The rules you make for the dogs in your household are completely up to you. But there are some overall rules that I strongly recommend you follow in order to keep you pack leader status intact.

• Wake up on your terms, not his. Your dog is not your alarm clock. If your dog sleeps in your bed, condition him to get quietly off the bed if he wakes before you do and needs water or to stretch his legs. Then he needs to wait calmly for you to get up and start the structure of his day.

• Start the day with very little touch or talk – saving affection for after the walk. The walk is your bonding time together. If you walk, then try to walk for an hour every morning. If you are a runner, you run, if you are a biker or Rollerblader, you bike or blade. Ideally, you have chosen a dog that is fit enough for whatever your preferred activity may be, and if it's a very active sport, you can shorten its duration. But walking at a brisk pace is the best overall exercise for both human and dog – both on a physical and on a psychological-primal level. If you absolutely, positively don't have a full hour to walk, add a backpack to make a better workout for your dog, or put the dog on a treadmill for a half hour while you're getting ready for work.

• Feed your dog calmly and quietly, never giving him food when he is jumping up and down. He gets fed only when he's sitting down, calm-submissive. He never gets fed as a response to a bark. At the Dog Psychology Center, the calmest, mellowest dog always gets to eat first. Can you imagine what an incentive this is for the rest of the pack to act calm and submissive?

• Your dog doesn't beg for scraps or interrupt your mealtime. When the pack leader is eating, no one interrupts him. You set the distance your dog is allowed to be from the human dining table, and you stick to it. Don't buy your dog's pleading looks – his wolf forefathers never competed with their pack leaders for food and neither should he.

• After exercise and food comes affection time. Instruct your dog to be in a calm submissive position, and then love him till it's time to go to work. By doing this, you are conditioning your dog to have a beautiful, balanced, satisfying morning, every day of the week!

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Excerpted from Cesar's Way: The Natural, Everyday Guide to Understanding and Correcting Common Dog Problems, copyright 2007 by Cesar Milan and Melissa Jo Peltier. Excerpted with permission from Random House. All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced except with permission in writing from the publisher.