If you’ve been following the bouncing ball, we’ve been talking about how the concept of “dominance” and social status may or may not relate to dog behavior. Now I’d like to summarize a bit and discuss how we might handle conflict between dogs within the household. After all, whether you buy into it or not in relation to dogs, the proper use of the term “dominance” is as a form of conflict resolution. First, some comments of my own in relation to your excellent additions to this inquiry:
WHO CARES? A few of you mentioned that you don’t care about labels, and so why waste time worrying about what to call a behavior? Why not just reinforce what you like and train out what you don’t? I can see the logic here, but as a few others mentioned in the comments, I just can’t leave it at that. I am fascinated by all aspects of behavior, including the inner life of a dog. How do dogs see the world? How is that different, or the same, from how we see it? Can understanding “dogness” help us relate to them better? It’s true that BF Skinner and others made tremendous strides in our understanding of learning by only focusing on observable behavior. And it is also true that we can get into trouble by reading too much into the actions of non-verbal animals. Believe me, as an ethologist, I’m all about accurate, objective observations. But that doesn’t mean there isn’t a rich internal life inside every sentient being, and I can’t help wanting to know as much about it as I can. And so do most dog owners, so the more we understand about behavior, the better we can help them understand how to relate to and train their dogs. I think there’s value in understanding all that we can about animals, for both their sake and our own.
IS THE ‘D’ WORD RELEVANT OR USEFUL when evaluating interactions between dogs? Well, here’s my answer at the moment: I almost never use the term “dominance” any more when talking about relationships between dogs. The term is so loaded and so mis-understood that it rarely feels useful in any way. However, and this is a big however, I still think that the evidence suggests that the concept of “social status” is relevant to domestic dogs. As in our own species, social status is interwoven with issues related to personality, context, reactivity, resource distribution, etc, etc, and is only one of many factors that influence and explain behavior. But as members of complicated and complex societies in which all the bells and whistles of social hierarchies are evident (visual displays, some dogs with unquestioned priority access to some resources, living in an environment with “clumped, high quality resources” etc.), it seems reasonable to argue that status is relevant, in varying degrees, to domestic dogs. That in no way takes away from the importance of different levels of desire, confidence or a lack of it, an individual’s charisma, an obsessive need to control the world in order to decrease anxiety, etc.
I suspect that part of the confusion about status (and the D word) is that people want it to mean too much. It’s simply a way of describing how others in a group view one individual, and how that one individual would like to be viewed in relation to others. This makes it a much more general term than “priority access to a resource.” One could get priority access because of one’s status in the group, but they are not the same thing. Make sense? Surely social status could only be relevant in complicated societies, in which individual animals have complex perceptions of the role of others in the group. Dogs and wolves appear to fit within that category, and in my mind their advanced sociality is one of the reasons that dogs and people have developed such profound social bonds. I also think this shared social structure is part of why the “dominance” model of training is so seductive. Not only is it sometimes successful (for a variety of reasons, as pointed out in the comments), but it plays to our inherent understanding of the power of social status within our own species’ interactions.
[Note: A quick comment about the problem of a word, like “dominance,” having a different definition in science than in general use. Ah, yes, it is so frustrating, but it is not unique to this issue. “Positive” and “Negative” punishment” are great examples also related to dog training. “Positive” means “good,” right? “Negative” means bad, right? Argghh, no wonder people struggle to learn the true definitions in operant conditioning paradigms! Perhaps the most problematic example is the word “theory,” as in the Theory of Evolution, meaning in science a “model of reality” or an underlying fundamental process explaining a variety of phenomenon. In general parlance, “theory” means hypothesis, which is something completely different. But I digress…]
WITHOUT THE ‘D’ WORD, WHAT DO WE CALL DOGS who greet all other dogs tail up, head up, body elevated? Who stare hard and stiff-bodied at another dog over a bone on the ground? Confident? Rude? On Offense? Several of you have asked great questions about how to describe different types of dogs, and I think therein lies one of the problems. The word “dominant” provides a short, handy way of describing a particular way of behaving around others, and we are all hard-wired to try to find terms that allow our brains to sort the world into categories. But again, that word is so loaded and defined differently by the general public) that I think it is best avoided. That’s why I am more comfortable talking about “high status” dogs or “status-seeking” dogs if it seems relevant to the conversation.
