The clients arrived with an intact, male, two-year-old Airedale Terrier. The dog was in excellent health, having had a pre-program veterinary examination. One of the three girls, all teenagers, opened the back door of the car and out bounded "Terry," the canine family member. He rushed over to where I was sitting, jumped up to put his paws on my knees and commenced to wash my face.

"Terry!" Dad was fuming as he ran toward me, ready to grab Terry by the choke-chain collar. The dog stiffened and started growling at me.

"Please stop, Mr. Johnson, he thinks you're mad at me!" I hollered, laughingly.

Fortunately, Dad did stop, looking totally puzzled. I asked him to come and sit next to me so we could show Terry we were friends. He did---the dog relaxed, and resumed his facial hygiene session with me.

Mom and the rest of the family came and, as requested, sat down on our lawn chairs, which were arranged in a crescent, so we were all facing the same direction... and not each other.

I dropped my ultra-sound device on the ground at Terry's feet, he got down and sniffed it. I told him, quietly, "Good dog," and he trotted off to sniff out the consultation area, which had an inviting walnut tree, full of great dog odors.

The complaint about Terry was that he was a great dog, but out of control when guests came to the house, jumping up at them, until he would have to be put out in the yard, where he then proceeded to try to break down the back door. He had also growled at a young boy when he entered the house.  Dad's first comment was that he was surprised and somewhat disappointed that I allowed Terry to jump on me and lick my face.

"I could have easily corrected him immediately, but I wanted to see how you handled the situation. Plus, I wanted to see who was the leader of your family. And Terry certainly showed me. Now, all we have to do is put you folks in the leadership position and your troubles will be over. The dog will be much happier and he won't continue learning to dislike people visiting, which is what that growl at the boy and at me was all about."

Mom then said, "We've got to get control of him. I can't live with this anymore."

This opened the door to a full discussion concerning the advantages of having the dog develop self-control versus people having to control him. Everyone agreed that Terry's obedience was important, but having to command him all the time to stop the jumping was risky, since he was "quick as lightning" when it came to greeting guests. However, nobody could see just how to do that without handling or commanding him to sit and stay down.

To demonstrate the power of both allelomimetic behavior (the dog's tendency to move-with its family members) and leadership, we had Mom get up and start walking toward the gate to our back half-acre. As soon as Terry saw her, he ran to get to the gate first. As soon as he started to pass her, we had her clap her hands once, say "Good dog" and abruptly turn and walk quickly back and sit down in her chair. Terry ran back to her and looked a little confused. She then praised and gave him a happy stroke on his throat.

So, what happened? When she clapped her hands, she caused an interruption in Terry's thoughts about the gate, which she praised. Her abrupt turn-about and return to the chair stimulated his tendency to move-with, and her praise and petting reinforced his "following" behavior when he came to her. Mom was amazed: She had experienced Leadership of Terry for the first time.

Dad seemed skeptical, so we had Mom repeat the Leadership exercise until Terry no longer even followed her to the gate. Instead, he just sat by her chair. Dad was so convinced, he then carried out the Leadership exercise. He succeeded in half the time Mom needed. The girls then followed, each one requiring less time. Then we all did it. It took only two full group get-up/hand-clap/return-to-chair exercises before Terry appeared to be rooted by our chairs. Everyone remarked at how relaxed and un-anxious Terry became. I asked them to imagine how frustrating it would be, as a dog, to feel responsible for leading a human family. Everyone had what psychology calls an insightful "Aha."

Once the family experienced Leadership, they wanted to learn more. Their program of six weekly meetings was a great success. Using the Leadership exercise at home, Terry quickly quit rushing at the door when the bell rang. The family then used it as visitors entered, when they arrived in the car and in other circumstances in which he tended to try to take over the family's social action.