Wolves and Dogs

Often in dog training, you hear about the wolf packs.  People seem to think that wolves and dogs are incredibly similar and they wrap their training theories around this idea.  While wolves are dogs' direct ancestors, they were their ancestors thousands of years ago.  Dogs have been domesticated specifically to live with and work alongside the humans.  Many times, a dog will seek their beloved human's assistance to solve a problem.  This is not something a wolf does.  In fact, if a wolf pup isn't taken from its mother within a few days to live with people, it becomes very wary of humans.  Even then, they can still be wary of humans. 

The brain in a dog has a function of living with and cooperating with humans.  It's an advanced social understanding of another being.  Studies have shown that dogs understand human gestures such as pointing and they also look at human facial expressions.  Wolves on the other hand are using their brains to survive.  Their instinct is to always be alert for danger.  They do not generally cooperate with other species.  This is quite a difference.  Dogs work with us, play with us, protect us, and love us like no other animal seems to be able to do the same way.  (My cats love me and I love them to pieces.  But that working partnership is just not the same with them.  As one scientist, Mr. Miklosi, mentioned, cats hunt for us or themselves; we do not hunt with the cats as partners.)

All this evidence shows that dominance theory style of dog training actually has no scientific basis because dogs are not wolves.  Science has proven that dogs are very different that wolves.  But even if one is insistent that they are the same, it's still not a valid type of training style.  Yes, wolves live in packs.  Yes, wolves have a type of hierarchy within their packs.  But the idea of the dominant wolf or "pack leader" as well as hierarchy has been misunderstood by many.  A wolf hierarchy is simply a group of wolves, each with a different role.  Just as a human family, each role is important.  The human mother may work to provide for the family.  The father may take care of the house and caretaking of the children.  The older children may help with the chores to clean the house.  The youngest are the babies who need to be cared.  Eventually, the oldest child may take over caring for the family.  This is a hierarchy.  But we would never call the mother in this situation dominant or the pack leader.  (Of course, wolves are very different than humans and I do not ever want to compare them to humans.  My only intention is to give an example to explain wolves.)  Essentially, the hierarchy is just a structure of who has what role.  The wolf family leader's role is to keep the family prospering.  Their goal isn't to dominate everyone.  They simply want to reproduce and take care of their families.  The wolf packs are very family oriented as most animals are. 

So, this does not go along with the idea that your dog is always out to dominate you or that you should use punishment against your dog.  Dominance is just not the proper way to train dogs.  Not only are the dogs completely different from wolves in how their brain processes things but wolves also don't go around dominating every family member in their pack.  Instead of using this style of training, why not use training methods that really let the dog flourish?  Using a positive training method that incorporates that working partnership, the cooperation that dogs love, makes much more sense.  Dogs want to work alongside humans.  It's important to be a supportive, caring leader who understands the dogs instead of being the "pack leader".  This working relationship is what the dog was breed for thousands of years ago.