How the 'Alpha Dog' Myth Does More Harm Than Good
Find out why animal behavior experts are warning against this debunked myth, and why it's so damaging to your relationship with your pup.
STORY AT-A-GLANCE
While the myth that dog parents must assume an “alpha” role with their pets has been deconstructed by animal behaviorists in recent years, there are still lots of owners and trainers who are true believers
While it’s true that for purposes of survival, wild and free-ranging dogs often form packs and social dominance structures within them, most pet dogs do not; it’s simply not in the nature of family dogs to attempt to dominate their humans
Because it would never occur to your dog to assume the “alpha” role in his relationship with you, if you assume that role by way of harsh or punitive training methods, you’ll only cause him to feel confused, fearful, and chronically stressed — you won’t gain his trust or respect
A fear-free, positive training approach is the very best way to gain your dog’s trust and respect; reward-based methods in which positive reinforcement is used to train appropriate behaviors are more humane and effective and preserve the human-dog bond
Despite significant progress in recent years in dispensing with the notion that dog parents must take on an “alpha” role in their relationships with their pets, for many people, unfortunately, the myth continues to influence how they train and interact with their canine companions.
In a post for Psychology Today, animal behavior expert Mark Bekoff Ph.D., professor emeritus of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology at the University of Colorado, Boulder, and a Fellow of the Animal Behavior Society, weighed in on this as-yet unsettled and confounding topic.1
In his post, Bekoff discusses what is currently known about dominance, both among dogs and in dog-human relationships, as well as dog packs, the real meaning of “alpha dog,” and the drawbacks to alpha-oriented, fear-based punitive training methods.
Dominance Among Dogs: It’s Real, but Misunderstood
According to Bekoff, the question isn’t if dogs form dominance relationships (a well-established and undebatable fact), but rather why they do and the nature of those associations. Also well-established is that free-ranging domestic dogs do indeed form “functional packs and social networks that often resemble packs and networks that are established and maintained by wild canids.”
The definition of a pack is a “distinct and stable group of individual animals who hunt, forage, travel, rest, and defend resources together,” and engage in cooperative breeding. Packs typically include a mix of family members and outsiders who’ve managed to join the group. Some packs are formed when lone individual dogs team up.
The original intended use of the “alpha” concept was to describe a high-ranking individual in a pack and the social relationships among the group. Unfortunately, the term is often misused to describe mean or aggressive behavior, whereas the reality in packs or groups of dogs is quite different.
All members of the pack, including the alpha, are motivated to remain non-aggressive and non-violent for purposes of survival and group cohesion. The alpha attempts to maintain dominance by being assertive, but not aggressive, and the pack uses a variety of “clear and unambiguous ritualized social signals” that communicate threat, submission, and appeasement. The objective is to clearly communicate intent, thereby avoiding harmful or fatal social interactions.
Family Dogs Don’t Form Packs
While free-ranging dogs form packs just like wild canids, it’s uncommon for pet dogs living in the same household to do it.
“There really are no data to support that a dog or two living with humans really form a tight multispecies working pack in the same sense as do some free-ranging dogs or their wild relatives,” writes Bekoff.
Therefore, assuming an “alpha” human role with a family dog will not establish a productive social dominance hierarchy. Worse, punitive or forceful training methods can be very confusing for a pet who is petted and cuddled one minute and subjected to harsh punishment the next.
Exerting control over your dog — showing him who’s “boss” — isn’t the key to improving behavior. This is an anthropocentric focus on the relationship between people and dogs which considers only the needs of the human. The Merriam-Webster definition of anthropocentric:2
1: considering human beings as the most significant entity of the universe
2: interpreting or regarding the world in terms of human values and experiences
According to Applied Animal Behaviorist Dr. Karen Overall of the University of Pennsylvania, “The entire concept of dominance as applied to pet dogs is almost always based on a profound misunderstanding of the shared history of dogs and humans.”3
Canines have relationships with humans that stand alone among all relationships between people and domestic animals. Anthropological evidence shows that dogs have lived closely with humans for at least 30,000 years and have been engaged in different tasks alongside humans for at least 15,000 years. And for the past 2,000 years there have been specific breeds of dogs of varying shapes and sizes that engaged in specific tasks helpful to humans.
In fact, many of the physical differences among dog breeds developed as a deliberate effort by humans to match desired behaviors to physical attributes. Overall uses the example of field trial or working English Springer Spaniels and show dogs of the same breed. These animals look like completely different breeds because they’ve been bred for different behaviors and jobs.
She theorizes the relationship between humans and dogs developed initially to take advantage of the power of collaboration. Then over time, changes in actual brain function may have occurred with the result that today’s humans and dogs truly rely on each other.
Dog Training That Builds Respect and Trust
Most behavior problems in dogs involve either normal canine behaviors owners don’t like or understand, or undesirable behaviors rooted in anxiety, and aren’t driven by a dog’s desire to be dominant over his humans. To improve any type of dog behavior issue, the steps must always include:
Learning what “normal” means in the canine world
Identifying and minimizing risks associated with the behavior
Effectively communicating with the dog
Learning to read the dog’s signals
Meeting the dog’s needs
Per Bekoff:
“Positive training is the best and only way to go. Sometimes, it can take longer, and it can be a little more difficult than dominance-based methods. It's especially important to treat dogs with great care when they're having a tough time or going through their teenage years.
And it's always important to remember there are marked individual differences among dogs and to respect each dog for their unique individuality, personality, and what they want and need.
"Alpha-inspired" training doesn’t work to form a mutually beneficial bond based on respect and trust. You can live with a dog who’ll do anything you want them to do because you're the dominant alpha, but they’re stressed and living in constant fear on top of the stress of having to have their life controlled by you and other humans.
Alpha humans, similar to hyper-aggressive nonhumans, may win the battle, but lose the war. They get what they want at the expense of building respect and trust.”
Together with acting as the “alpha” in a dog-human relationship is the human tendency to use aversive training techniques such as alpha rolls, scruffing, shake cans, air horns, prong collars, etc. These types of maneuvers are now widely known to cause anxiety, stress, and aggression in dogs, negatively affecting the relationship between dog and owner.
Reward-based methods in which positive reinforcement is used to train appropriate behaviors are more humane and effective and preserve the human-dog bond. Our goal should be to build an ever-evolving relationship with our dog based on trust, consistency and excellent two way communication.
“The bottom line is to use positive fear-free training and to pick a dog trainer as carefully as you would pick a neurosurgeon,” writes Bekoff. “Dominating alpha humans are dogs' worst nightmare. The life of every single dog matters because they're alive, have intrinsic value, and are feeling beings and want to be treated with respect and dignity. This isn't really asking too much from humans, is it?”
Some good training resources to investigate are:
Certification Council for Professional Dog Trainers (C.C.P.D.T.)
International Association of Animal Behavior Consultants (I.A.A.B.C.)
Healthypets Disclaimer: This information is for educational purposes only and is not intended to replace the advice of your own veterinarian or doctor. Dr. Karen Becker cannot answer specific questions about your pet's medical issues or make medical recommendations for your pet without first establishing a veterinarian-client-patient relationship. Your pet's medical protocol should be given by your holistic veterinarian.