09/05/2025
I still hear this. When I do, I briefly ponder whether the person saying it might be open to learning that the term, "alpha" is not a term that can be used to describe a dog's personality. Rather, it's a term that is used to describe the position held by certain wild animals in relation to other animals of the same species with whom they share a habitat.
Specifically, I'm referring to wolves, and more specifically, captive wolves. Non-captive wolves do not have 'alphas.' Non-captive wolves live in family groups, where the parent wolves are referred to as the 'breeding pair.'
Captive wolves, on the other hand, are typically unrelated wolves that work out a hierarchy in which a single female and a single male (referring to one of each) emerge as the 'alpha female' and the 'alpha male.' This status is subject to change at any time, based on pack composition and dynamics, and individual wolf health and behavior.
Dogs are not 'pack animals,' as many people still assume. They are foragers and scavengers. Dogs are opportunists. They do not have the cooperative living and organized hunting characteristics that define true pack animals, namely wolves.
Dogs and wolves are sentient, social beings. Wolves are wild, whether captive or not, and they reside in packs, whether captive or not. Dogs are domesticated canids who share a common ancestor with wolves. They have many of the same behaviors as wolves, such as barking and howling, although wolves howl more than they bark and dogs generally bark more than they howl. But the social structure of these two canids differs greatly.
The myth that dogs are "pack animals" originated with research by Rudolf Schenkel who studied wolves in a Swiss Zoo to better understand the sociology of wolves. Unfortunately, he wrongly concluded that non-captive wolf packs had the same social structure as captive wolf packs and that groups of domestic dogs were also "packs."
This has all been many times refuted, including by the renowned wolf ethologist, L. David Mech, who founded the International Wolf Center (IWC), where I used to volunteer. I attended classes there about canine behavior, and also completed a graduate level course in wolf ethology in which the practicum part of the course was spent at the IWC, observing and cataloging wolf behavior in ethograms.
When people say they have an "alpha," when discussing dogs and dog behavior, I think they usually mean they have a dog that is strong-willed or dominant over other animals.
As discussed many times before on this page, dominance, a closely related term to 'alpha' and 'pack animal,' is also a misunderstood concept. Dominance is a term that refers to the relationship between two animals and which one controls the resources.
Where people go off on the wrong path is attributing all sorts of unwanted dog behavior to 'dominance.' If you think about it, this is ridiculous in most cases, since humans control virtually everything about their dogs' lives - when they eat, where they sleep, when they go for a walk, which toys they get, when they go to the vet...
In the animal kingdom, we are familiar with the fight that occurs between two male ruminants, such as antelope, deer, bison, and other animals vie for dominance and access to females in the herd. But we humans do not compete with our dogs for any of our basic needs, such as food and reproductive rights.
That said, sometimes a behavior issue called conflict-related aggression occurs, which used to be called dominance aggression, but that is beyond the scope of this post.
The problem with using the terms, 'alpha' and variations of the word, 'dominance' incorrectly is that unsafe, counterproductive, and potentially very damaging, even deadly dog training is based on the underlying assumptions.
Effective, safe, and humane dog training is based on an understanding of dog behavior and learning. Unfortunately, since dog training is an unregulated industry and anyone can print business cards and call themselves a 'dog trainer,' dog owners must become savvy consumers!
In summary, it is inaccurate to refer to a dog as an 'alpha' or as 'dominant.' A dog may be dominant over one dog and not another. Dominance is a term that applies to a relationship between animals. It is not a personality characteristic.
© 2025 Cindy Ludwig, M.A., B.S., R.N.
Owner, Canine Connection LLC
Certified Professional Dog Trainer (CPDT-KA, Certification Council for Professional Dog Trainers)
Karen Pryor Academy graduate and Certified Training Partner (KPA-CTP)
Voted Best Springfield, Missouri Dog Trainer