For example, Luke was a high status dog who never had to work for his social position. He was benevolent, loved other dogs, calm and confident. He had what one commentator called “charisma,” which is a great way to achieve social status around others in both species. (And why the training techniques of those that have charisma often don’t work with those who don’t?) His nephew Willie is a status-seeking, anxiety-ridden dog who attacked my seemingly super “submissive” adult dog Pippy Tay when he was 9 weeks old over a piece of food on the ground. (And, argh, there’s that word problem again, this time ‘submissive”… sometimes it is SO useful to describe a dog with this kind of term…you all know exactly how Pip behaved around other dogs now, right?) When Will went after Pip his commissure was forward in an offensive pucker, and there wasn’t one sign of fear in his rude, little body. If anything, he looked angry. My evaluation of him now is that, at his worst around other dogs, he is status-seeking, easily frightened and easily frustrated, sound sensitive, reactive, and controlling. Thank heavens, he is also incredibly biddable, smart and truly seems to adore many other dogs once he gets over the evil twin that sits on his shoulder. I get the strongest sense from him that he desperately wants to do the “right” thing, that he understands that there are “right” and “wrong” things (in some simplistic doggy way) and that he finds great relief in learning that he can get what he wants by being patient and polite. I am the first to admit that I might be reading things into him, but all my gut says that he desperately wants to be thought of as way cool by other dogs, but that he doesn’t have the confidence or serenity of his uncle.
BUT FOR NOW, WHAT IS THE BOTTOM LINE in terms of the way we manage multi-dog households? There’s no ultimate truth here, but I’ll give you my perspective. Remembering that there are many ways to get what one wants, here’s what being high in the social hierarchy gets a dog in my house. Nothing. Or, not much anyway. I’m not saying that I could somehow manage the environment such that two status-seeking females of equal power and intensity could get along, but I can create a world in which dogs learn that they get what they want by being patient and polite, not by throwing their metaphorical weight around.
For example, when Luke used to push in between me and another dog when I went to pet it, I’d quietly ask Luke to “get back and wait” while I continued to pet the other dog. Luke learned that he’d get a food treat as well as attention IF waited his turn, but being pushy resulted in a being backed up in space and told to sit and stay. When I had 4 or 5 dogs in the house, all the dogs learned to sit and wait while another dog was eating out of a plate on the floor (see a video of this in the Feeling Outnumbered DVD, including Tulip’s hysterically funny inability to keep from licking the air after being told to back away from the plate.)
I describe teaching dogs to be patient and polite in detail in the booklet, Feeling Outnumbered, which Karen London and I wrote after working with so many clients whose dogs weren’t getting along. I used it on a daily basis with Will. Right after he went after Pip over food I’d dropped on the floor I said “What did you do?” and backed him up into a sit. I told him to sit and stay (he knew sit and was just learning a “puppy stay”) and fed Pip some more food. As I did, I praised Will (I’d conditioned him to like the sound of praise already), gave him his own treat for staying in place and then released him. We repeated that 2 or 3 times and I spent the next 6 months teaching Will that if he sat and waited his turn while I fed/petted/played with another dog, something wonderful would happen. He’s been wonderful with my other dogs since then, (though he did always take Lassie’s Kong away if he’d finished his first) but it’ll be interesting to see what happens when a new dog comes to the farm. I suspect I’ll be right back to reminding him of the benefits of being patient and polite. Thus, I take a very functional approach, using both operant and classical conditioning to shape the behavior I want. (And I can understand why some would then say… then why worry about labeling it? Why even bring up issues like status, etc? My answer goes back to how I started this: because to me, it’s not enough to be able to manage and control their behavior, darn it, I want to understand it!)
