Is My Dog Dominant? Dominance & Pack Behavior You’ve heard the popular jargon – alpha dog, pack leader, dominant. It’s the in-thing to treat dogs as if they are wolves in dogs’ clothing – trying to take over; dominating. But they’re not! Not only does this attitude damage our relationships with our dogs, it’s based on […]

The Social Hierarchy Is there such a thing as a “dominant” dog? Sure there is. A social hierarchy can exist between dogs – members of the same species. But it is not relevant to our relationship with our dogs. Social dominance does not exist between our two different species. We’re not dogs, and our dogs know it. […]

The Rules of the Pack The dog’s family unit, or pack, has rules of behavior. These rules apply to all pack members–including inter-species (dogs and humans). Dogs learn the rules early on – at just a few weeks of age from littermates, mom and other adult dogs they may interact with. Puppies are taught there’s […]