Dog Pack Behaviour

Dog Pack Behaviour

Dog pack behaviour results from the simple truth that dogs are not 4 legged people. They have evolved and view the world with a much more basic set of priorities. These priorities are often expressed in more brutal ways than we as dog owners would like to see, but that’s the truth.

Dogs, just like wolves, are born into an animal world that is governed by inequality. Sometimes, to us, who as apparently civilized people, strive for equality, this whole concept of the inequality of dog pack behaviour sits uncomfortably with us.

To see packs of truly wild dogs is not generally the norm for us as dog owners. For the majority, the dogs we are familiar with are ones that live with people. However, for the dog, he still sees things through the eyes of his heritage, and that is that of his wolf-dog ancestry.

Both packs of wild dogs and wolves live their lives according to the rules of a hierarchical society. Every member has a place on the hierarchical ladder. If we were to live that way, we would view it as extremely tough and unfair.

One interesting point mind you, is that sexual equality forms the basis of wolf civilization. This has only come to light in recent years. A female graduate student had been observing packs of wolves and noticed that the ‘alpha’ animal was indeed female. It took some time before she was able to make her older and male professors see what she could see.

In wolf packs, some wolves are very much superior to others. This superiority gives them first option to mating and reproduction as well as the responsibilities of leading a pack. This would include finding food, water and protection for the other pack members.

The alpha animal, whether male or female, and sometimes there is an alpha couple, also makes the decisions about where and when the pack as a whole will hunt, eat, sleep and breed.

It is also the alpha animal who decides who stays in the pack and who doesn’t. If the alpha animal decides that due to reasons of age, illness, character or aggression a particular animal doesn’t fit the overall structure of the pack, he or she will exclude them from the pack or kill them outright.

The alpha animal will inevitably be challenged and will have to fight those challengers to back-up and reinforce their leadership. If it happens that a younger and stronger animal wins the fight, the successor will become the new pack leader.

Dog pack behaviour involves a lot of fighting. Wolves will fight over such things as somewhere to lie down and sleep, but also over the nuts and bolts of life such as food and reproduction. These fights are often similar to children squabbling over toys, but are a lot more dramatic due to the presence of snarling barks and clashing fangs.

During these fights, when one wolf is able to assert its dominance over another, the more submissive of the two will either run away, or roll over onto its back, exposing the belly area. This is a typical submissive gesture and is in acknowledgement of the power of the more dominant wolf.

It is basically saying ‘You win, you’re the boss’. By exposing the stomach area, the most vulnerable area of the wolf, he is admitting that the winning wolf could if he wanted kill the loser by ripping open his stomach. Some experts in this field also suggest that this action may be in order to protect the loser by way of reminding the victor of the way in which puppies tumble and roll, and that no harm was meant. This will hopefully cause the victor to view the loser as puppy-like and of no real threat.

Dog Pack Behaviour in the Park

If you’ve ever been witness to a full blown dog fight with all the bared teeth, snarling and lunging, and even small dogs going for it can be quite a frightening sight, you may appreciate that wolves and wild dogs fighting are even more disturbing.

Although you wouldn’t want to see a couple of wolves kicking off in the local park, they are in fact only doing what nature intended, and that’s to help the members of the pack decide who is strong enough, both physically and mentally to lead the pack and ensure the long term survival of its members and the species as a whole.

Even when wild dogs and wolf pups are tiny, they will be chastised using really quite harsh nips and bites on the face and neck to keep them in order. There’s a lot of yelping and screeching as a result and to us, it all looks a bit over the top. We should however, learn a lesson from this dog pack behaviour. The way we treat our own dogs tells them very clearly how capable we are of leading the pack, and they will quickly make a judgement call as to whether they think they could do a better job; and that’s where a lot of problems can begin in the domestic dog-owner relationship.

In a similar, but not quite so brutal way, people, young and old alike feel much more secure when they know what the rules are and who’s in charge. Just as in the animal world, there are people who naturally seem able to take the lead, and fortunately, there are many more who are happy to follow along behind. When the organization of different societies is studied there are many similarities between our behaviour and dog pack behaviour.

Being a great leader is not just about bossing other people around. The leaders have the responsibility for themselves and the group as a whole and have to be accountable for the losses as well as the gains of a group. The leader of a wolf, wild dog or domestic dog pack has the same responsibilities.

In order for your dog to feel happy, safe and secure living in your human/dog pack, you have to forget the apparent brutality of the social inequality and step up to the plate of being dog pack leader and all that it entails.

No, you don’t have to bite him when he steps out of line, or indeed rip out his stomach when he gets too big for his boots, but you are going to have to expect him to follow your rules and teach him what you want him to know. You will have to reinforce how you want him to behave consistently and give him feedback and discipline when he gets it wrong.

There is a load more really good information about dog behaviour and training in the complete A-Z manual for the responsible dog owner called Secrets To Dog Training. You can get a free report on de-bunking some of the dog training myths around from here. Also, you can get a free 6 day mini dog training course sent straight to your email inbox from here. Enjoy!