Can this solve all the conflict between dogs in a household? No, not at all. Personality is just too, too important. Some dogs just hate other dogs. Some dogs have serious issues with emotional control and impulsivity (a topic for another blog soon!) Some turn into the bullies of the world, the canine equivalent of a boss from hell who wants to control everything but doesn’t have the chops to do a good job at anything. But teaching dogs to be patient and polite seems to be the best solution to dealing with what can at least be described as “competition” for resources.
Soon I’ll talk about this in relation to dogs and people, but I thought we should work our way up to it in a logical manner, first looking at the issue in terms of one species before we throw another one into the mix!
Meanwhile, back on the farm: We had one of those barn-busting thunderstorms last night, complete with hail and rain so hard and plentiful it looked like water coming out of a faucet as wide as the sky.
Amazingly the flowers seemed to make it through. Here are some Bloodroot flowers, a native ‘spring ephemeral,’ just before opening early this morning.
And best news of all: Willie is back to playing with his frisbee outside, and worked sheep last night when I let the ewes without lambs out onto the front lawn. No sign of any lameness still, but I am still holding my breath!
Holly says
Oh my. I think Conner and Will are long lost siblings. Conner wants desperately to be cool also but he just can’t seem to pull it off. He walks a line in refernce to into trouble often by being growly under his breath and rushing when he can’t decide where he needs to be. He’s a lucky dog that he lives with other dogs who simply ignore it mostly. I .am. going to teach him the Patience Stay though…that would be useful.
Anne J says
I don’t know what this means to dominance hierarchies, but the dog in my group that I would consider the bottom of the pack, most submissive, least likely to push her way past everyone else or be first to do anything, is also the most resource guarding dog I’ve had. Even when she was a pup the other dogs couldn’t walk by her food dish without a growly display. I had to condition her to allow my kids to be near her food and toys, which worked extremely well and she is safe with them. But I’ve never had to do that before, every other dog I’ve had was fine with kids near food and toys. My tentative theory (sorry, hypothesis) is that she figures she hasn’t got enough status to get what she needs so she relies on a lot of growling to get it.
CJ :) says
While I’ve been reading this series I have been watching my five cocker spaniels interact with each other and with me with these articles in mind. They are five distinct personalities – differing levels of “dominance” and “submission” that vary with the situation.
If I had to choose a “large and in charge” member of the family it would be Scruffy, a blind male approximately 5 years old. However, if Shawna (my blind female) runs up and takes his toy he just moves on to another one.
One of my other males, MacGregor, is brain damaged and epileptic from abuse. He capitulates to Scruffy and acts as Scruffy’s eyes when Scruffy is in unfamiliar situations (Scruffy rests his head on MacGregor’s hip and follows). MacGregor has recently become very intolerant of my fosters, to the point where I have had to completely stop fostering. Scruffy would intervene when MacGregor and my fosters would get into disagreements, putting a stop to the fighting immediately and protecting MacGregor from the other dog.
Kaydee is my mother’s dog and she is usually a little aloof and stays away from the fray, as it were. My mother has been out of the country and Kaydee has been pushing into the stampede to be next to me. The other dogs, who aren’t generally tolerant of this type of behavior, have moved aside for right now, almost as if they understand she is upset and needs more reassurance and attention than she normally does. Fortunately, my mother will be home Sunday – I think they are starting to close ranks. 🙂
Vanessa says
My brain is much too fried to really formulate an articulate response. Three psychology tests and a literary theory exam have left me mentally numb for the time being. I do however want to ask if that is a new and improved, more aerodynamic frisbee that will is toting around lol. Glad to see that he is back to being able to do what he loves.
Menopausal Entrepreneur says
One word jumps out at me in your post – personality. That truly is the bottom line. My Golden retriever is very reactive yet he has lived successfully with 2 others dogs, because those dogs were not “in your face.” My Golden despises when other dogs are in his space. But also the humans’ personalities play a huge role. Some people have the patience to manage the mult-dog household, while others are screamers and create more problems by their reactions to their dogs’ behaviors. Complex!
