Everytime I check my social media, I see the word “alpha” on dog pages that I’m a part of. I see people, including good dog trainers, say things like:
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“Your dogs don’t respect you because they don’t see you as the alpha. If you don’t correct that, then they will take on that job,”
“You need to show your dog who’s the pack leader by forcing him into a submissive position.”
“Your dog is aggressive because he’s trying to be the alpha.”
The alpha theory is one of the most common ideas out there when it comes to dog training. It’s pushed by certain celebrity dog trainers, and there is a multimillion dollar industry built around the idea that we need to dominate our dogs to get them to respect us. There are dozens of television shows and hundreds of books that continue to perpetuate the myth of alpha theory to this day.
The leading figure in the alpha-dominant theory was Schenkel’s 1947 “Expressions Studies on Wolves.” This is the study that gave rise to the now outmoded notion of alpha wolves. That concept was based on the old idea that wolves fight within a pack to gain dominance and that the winner is the “alpha” wolf. Today we understand that most wolf packs consist of a pair of adults called “parents” or “breeders,” (not “alphas”), and their offspring.
See www.wolf.org/wolves/learn/scientific/mech_pdfs/267alphastatus_english.pdf for more information.
The problem is that everyone who bases their training on this theory is wrong. This isn’t a belief or opinion that I have, but the truth according to the guys who came up with the theory. Every researcher who has studied it since, including the ones who brought it into the mainstream public, verifies that their conclusions were incorrect.
“Labeling a high-ranking wolf alpha emphasizes its rank in a dominance hierarchy. However, in natural wolf packs, the alpha male or female are merely the breeding animals, the parents of the pack, and dominance contests with other wolves are rare, if they exist at all. During my 13 summers observing the Ellesmere Island pack, I saw none. Thus, calling a wolf an alpha is usually no more appropriate than referring to a human parent or a doe deer as an alpha. Any parent is dominant to its young offspring, so "alpha" adds no information. Why not refer to an alpha female as the female parent, the breeding female, the matriarch, or simply the mother? Such a designation emphasizes not the animal's dominant status, which is trivial information, but its role as pack progenitor, which is critical information.”- Mech, L. David. 1999. Alpha status, dominance, and division of labor in wolf packs. Canadian Journal of Zoology 77:1196-1203.
The Alpha Theory, In a Nutshell
This fallacious theory was created by Swiss behaviorist Rudolph Schenkel(1). In the 1930’s, Schenkel studied a captive pack of wolves that consisted of wolves from different zoos. The animals had never met before, so they hadn’t formed relationships. At the time, this was the primary way that researchers studied animal behavior.
It wasn’t that different than putting a bunch of strangers into a locked room with a finite amount of food and water and seeing what happens. They’re going to behave very differently than in the real world, but that’s what Schenkel based his findings on. He concluded that wolves fight for dominance, so that became the premise for alpha theory.
The Theory Takes Off
Schenkel's ideas became popular when other respected researchers like David Mech, who wrote a very successful book in the sixties called “The Wolf: Ecology and Behavior of an Endangered Species,”(2) included them in their books. Mech’s book discusses wolf behavior and Schenkels observation of an “alpha pair” that became the leaders of the pack. The term “alpha theory” was coined from that.
The idea of pairing this incorrect research with dog training was popularized by the Monks of New Skete in 1978.(3) They published a number of best selling books about using dominance in training. They created the forced alpha roll technique and shaking the dog by the scruff of the neck while lifting it off the ground.
Whole Dog Journal has a great article about this. Here are a few of the monks suggestions to get your dog to behave:
“For modifying problem behaviors, Koehler’s books advocate the use of exceedingly harsh methods such as shock collars, slingshots (with BBs as pellets), hanging and helicoptering (lifting a dog off the ground by the choke chain and holding him there or swinging him around until he ceases resisting or goes unconscious), a wooden dowel inside a length of rubber hose (with which to hit the dog who is too heavy to hang or helicopter), and drowning (filling a hole with water and submerging the dog’s head until he is near unconsciousness, to teach him not to dig). Saunders was somewhat less extreme than Koehler, but still advocated routinely jerking, kicking and “cuffing” dogs.” (4)
The monks continue to write books that promote the alpha theory, but they soften it up by saying that these techniques will help you to become your dog’s best friend. Unfortunately they are not only perpetuating a myth, but normalizing abusive behavior that can irrevocably harm dogs both physically and emotionally.
Researchers Realize Their Mistake
Most researchers who’ve studied wolves since, including David Mech, have come to a very different conclusion. Wolf packs are actually family groups, not dictatorships who fight for control and dominance. They consist of a pair of wolves who mate and have babies.(5)
Just like human parents, they teach their children how to get along with each other and basic skills needed to get by in life. Just like human families, arguments happen, but there’s no fight for dominance. Everyone knows who the authorities are- the parents.
If your idea of being best friends with someone is choking or hitting them until they do what you want- like dominance theory proponents the Monks of New Skete suggest- maybe you need to rethink your social strategy. If you did that to a human, they would think you’re psychotic.
There’s a good chance that if you do that to a dog, he’s probably obeying you because he thinks you’re psychotic too and he doesn’t want you to hurt him anymore. That’s not being a friend, it’s bullying someone into submission. It’s also incredibly disrespectful.
