The Importance of Being "Alpha" With Your Diabetic Dog

I’m sure that you have heard the phrase, “My smaller dog is the Alpha in my pack”, that may well be true, but what does it mean? According to Cesar Milan, the “dog whisperer”, Cesar’s Fifth Natural Dog Law says, “Dogs are social pack animals with a leader and followers.” They are happiest when they have this structure because the followers want to be told what to do and know what the leaders expect of them.” In households with more than one dog, the hierarchy should be that you are the Alpha in the pack and then the dogs will have their own hierarchy among themselves after that.

Now that you have a Diabetic pup, it is important that you are seen as the true Alpha. That what you say goes and there are no deviations. Hopefully, this structure is already in place and no retraining needs to happen.

I often see that people have pups that are resistant to their BG (Blood Glucose) tests and injections and it got me to thinking, I wonder what position in the pack the Diabetic pup is. If your Diabetic pup is Alpha, then you shouldn’t have any issues with testing and injections. If your Diabetic pup isn’t Alpha, you may have to determine who the Alpha is in your pack and give them a make believe “test and injection” to keep peace in the pack.

If you have more than two dogs, then you need to do these things in pack order — alpha dog first, then the betas, and omegas last. This will reinforce the dog pack hierarchy and make all of your dogs feel confident that they are in their proper place. If the alpha dog begins to feel insecure in his position, then he may compensate for this by exaggerating his dominance, which can lead to aggression. You don’t want that!

My Max was the Alpha in my little pack of two and was very clear that I was the overall Alpha so that testing and injections were never an issue with him. Where the pack mentality entered into my household was that after Max had his BG (Blood Glucose) test and his injection complete with treats before and after both, my Finn needed his too. So, after I put Max back down on the floor (I tested and injected on a small table), Finn would insist that he be put up on the table for his treat and pretend injection. After his “injection” and treat, I would put him back down on the floor and all was right with the world.

It seems funny now, but when you think in terms of pack mentality, it makes perfect sense that who gets what first, will play into the compliance of your Diabetic pup. If your Diabetic pup is the Alpha in your pack or is an only dog, it shouldn’t be an issue. If your now Diabetic pup is not the Alpha, and you’re having a hard time with testing and injections, you may need to go through the motions of pretending to treat your Alpha non-Diabetic first. Just quickly go through the motions so that your “Sugar Baby” will be more compliant. They need for things to be done in the proper order to keep peace in the pack.

“The important thing to remember is that you need to honor these pack positions and never try to make the submissive dog dominant or vice versa. This means that the dominant dog always goes first — after all the humans, of course. He/She gets fed first, gets first choice of toys or treats, gets his/her leash on for the walk first, and gets attention first.”

If you’re having issues in your “pack” now that one is Diabetic and the others are not, try making this simple change and see if things go a bit smoother for you.

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Until next time…