Kat says
Personality might be the best word that has been used. Calm, confident, secure dogs seem to me to be more often high status dogs. And they seem to be the dogs that have humans that are reliable, i.e. humans who the dog(s) trust to communicate effectively, meet needs consistently and understand what the dog is saying–at least the human is recognizably trying to understand even if not entirely successfully. I’ve watched a five year old chocolate lab that was adopted a few weeks back blossom now that he lives with a reliable person. He started coming to the park displaying lots of dominance behaviors but the more secure he’s become in his new home the less he’s felt the need to act dominant in the park. He’s actually becoming one of Ranger’s favorite playmates. I highly approve because he is the only dog that has figured out Ranger’s tactic of rolling on his back and fending the other dog off with his paws. It looks like he is playing submissive but the more I’ve watched the more I realized that this is an excellent tactic for wearing the other dog out with little effort on Ranger’s part. The lab fell for it a couple of times but now when Ranger tries it he simply backs off and waits for Ranger to get up. I’ve also noticed the lab using the roll on the back and fend them off tactic when he’s playing with youngsters. Not that there aren’t a lot of other factors that are part of the puzzle but personality of the human and the canine seem to me to be key. Imagine Will if he lived with someone less understanding and reliability than you or the lab in my story living with someone who had no consistency and no ability to communicate their expectations to the dog.
Sarah says
Traditional ideas of “dominance” have always been inadequate to explain the relationship between my two dogs. I used to worry about which one was “alpha,” but I’ve come to understand that the relationaship is far more complex. It goes (I think) something like this:
Bella is a status seeker who would like to be in charge, but she doesn’t have the confidence or leadership skills to actually do that. She’s annoyed and offended that she has to live with another dog, and only finds it tolerable if she can boss Sunny around and pretend she’s in charge.
Sunny is a big, tough girl who can kick Bella’s butt, and they both know it. But Sunny loves living with another dog and being part of a pack, so she lets Bella pretend to be in charge, and follows Bella around like a pesky kid sister. Sunny defers to Bella about most things, including resting spots, toys, and access to me. If it’s food, Bella stops pretending to be in charge and wisely defers to Sunny. This arrangement works well, except when Bella forgets that we’re all only pretending she’s in charge.
Keeping the peace between these two has not always been easy, and sometimes I’ve wondered if Bella would be happier as an only dog, and if Sunny would be happier living with a more social dog. But they’re stuck with me, and each other :). I insist on patience and obedience from both dogs, and make sure that they get plenty of exercise. I also make sure they have opportunities to do fun stuff together, like car rides or hikes or fetch. They have a fetch routine worked out where Sunny catches the ball, then drops it, and Bella picks it up and returns it to me. When I’m doing a good job of managing them, Bella visibly relaxes, and will even initiate play with Sunny on a regular basis.
Rachel H. says
Much as I love the conversation about the “d-word,” I love Willie’s nose through his frisbee even more! My Gromit does the same thing with his areobie discs — he has a big on that he wears around his head/neck during a retrieve. It’s awesome that he has a fellow BC in this habit.
Greta says
Anne J’s comment really jumped out at me: ” the dog in my group that I would consider the bottom of the pack, most submissive, least likely to push her way past everyone else or be first to do anything, is also the most resource guarding dog I
Mardi says
This is an extremely thought provoking set of posts. Thank you!
Question: You’ve talked a bit about status-seeking dogs. Do you think some dogs engage in status information-seeking displays, not because they are status seeking, but rather because they are collecting information about who is who, perhaps to establish safety?
It is an interpretation, I know, but some dogs by all appearances would really rather not be in a high status role, but seem to seek assurance that someone else is (and if not, they will step up). These dogs seem to completely relax when they are around the high-status types.
Michelle says
This was a fantastic series of posts and I’ve got all the links saved for future re-readings and re-examinations. I have just one dog at this point and she reminds me a lot of how you describe Luke. She’s calm, pretty darned secure in who she is. She loves other dogs and people and is just a super sweet dog. Someday I hope to have a second dog so it will be interesting to see what happens when I introduce someone new into the house!
Frances says
I’m really enjoying this discussion. Just to throw something more into the mix – I have noticed that my papillon has decided shifts in behaviour when she comes into season – not a total personality change,but definitely a rather shorter fuse just before (and can’t we all sympathise with that!), and what seems like a rather more anxious and self-protective view of the world in general. She is usually a very relaxed, confident lass, so even a slight degree of nervousness is very obvious. It would be very easy to interprete her behaviour as dominant – to me, anthropomorphic as it may be, it looks much more like PMS.
