn’t want to be the alpha dog, but someone in his world has to be. If it’s not you, they’ll try to take on that role themselves. Just treat them a little more like a dog and less like a person and watch how wonderfully things turn out.