Aside from all this, wolves and dogs are completely different creatures. Studying wolves and applying what you’ve learned about their behavior to dogs isn’t much different than watching monkey behavior and creating a school for humans based on your observations. Research indicates that dogs and wolves genetically parted ways at least a hundred thousand years ago.
Dogs and humans have been hanging out together for over twenty thousand years and this has affected dog behavior in a big way.(6) I doubt they decided to become man’s best friend because we forced them to. The first man/dog interaction was most likely based on hunting. We would get a kill and throw them a few bits of meat or bone.
Don’t kid yourself; if you own a big dog, he can kill you if he wants to. If he wants the hamburger on your plate, he can just take it without asking, but in most cases, he won’t. He won’t because he chooses not to. Does he leave your burger alone because he respects you and wants to please you, or because he’s afraid you’re going to hurt him?
The Story of Nicholas and Grandpa
I have a client with a bulldog who became extremely aggressive toward her elderly father. Nicolas started out as a loving puppy, but everything changed when he was taken to a trainer who was a proponent of alpha/dominance theory. The trainer believed that a dog will only see a human as the authority if it’s forced into submission. Like many dogs, what should have been a fun learning experience for a puppy turned into a traumatic event that changed his behavior towards people.
He was fine after the training, aside from developing food aggression, until cold weather came and my client’s father started wearing a jacket with pockets. Nicolas would try to attack him, so they had to move him to the basement. He began to show aggression toward people in general after that, along with going after other animals in the home.
It took them awhile to figure out that the trainer had used a shock collar and kept the remote in his pocket so the dog wouldn’t see it. It appears that Nicolas started to equate a man wearing a jacket with pain, so when he saw her father, he was simply trying to protect himself. Other forms of physical punishment were used on him as well, but the extent of it is unknown.
He stopped trusting his owners and the animals around him as a direct result of the adverse methods of correction he experienced in the training facility. The jacket triggered his trauma. The food aggression might also have developed as a result of the trainer withholding food.
There are lots of dogs like Nicolas who can become reactive and even aggressive when subjected to this type of training, but it’s popular because it’s effective for many dogs.
It’s similar to corporal punishment when raising a child, with the same results; you’re using fear, control, and pain to get an emotional being to do what you want. Beating a child will also get them to comply, but there’s a good chance they’ll hit you back when they get big enough to do so.
Not all alpha theory trainers use what I consider to be physically abusive techniques. They do, however, subject the dog to domination to get what they want, which can cause emotional trauma for the dog. Again, it can be effective and get immediate results, but dominance techniques in the hands of non-professionals can get a person bit. It gets a lot of trainers bit, too.
I was personally hospitalized for a bite after working with a dog who had been trained with dominance techniques by another trainer, and became extremely violent as a result. The dog was friendly before the trainer got a hold of him.
Many trainers understand the problems with alpha theory, so they’ve opted to use force-free, positive-only methods. Tools like clickers, treats, and words of encouragement are used to make the learning experience for dogs fun and rewarding.
Positive-only training is a wonderful, emotionally supportive method of dog training. Just like dominance and aversive training, though,it doesn’t always work, especially with dogs who show signs of aggression.
Many positive-only trainers won’t even work with a dog who may be dangerous or reactive. This has been a key issue for some trainers, who have decided to use a mixture of positive and negative reinforcement for this issue. They call themselves balanced trainers. Many will use aversive tools like e-collars for extreme behavior issues, which have been proven to cause emotional, and even physical harm. (7)
There is a third, much more effective option that can be used, which is called holistic or secure attachment-based training. It works beautifully for all different behavior issues, including aggression, for all breeds large and small.
Holistic training can help you to establish trust and a secure attachment relationship with your dogs. Emotions, energy, and health are all involved in creating and maintaining a positive human/dog relationship.
I’ve personally used all three of these methods during my evolution as a trainer. I started with aversive conditioning based on alpha theory, then after realizing quickly that hurting dogs either physically or emotionally was not an option for me(I am an abuse survivor), I worked my way up to relationship based training.
Over the years I’ve helped hundreds, if not thousands of dogs (I’ve lost count!) who were scheduled for euthanasia or going to be surrendered because of behavior issues. I work with the dogs other trainers believe can’t be helped. I’m successful because I understand that the thing dogs desire the most is a healthy, loving relationship with owners who understand and support their emotional and physical needs.
Dogs don’t dominate each other in the wild to get what they want, like alpha theory suggests. They play, work, love, and fight, just like we do. They happily respond to authority when it benefits them. They work together as a team to get the job done.
Alpha theory needs to go away, and it’s my mission to shift consciousness around how we treat our best and most faithful friends. If you want to be a part of the solution, please visit my website holisticdogtraining.org for more information.
https://www.amazon.com/Wolf-Ecology-Behavior-Endangered-Species/dp/0816610266
https://www.whole-dog-journal.com/training/kinder-than-a-monk/
https://www.whole-dog-journal.com/training/kinder-than-a-monk/
https://www.holisticdogtraining.org/blog/the-truth-about-aversive-training-collars
Old believes about dominance hierarchy have been replaced with complex non linear family hierarchy models that are similar to human family systems.
