Basics - pack living and canine hierarchies

Keats

Keats

Active member
When we introduce a dog into our home and our family life we need to be aware of these two basic and fundamental facts: dogs are psychologically geared to live in packs and these packs have a clearly defined hierarchy. To our dogs, the family unit is their pack and they have to find their place in the pack to be happy. That is why training is important for the dog and for its humans - the pack.

A dog in a family should be lowest in the pecking order. Even if it's an Alpha personality dog. If the dog knows its place it will be content. There are certain basic behavioral things each family member must adhere to consistently to achieve this harmony. They include:

  1. walking the dog to heel or just behind the heel. Why? Because in a natural dog pack the leader literally leads.
  2. feeding the dog after the other members of the pack (the humans) have eaten. Why? Same as for N°1 - the leader of the pack gets to eat first. AND, the leader NEVER drops little tidbits to those lower in the pack hierarchy.
  3. don't let the dog occupy places of hierarchical importance - basically, that means human furniture.
There are more, but these are the basics. Please note that these are my personal views which I developed after spending time with qualified and experienced dogs trainers. I applied them to all my 5 rescue dogs and it paid off. Do you apply the basics of pack-living and canine hierarchies in your home? If so, have you felt the benefits? If not, maybe there are behavioral issues (barking, begging, pulling on the lead) that could be addressed by applying these 3 basic.
 
Welcome to DR forum. Interesting topic and probably one of the most debated questions in our industry :) I'll start by answering your questions.

Do you apply the basics of pack-living and canine hierarchies in your home? yes and no! The latest scientific studies which was done using captive wolves leads towards what we thought where packs to being family members not a strong pack. (Dr Mech). All species do have a social hierarchy therefore I always look at a group of dogs and possible hierarchies in reference to what can happen next. Example; If two dogs are approaching the same sofa will this cause an issue (one wants it more). From all my experience and education this is how I look at all groups of dogs. For me it's all about Applied Behavior Analysis "which offers a scientifically sound teaching technology and ethical standard that can improve the lives of all learners." "Quoted: Dr Susan Friedman"

If so, have you felt the benefits? Looking at social hierarchies as to what can happen next definitely helps me be more pro active and active with all dogs and supervision. Therefore setting them and myself up for better success.

If not, maybe there are behavioral issues (barking, begging, pulling on the lead) that could be addressed by applying these 3 basic.
  1. walking the dog to heel or just behind the heel. Why? Because in a natural dog pack the leader literally leads.
See above and below links on related topics to leaders/alphas. Scientific studies along with many professionals do not look at domesticated dogs as leaders or pack animals. In this case we will hypothetically say a dog pulls to go forward and that's reinforcing for them. Dogs are opportunist and they do what works.
  1. feeding the dog after the other members of the pack (the humans) have eaten. Why? Same as for N°1 - the leader of the pack gets to eat first. AND, the leader NEVER drops little tidbits to those lower in the pack hierarchy.
This one and all other pack theory thinking will be debunked or not even thought of :( There is actually no scientific study that a dog will look at a human as same species or even for those that still believe in pack theory a question for you, Will this thinking cross species? We will never know because a dog will never tell us :)
  1. don't let the dog occupy places of hierarchical importance - basically, that means human furniture.
Most professionals will not recommend furniture if we are observing any body language related to any type of observable aggression when on furniture.


In Applied Behavior Analysis we always look at the smallest measurement of behavior which is the ABC's (Antecedent, Behavior, Consequence) and we teach our learners. We always look at any undesired behaviors that we humans perceive as and think, "What will I want my dog to do in this environmental context?". Then we teach :)

Feel free to read over the links and give your thoughts on this approach...This is a topic that can be debated for many years to come and in my honest opinion once I learned the basics of how our dogs think and learn I never looked back at any pack theories.

TY for your question and being part of our community feel free to ponder on this and ask questions on anything.
 
This is a fascinating discussion. Vinny, I found your comment about dogs being opportunists particularly well put because if there's one characteristic that has been a constant with all of my dogs, it's that! However, that leads me to a question. Do you feel that when there is more than one dog in the home, the alpha will tend to have more of an opportunistic personality than the others? I ask because that is currently what I notice in my house. The alpha is a rascal who constantly looks for every chance she can find to get what she wants, whereas the other dog seems to sit back and wait a bit. I always chalked that up to him following her lead since he sees her as "in charge."
 
Short answer is looking at it as having nothing to do with Alpha and a dog that likes to be first (pushy).

Long answer:

I actually never look at or use the term Alpha (please see above post and links) when working or observing a group of dogs. We can also look at social hierarchies or making it even simpler I look at which dog wants to be first or if we want to use more labels a pushy dog.