Crystal Saling says
So what would you call a dog who is an adolescent male who just months ago was a submissive urinator, but now whines during playtime with other dogs and yet takes space from other dogs while playing and lip curls sporratically? It’s like he is very uncertain, but then he decides that he will bully by pushing dogs around until he feels too uncertain again!
Do you think that the study that Ian Dunbar worked on as a student on dog heirarchy is still relevant give what we know about more natural dog “packs”? I have had a hard time reconciling what he says about heirarchy and what Raymond Coppinger has found with the Pemban dogs.
Bandb says
Although I used the term “staus-seeking” about one of my dogs I know that it is an inadequate term for his behaviour. What I observe is something more fluid and changeable than a simple desire to prove staus.
But what exactly is going on I am struggling to understand.
He started life as a singleton pup who spent his first 6 weeks with his mum in a rescue. He grew into a confident dog who loved to play with others and was well-liked and very socially skilled. Over time he has changed. Now he is a dog who warns other dogs away except for those he knows well. He appears to dislike young males particularly and lunges and barks at them. If I can carefully manage introductions with new dogs at the park then he will slowly relax and tolerate them or even like them but he no longer plays with any other dogs except my female here at home. He will however offer to dig holes for females he has taken a liking to.
The new relationships he forms are also fluid in that they change from distrust (that’s how it seems to me) to eventual acceptance.
To further confuse matters Barney retains a sense of fairness/justice (?) in his attitude to other dogs he knows, and has twice intervened in skirmishes to halt them, by body-blocking. The skirmishers all offered Barney face licks immediately after the battle was stopped.
I find it hard to know now how much social freedom it is safe to allow him. He appears to have run the gamut of personality types in one life-time.
Stephanie says
I absolutely love these posts! I have learned so much by reading them. I have three dogs, two males and a female. Both males are dog reactive when out and about but typically okay around each other NOW. I know in one of them (Lance) it is much more about leash frustration than aggression. It took us about a 6 months to a year to work them through some issues. Our 4 year old, smaller male (Logan) is very anxious and insecure about everything. He did not accept our new male adoptee (Lance who was about 11 weeks when we got him) at first in fact we almost took him back to the shelter but decided to do our best to get them through it and I am EXTREMELY happy that we did. At first Logan would run at Lance from accross the room and bite his cheek when he moved, went toward a toy, etc. Loud noises, vacuuming, etc would make him do the same things.
I was told it was dominance and I suspect it has it’s place there too, but after spending the past year plus working on Logan’s confidence and stress level we have a lot less of that behavior. For example, I started carrying treats in my pocket when I vacuumed and would give them all one for following me around calmly and amazingly no more cheek-biting during vacuuming. I haven’t given them treats when vacuuming in months but the behavior still remains good. Logan still believes at times that every toy in the house is his and continues the occassional cheek-biting to get the toy back, but at other times is happy to let Lance have the toy and go find a new one. So, I guess like you say it only matters if they both want it equally.
I can’t wait for your post on emotional control and impulsivity because that sounds like Logan to a tee!!!
Molly says
Mardi, your comment reminds me very much of my border collie mix. She is dog-reactive (due to being very nervous around unknown dogs) but we’ve used Feisty Fido and have a good routine now to get her comfortable near dogs I want her to meet. Once she is comfortable that the other dog is not overtly aggressive, tho, she will go up to them, do a growly-bark, then dash behind me. I believe she is “testing” the dog. If they don’t react to her, she relaxes around them (if they do react, she counts on me to keep her safe ;).
Reading C.J.’s comment, “personality” is the word that immediately came to mind, as others have said. Having worked for 3 years at a doggie daycare, I certainly saw a LOT of communication and variation. “Dominant” and “submissive” were far too simplistic to explain the gamut of personalities in the yard – from the cool confident collie girl who all others respected, to the insecure little yappers, from the hauty observers to the fun police. Then watching the personality change in many of the dogs when they were in the lobby with their people – wow. I think part of the danger of simplistic labels is that it irons out all these complexities and causes people to have a limited view of their dogs (“oh, he’s being dominant” instead of really assessing the situation and the communication taking place).
