On Dominance and Alpha Role:
I came across this response to one of my students the other day and I decided to revisit it as it is an issue that comes up all the time in class, and on one on ones. The idea of a “dominant dog” has gotten so misconstrued over the years that it has turned from a positive attribute to something that most owners revile.
One of my students dropped me a line one night after class asking me to clarify an issue that my fellow trainer was talking about. He was addressing dominance theory and “being the alpha”. Here was my response…
Dominance theory (at least in the way that most people currently comprehend it) is utter hogwash. Truth is it is based on outdated and false scientific data on a study of wolves done decades ago. Truth is, while dogs have pack structures, the structure is not really based on "might being right". Dogs are not social climbers just seeking to oust members of their pack from their positions. These theories are totally outdated and I wish they would die the proper death that they are meant to.
I compare raising a dog a lot to raising a child. If your child back talks you or will not listen...does this mean your child feels that he is dominant to you? Does it mean that your child has not learned that there are proper rules and guidelines and ways to interact? Of course it is the second not the first. Most times with dogs, they act a certain way due to training deficiencies. The owners while being well intentioned, have taught their dog x behavior is acceptable. It has very little to do with being dominant and more to do with the fact that the dog does not know differently. This is not to say there are not willful, confident dogs…there are just like there are willful children but really it has little to do with dominance or maybe it is better to say that prescribing a particular behavior to dominance is making things too simple. It brings up the wrong connotations and results in inappropriate responses from the owner.
There are many theories and opinions on this kind of thing. Unfortunately, we cannot ask a dog to explain it to us. My opinion on the whole dominance idea is that for the most part it is tripe and that most problem behaviors people attribute to dominance are not actually caused by dominance but by training deficiencies, insecurity, lack of proper socialization at an early age and temperament issues. I prefer to think of our dogs more like we think of our kids. If you have a kid who is used to ruling the roost, a kid who gets away with murder in the house, who is allowed to back talk his parents....is that a dominant child? My answer is "no"...that is a spoiled child who needs to learn proper manners. Same is true for dogs.
When I say things like my dog "Tanner is a dominant dog". I do not mean that in a negative connotation as I do not believe that TRUE dominance is a concern. A truly dominant dog worries about very little and thus is not really a concern. Dominant does not mean a bully. Dominant can be equated to confident. The dog is confident in itself and in it’s owner. It has learned proper behaviour and coping mechanisms which allow it to function well in the human world. Just like in the human world, a true leader is not a bully. A true leader rarely flips out, looses their composure or uses force. Why is this? Because a TRUE LEADER rarely has to.
I use the example of teachers all of the time (blame this on my dad as he was a true teacher and I saw this first hand before I even recognized what it was). At a very young age I attended an assembly at the local high school. I was in elementary school at the time. The gym was packed with students who were all excited and hyped about not being in class. I saw one teacher try to get control of the situation. He began yelling, pointing to trouble makers to kick them out. It was way too much excitement and the students did not respond. Matter of fact, they all kind of smirked and carried on. Dad walked into the gym, calmly walked across the stage, waited, cleared his voice and without a microphone, began speaking. Within seconds the noise died down and all eyes were glued to him. It struck me as profound. I remember asking dad why he did not resort to yelling or kicking people out. His response was "I did not have to...if I had to do that, I had already lost" (Or something along those lines...hey this was 30 years ago). Does this make dad "dominant"? My response…"yes but not in the sense most think of dominance.”
Dominant in this case could be interchanged with "leader" "alpha", “boss”. When I see dogs interact with other dogs and their humans, I see this all of the time. So when I talk about Tanner being "an alpha" or "truly dominant", this is the kind of thing I am talking about. FYI, I think it is important to point out that these roles can change depending on the situation too. While Tanner is kind of the alpha dog in the house, he takes a lot of cues from Morgan when it comes to people visiting, or greeting other dogs AND he is always looking at me for cues in different situations. If I am relaxed, not nervous, and at ease, my dogs are the same.
I know I am starting to sound like a broken record but again raising a dog is a lot like raising a child. Go into the parenting section of any book store and read the wealth of books in there on parenting. These are books written by experts in the field with so many letters after their names your eyes hurt just reading them. When you glance over them it seems like there is so much contradictory information, one wonders how people even raise their children to adulthood. In the dog world, the literature is the same. Your parenting style will be heavily influenced by what you have been shown in the past, what you have found worked and what others have told you. Your doggy parenting will be the same. Try not to get too caught up in the specifics and look at the overall picture on what people recommend. I always say raising a dog (just like a child) comes down to some pretty simple things and ALL trainers agree to these things...1. Give your dog lots of love 2. Set proper boundaries, expectations and rules. Teach these effectively to your dog. 3 Be patient and understanding. 4. Work and spend time with your dog. The more quality time you spend, the more balanced/easy going/well behaved your dog will be. 5. Exercise your dog everyday, it is good for both you and your dog. 6. Provide a safe, stable and calm home environment for your dog where your dog trusts and respects you.
Honestly, you can interchange the word "dog" for "child" and wind up with what most social workers (and other child welfare types) constantly discuss with parents. It really comes down to basic psychology. The rest is just window dressing and stuff that provides for much heated debate.