Working with multi dogs can be tricky and I am always using active and pro active supervision. We can say that I am always looking at what might happen next. For example: If three dogs are rushing to great me and I know one dog is pushy and wants to be first I will ignore greeting all dogs until they calm down. I will also start teaching sessions for each dog for proper meet and greets. Avoiding the greeting defuses any issues between dogs. (eg. redirected aggression)

In your case where you’re using the label Alpha it is most likely a dog that is pushy and wants to be first. I would lean more or less to possibly needing more social skills or impulse control. (Feel free to start another thread on your pups). The one sitting back and waiting I assume has learned, it's best to wait to avoid conflict. (Learning from past experiences)

We can drift into the term dominance which means in short; two animals of the same species and one defers to the other always for limited resources.


One reason most pros avoid the term dominance:
"Dominance can exist but is situational. Many people use it to describe personality traits. Unfortunately people have learned to understand it as needing to be forceful and physical with your dog to prove you’re in charge. Using the term has caused people to treat their dogs differently because they’re interpreting behaviors as trying to gain dominance, like the jumping dog as an example. When talking about this I usually say alpha theory has been debunked which I believe to be more accurate. In my experience the animal “in charge” can change based on the situation and the resource. There’s not always one who is the all mighty ruler."


Hope this makes sense :) Here are some links that I posted above to help explain more on the terms; Alpha, Social Hierarchies and Dominance. I honestly believe once this is out of the way our relationships and training progresses so much more. By the way welcome to the DR community J

https://www.doggieresidence.com/dominance-theory-social-hierarchies/
 
This is so interesting. I really enjoyed your response to my initial post, @Vinny - all my experience and views are based on advice I received from professional dog trainers. Having said that, the last time I was with a dog and a trainer is well over 10 years ago and it seems like techniques have moved forward. I'm always ready to update! Everything I said worked for me and my 5 dogs over the years - maybe it was simply my consistency with them that made it seem as though those techniques I listed worked?

I'm fascinated by the "ABAs" of behavior analysis - looking at how a dog behaves in and reacts to his environment. I've found that if a dog is too eager to greet, ie: jumps up, barks etc, that if I fold my arms, stand still and do not make eye contact the dog eventually calms down. I suppose this is an application of behavior analysis.
 
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Yes the methods have changed a lot over the last decade. Here is something to ponder on, in order for an animal to tie a behavior with a consequence either good or bad it has to be within a second. Therefore it really depends on how we are communicating with our dogs and how we are instilling behaviors or changing emotional responses.

When ignoring a dog that is anxious and he calms down after awhile that will fall into the quadrant of -P (negative punishment). The human and attention is usually the reinforcer and taking that away usually decreases behavior :)

In that context I always teach a dog to sit and ask for everything. Giving the dog something to do that has the same function of the undesired behavior which in this context most likely is attention/greet.

ABA is fascinating I do agree. If you like to take a peak at the learning quadrants. I personally like to think a trainers toolbox is always better with more training techniques and knowledge no matter what ideology :)
 
I'll definitely read about the learning quadrants @Vinny.

Giving a dog something to do makes a lot of sense. I once had a rescue dog that both the vet and I thought had some Labrador, some Alsatian/German/Swiss Shepherd and a bit of something else (maybe Beauceron) - that's him in my profile picture. Anyway, he was so eager to please and therefore very demanding of attention until we found that if we gave him tasks he calmed down. He might have made a perfect companion dog for a blind or handicapped person. He'd put toys away, open doors, put clothes in baskets or the washing machine, collect the post and newspapers ...... he was very caring. He sensed if we were off-color or stressed and with the elderly and very small dog we had at the time, we would let her walk underneath him in the rain. We found this latter hard to believe at first - but it became consistent behavior whenever we were out and it started to rain.

On walks, in places we could let him off the lead, he was great. He would always come when called and then sit eagerly waiting to be given something to do. Throwing balls and sticks was fine, but it didn't seem to be enough. Then we bought him a doggy pack-pack. He loved it. He carried poop bags, a folding water bowl for him and the other dog and a small bottle of water. He could still play "fetch", but it didn't have to be a constant repetition of throwing. Having something to do, having a role of some sort, suited his personality and his needs.

He was a super dog but unfortunately died too soon at age 5 years of lymphatic cancer.
 
I’ll just add that dogs like order. Not pack order or pecking order (chickens are literally one of the few species that have a linear order), but predictability. I have a serious resource guarder and if things aren’t kept organized (this is your bed, this is his bed, this is my toy) I will have a fight on my hands. Some people call this management. My resource guarder isn’t “top” dog or any other label. She’s genetically a resource guarder and management of resources is imperative to keeping the peace and other dogs safe. Some people would call that pack hierarchy or dominance, but it’s neither. It’s just management of the living situation.
 
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