Wild Dingo says
I wonder… is dominance and leadership the same thing? it seems dominance is fleeting depending on circumstance, needs, wants, importance of the object etc. whereas leadership is not.
Will sounds a lot like my GSD mix Loki who “wants to do the right thing.” In fact, i rescued him based on those exact words spoken to me by the foster because others in the rescue organization said he was “unadoptable” and a “biter” (really a mouther). the paper work had said to NEVER feed him with another dog and ALWAYS feed him in a crate. While i see the signifcance of crates, i just thought that was the silliest thing in the world for a dog who’s part of a family and pack. so it took me two nights to teach him NOT to even LOOK at the new dog while she ate. and simple body blocking and praise and “go away” and praise. NOW he finishes his food first and comes into my office and nudges me with his nose while the other dog finishes her food. I can only imagine its his way of asking for a “good boy I did the right thing.” it’s been almost 2 years with both dogs and he does this still. I think he was able to even generalize that message to the point where she took advantage of him leaving a bone one day when i had given them both bones (bully sticks). they eat them in the living room and I’ve done this long enough to know that they don’t fight over them. But within 2 miniutes of giving the bullies, the GSD mix came into my office w/o his bone and nudged me with his nose. I went into the living room and the female Sibe had both bullies. No doubt she snuck it from him when he got up to investigate a noise as he always does. There was no fight over it, i would have heard it. i simply took his bone back and gave it to him. that was the proudest moment i had with him, ever. And since then, he’s ALWAYS deferred to me in situations like that. And in fact, he’ll defer to me when OTHER dogs have harrassed him a bit too much or have been aggressive with him. My heart goes pitter patter when he does the right thing and he gets endless praise and cookies.
Yet with all of this he can still be construed as rude like Will at times, he’ll pounce first, play bow later. he’s gotten better but he occassionally reacts before he thinks. yet, i know deep down, he prefers being right over being wrong. He loves being told when he’s good but not just for nothing, but for a specific action he did. Some people look at him as “dominant” but he’s definitely NOT my lead dog, though he’s much more outwardly toward the world (people and dogs) than my female Sibe.
Dominance changes between them all the time. if it’s tug, he almost always wins (though i just witnessed her win a few days ago and almost fell over). if it’s a “free toy or free bone on the floor hanging around” then if the Sibe wants it, he always gives it up for her. I think it changes between them, but I think he realizes that leadership is ultimately hers after me. I think for some time there’s been some conflict in understanding leadership when it comes to my husband and my male GSD mix tries to own him and my alpha female Sibe, you can see a HUGE change in her demeanor when she’s not recognized as alpha by my husband. (for example, when he comes home, the GSD mix will push and dominate his affection while the Sibe shies away — the opposite is true when I come home. the Sibe will dominate my affection and push /demand for it.) We’ve been working on this by me holding back my GSD for a few seconds to allow my sibe to say hello first and then the GSD and that’s helped a lot. i think not recognizing status of your dogs is something that could have a negative affect on your relationship with them.
in terms of my relationship with them, i don’t look at it as dominance so much as leadership. i find the word dominance odd in dog training and have never used it in any of my methods as a theory applied to method. I have used leadership. Dominance to me feels like a dictatorship. I still look at my dogs like my partners. They’re animals. and I love using drive and motivation to work with them as partners whether its on a walk, running errands, in obedience class, on job (like search or therapy service) no matter what it is, we’re partners with my leadership to guide them in the right direction. it’s never about enforcing my will upon them whereas dominance seems ultimately to do that from a human to dog perspective.
And yes, i too get frustrated with the lack of understanding on negative reinforcement. i think it’s interesting that i go back and forth between opperant and classical conditioning methods all the time. (My grad degree is in psychology). in the end, they are “theories” of learning. and who knows how many other ways dogs (and people) learn?
