Understanding pack behavior in dogs

In the past few years there has been an increasing trend to justify our actions and our dog's behavior on pack dynamics. This started largely with Ceasar Milan and his understanding of wolf behavior and alpha behavior (being a leader). Research quickly debunked much of this philosophy, however, we still see our dogs as members of our 'pack' and act accordingly based on what our understanding of what a wolf pack is.


Leaving aside the fact that your bichon frise hasn't been a wolf for 5,000-10,000 generations, lets take a look at what a real wolf pack is and is not.

Initial studies of wolf pack behavior and dynamics were carried out on captive wolf packs in zoos in the late 40's. These early papers saw interactions between wolf members that indicated that there was a hierarchy that was achieved and remained stable through wolf-on-wolf aggression and dominance. This idea was later codified in the book, Wolf: The Ecology and Behavior of an Endangered Species, by David Mech in 1970 (it is a highly popular book to this day).1.

This is the vision that many people have of a wolf pack, a 'leader' who rises through the ranks through  sheer willpower and leads the pack like a general.

Many people now know that this is not the truth. Researchers have been able to study wolves in the wild now for decades, and the old paradigm is wrong, so wrong that one of the researchers, David Mech has stated that his earlier works were in error.1

If you listen to Ceasar Milan speak you will see that though he still tells people that they need to exert some level of control over their dogs, he sees the solution as a strong, solid leadership style as opposed to brute force. In this new pack dynamic leaders lead because they are followed. A leader is chosen by the pack rather than by fiat. This sounds much more democratic and makes many people happy.

It isn't true however. The leaders of a wolf pack become leaders the same way that humans become heads of household; they have babies. A pack is a family unit, not a random assortment of strangers. Packs are made up of mom and dad and all the kiddies. And just like us, when the kiddies grow up they leave the pack and head off to start new lives of their own. Packs of wolves are nothing more than family units made up of parents and children (some packs are slightly more complicated in their makeup than this, but the general theme runs true.)

The 'alpha' male and female aren't leaders because they are bullies, or because they have mastered the art of speaking, rather they are leaders because they are surrounded by children. When the children start knowing enough to lead, they don't 'depose' their parents in some medieval coup, they simply pack up their gear and head out of town.

If a pack's territory is invaded by a neighboring pack's kids they do the wolf equivalent of calling the cops, by either driving out or killing the interloper.

So, let's return to your bichon, the long lost cousin to wolves. We have little way of knowing if dogs see us as fellow dogs other than by watching their behavior. Are we, in fact, members of their wolf pack and subject to the same rules and regulations as that pack?

The simple answer, from the gut, is no. Dogs do not see humans as dogs, otherwise we wouldn't have dog aggressive and human aggressive dogs. There could be no distinction. Dogs are not idiots, after all, they know that there are dog rules and behaviors and human rules and behaviors. We bare our teeth all the time, and our dogs do not act threatened as they would if another dog did the same.

So, where does all this 'members of the pack' stuff leave us? it leaves us with an understanding that when it comes to human-dog interaction there are probably no correlations in wolf behavior to help us. Dogs probably come to the table of human interaction with no expectations. We satisfy no intrinsic canine need by letting them sleep on the bed, just as we deny them none by allowing them to sleep on the porch.

Wolves expect their pack members to grow up and leave them at some point, which implies that there is no lifelong bond intrinsic to the nature of wolves (outside of the bonded breeding pair). A pet living in different homes is unlikely to be 'traumatized' by having lived in several households.

If anything, in the past 5000-10,000 canine generations we have made dogs more adaptable rather than less so. Dogs do not form wolf-like familial packs, even when they are feral. Dogs do not form life-long pair bonds with the opposite sex. Dogs are routinely removed from their first 'family' at 8-10 weeks and can live in harmony with strange non-familial dogs in numerous contexts.1

Dogs are not wolves, and in the case of the mythical 'alpha' wolf, neither are wolves. It is important, when studying the 'norms' of human-dog interaction that we understand that those norms are what we ourselves make them. Livestock guardian dogs are no more or less adapted to living outside with their stock rather than indoors with their humans than are poodles; we have made these lives for our dogs, and as much as we may want to define the rules of these encounters as "living with the pack' the facts fail to stand up.