The concept of canine hierarchy, or the lack thereof, is once again the topic of many dog training social media pages these days.
Every few years this subject rears its head after a new bit of information emerges regarding wolves and dogs and their ancestral heritage. Trainers either jump on the bandwagon or jump off depending on what current training trend they are following.
There is no doubt that dogs have evolved from wolves some 20,000 or more years ago. DNA tests support that there is a 0.2 per cent difference between the DNA of a dog and the DNA of a grey wolf, which means that dogs are 99.8 per cent wolves genetically.
Saddled with this genetic information, I question the current theory that dogs have no hierarchical system.
Anecdotally, I witness the behaviours my three dogs exhibit towards each other, such as acting assertively (growling, bearing of teeth, etc.) to gain a valued item, claim space, affection or even to discourage a play invitation. It is clear by each dog's reaction that this is a display of hierarchical deferral. My youngest dog, Raider, always defers to the older dogs, Zumi or Piper, and Piper always defers to Zumi, the eldest. Frankly, Zumi is the one who is most likely to back up her assertive threats with aggression when challenged. The other two avoid her dominant posturing knowing there will be a world of hurt if they don't.
Yet currently the trend states that domestication of the dog has de-evolved the hierarchy that exists within the wolf pack and dogs simply don't posture or challenge hierarchical rank as a wolf might.
Hmmmmm. This makes me hypothesize that maybe the hierarchical system of the wolf pack related to dogs - as dog trainers interpreted it - was flawed from the start.
It was once believed that the alpha female and alpha male wolf controlled all resources, made decisions for the pack and the pack simply followed. Domination ruled the roost and dog training reflected that with methods that were very domination related, even verging on physical abuse. The truth of the matter was that the alpha male and alpha female wolf were indeed the pack leaders. This status gave them privileges to breed, eat and sleep without contest, yet their interactions with other pack members was less of a dictatorship and more of a benevolent cooperative nature, because they simply could not do everything! Within every pack there was a wolf that was a better hunter (hence the evolution of hunting dogs), there was a wolf that was better at herding their prey (hence the evolution of herding dogs), there was a wolf that was better at keeping watch for intruders on their territory (hence the evolution of guarding dogs). These beta-positioned wolves played a crucial role in keeping the entire pack safe and healthy. They were not constantly vying for the alpha role, but were content with their position. Humans capitalized on this.
Through human intervention and selective breeding these specialized wolves turned into specialized dogs, or dog breeds, including dogs that were far more willing to accept and defer to someone else as their alpha.
As we took the wolf out of the dog in appearance, we also inadvertently began to take the wolf out of the dog in behaviour. That is why our domestic dogs so rarely kill the squirrel they take great pains in chasing.
It stands to reason that the system of hierarchy that exists among domesticated dogs is not the same, but rather similar to that of a wolf pack. Our domestic dogs are much more willing to co-operate with humans and other dogs due to selective breeding for this trait. Additionally, as dog owners, we socialize our dogs early and throughout their lives in order to shape them to be much more tolerant of other dogs, willing to share without conflict and to walk away from a challenge instead of engage.
This does not mean that they don't need a pack leader. Rather, dogs have adapted to live with a leader that can be a bit scatterbrained, yet they still trust that dinner will be on time.
Joan Klucha has been working with dogs for more than 15 years in obedience, tracking and behavioural rehabilitation. Contact her through her website k9kinship.com.