Jana says
I definitely believe that understanding ‘dogness’ would help us relate to them better. Just take a look how often coming from a different cultural background causes communication breakdown between us humans. Just because we’d simply wouldn’t have enough understanding for where the other person is coming from. If this lack of understanding can be detrimenal to our relationships with our own species, how much more would this affect us trying to relate to dogs?
I believe that understanding is the key to any relationship. Without it it ends up awkward and difficult at best.
Great point on teaching to be patient and polite. J.D. had to go through this from the first day he arrived to our house. He now knows that without that, nothing will come to him and seems to be at peace with it.
I think it is important to consider personality when considering adding another dog to the ‘pack’. With Jasmine, we were adamant that she’d ‘pick’ the dog she liked. With J.D., who was still a puppy, she wasn’t showing much interest in any of them, so we picked him for her. We went through the lengthy puppy evaluation process to make sure we got a guy who is easy going, reasonably submissive (or whatever we might want to call it) and would make a good companion for her. Time showed that we did indeed picked well, and they get along great and are best buddies. We have never saw them compete over anything, except sometimes over attention.
As J.D. was becoming more and more polite in his actions, Jasmine was becoming more and more tolerant of his ‘air-headedness’ and she will put up from things from him she would never put up with from any other dog, except her late best friend Boxer.
Liz F. says
Like so many others, I also want to know what’s going on in my dog’s head.
But the problem I have is differentiating between personality-based behaviors and ‘status’-based behaviors.
Where does one motivation end and the other begin?
Personality is a complex and changing thing, just like the hierarchical stuff, and can be just as hard to follow.
For the sake of my sanity I try to just focus on the personalities of dogs (over focusing on the ‘d’ word alone, or both together, sheesh, that’s a lot of fluid, ever-changing situations to evaluate).
There might be some status-seeking behavior going on that I don’t attribute as such. But is there any harm done if I’m labeling something as pushy instead of dominant, attributing impatience instead of a status quest, and trying to change behavior either way? Truth is, I’ll never know which motivation is correct. And unfortunate though it may be, the ‘d’ word has become so royally convoluted (as in I believe it is the number one justification for people who get physical with their dogs) that I can no longer think about my dogs in terms of dominance without the stigmas that come with it. Although… this blog is making me reconsider.
April says
Wow. Now I understand my old dog, Nutmeg! She was the scardeyest dog I’ve ever met, wanted doggie friends, but never knew how to get along. We always figured it was the cerebral hypoplasia but maybe not. More! More! More!
Tatyana says
I was introduced to the term “alpha wannabe” in your book and it has helped me understand the relationship between my dogs so much better. I have two littermates in my house, but one was brought home four months before the other. The first one has all the attitude of a benevolent leader. He doesn’t work for his “title”, he just… is. In fact he’s likely to give up a toy or other resource to his brother, but between the two of them he’s the one that subtly decides (or perhaps allows) when certain events happen. Like playtime or chewie time.
The second one throws behaviors all the time that conventional outlook would call “dominant”, both with his brother and with other dogs. Very concerned with how he is seen, he’ll mount other dogs, he will try to out do any dog doing commands for treats/attention, he is a lot more in-your-face. But the reality is that when his brother is not around giving him subtle social cues, he has no idea what to do with himself. The Other End of the Least helped me put it into perspective – dog #2 acts very concerned with his status but the reality is that he doesn’t want leadership, he doesn’t know how to handle it. He’s perfectly entertained faking it. So I would never call him dominant, though a lot of conventional dog owners/trainers probably would.
Ann says
I think status seeking, and control can also be just play in some cases. At 1-1/2 years old, and from working Schutzhund lines, my dog appears very much a bully with the Airedale nextdoor. She looks at a toy, and he charges her and takes it away. She drinks from the outdoor water bowel, and he’s there in a flash to push her away and drink. She ignores him, but will attempt to mount him if he’s tired, or bait him if he lays down to rest. What he wants is high tension play, and for her to start growling and mouthing him. That’s the game plan, to be a rough warrier. With smaller less status seeking dogs he is very gentle and just engages in chasing.