Being a good pack leader

This is probably one of the most misunderstood things that amateur trainers,and regular people dont have a good concept of!
I cant stress how important this info is and it will effect everything that you do with your dog.Being a good pack leader does not mean that you are not willing to correct the animal,but also when,how and the method.Some dogs you will never get them to do anything by physical corrections,and some dogs you must use them.
First off let me tell you that there is a thing called the dogs civil drive.Civil drive is the ability and willingness to take a correction and be forgiving also and willing to keep working with the handler.Some dogs have a high amount of civil drive and some dont have any at all.The dog with no civil drive is not going to be very forgiving and willing to keep working if you constantly correct this type of dog too hard.In the same measure,the dog with a high civil drive is going to take corrections much better and be willing to forgive you even if the correction was a little too hard,or you make a mistake.
I dont recommend giving any puppy ANY PHYSICAL corrections at all(especially working dogs,service,SAR,or any other working type).What I do with my dogs is I first imprint the dog with crate training,and most times this puppy gets out of his crate is to do a few training exercises and to go potty outside.I want this puppy to learn right away that We are a TEAM, and WE are going to work when the dog is out of the crate.Now dont get me wrong here,I wil also play tug of war and fetch and such also,but as a reward when the dog has listened and tried,and performed and done what I commanded.

I must make one thing very clear,ONLY correct your puppy when the puppy knows the command!There are different phases to learning,first the command is learned,this may take up to 30 or 40 times before the dog knows it.Then there is the distraction and correction phase,and then the proofing phase.
There are some great books out there,and videos on this subject that can give you a very good picture of what this involves.I personally respect and admire Ed Leerburg,of Leerburg.com with some of the most detailed and correct training advice and information availible today.Thats not to say there are also some other great training info out there also.

If you have any questions please feel free to e-mail me and I will be glad to help you anytime.

Getting back to this posts topic I would like to stress something very important that I have mentioned in previous posts.Some people start crate training and think everytome the dog does something wrong to put the dog in the crate and this is a mistake.When the puppy thinks of his or her crate as a place where the master sends me when I'm bad,this can be very detrimental to what we are trying to accomplish.I want my dogs to feel safe and know that no one will bother them when they are in the crate.At the same time the crate can be used in conjunction with other methods to correct a behavior but I dont want the puppy to relate the crate early on with corrections!This is a fine line in beginning development of a working dog.
Some puppies are going to resent you putting them in the crate at first,but you can do a few things to make this transition go a little easier.First thing I would tell you is to put the crate in a room where the puppy can see you and always praise the puppy when put in the crate(thats a fine dog,Good boy crate).I want the puppy to know Im right there and everything is fine.You can read about this in previous posts.

When training a working dog,I dont do much correcting at all,just the imprinting of certain behaviors I want the dog to use all through his or her life.