"DOMINANCE" In the 1990s it was believed that dominance problems in dogs usually meant that the dog had got ideas above its station and is challenging the pack (the family) for top dog status. And that he majority of difficulties with dominance were man made, and resulted from a dog with too many privileges. We were told It was important to remember that there would be only one true pack leader per pack it being an Alpha Male or even female, with another one or two dogs waiting in the wings to take over one day. This meant that when we choose a dog the odds are that we will get a dog whose natural position is from the middle to the bottom of the pack.

This means that most dogs are gladly going to accept us as leader without any problems and why so many people tell you that they have had dogs all their lives without any of this 'behavioural' nonsense being necessary!

It was assumed that difficulties were created through giving status and privileges well above what would be normal for that animal. And that it was the pack leaders responsibility to make the decisions not the subordinates. He or she says when to eat, sleep, play and hunt. Dogs are not supposed to approach him even to play, although puppies are usually excused from pack manners and generally get away with murder!

Dominant behaviour can take many forms. and varies according to breed and the natural character of the dog. It is not just a dog who growls and barks at you or refuses to do anything for you, it could also be the dog who makes all the decisions. Obvious bad behaviour could be construed as the dog who growls at you when feeding or chewing a bone, ie "food or object guarding" or takes no notice of your commands. and suddenly acts the fool and starts reverting to puppy behaviour when you ask it to do something.

This popular perception on the social behaviour of dogs sees the dogs' behaviour as mimicking the social and biological pattern of the structured hierarchy that has been studied and observed within wolf packs. This view suggests that behavioural problems amongst dogs are natural expressions of conflict that occur when dominance, status, position, and hierarchy are contested.

This lead to the assumption that because dog’s distant cousins the wolf behaved like this then it was fair to assume that the dog would also have these instincts drives and responses. It is now confirmed by Mitochondrial DNA tests that our pet’s common ancestor is without doubt the wolf. These studies and findings gave birth to a completely new way of looking at dogs and in the 70s the pack rule theory was born.

May I suggest that this belief and technique is somewhat flawed in two main areas.

Firstly: this behaviour does not actually appear in the wild, the powerful dominance hierarchy described and observed in wolves is probably a by-product of captivity. That is like observing Prisoners in a high risk risk gaol and relating that to all human reactions and conflict. That suggests that social behaviour in wild canids may be a product of environmental circumstances rather than any form of instinct.

Secondly: feral dogs do not exhibit the classic wolf-pack structure, the validity of the canid, social dominance hierarchy again comes into question. Ray Coppinger who has written a book called "Dogs" (A New Understanding of Canine Origin, Behaviour and Evolution) probably one of the most important books on dogs published in the last 50 years, The Coppingers studied feral dogs all over the world, and found that all the feral and village dogs he studied did not form packs as we know them, they were more semi solitary animals, who predate on our waste middens and latrines. There are still parts of the world where when a new baby is born, they will get a puppy which is then used as a botty wipe for the child. and in palces in India where the Pariah dogs follow children waiting for them to defecate.

To this end I have attempted to explain where we may have got lost in understading how dogs and its closest ancestor the Wolf learn and think. I hope this article will explain that some of the things we are told to do not make sense and do not happen in the wild and could even cause far more problems than we could imagine. The Alpha Myth.

Stan
2008

This article was written by Stan Rawlinson, a full time Dog Behaviourist. You can visit his website at www.doglistener.co.uk for more articles and training information. You may freely distribute this article or save to any electronic media as long as it is left intact, including this copyright box.