[alaskayorkie]

Originally Posted by QuickSilver

Most, if not all scientific research in the past fifteen years has debunked the idea of alpha/beta/omega ranking in dogs. There's a great book that covers recent canine research:

Amazon.com: Dog Sense: How the New Science of Dog Behavior Can Make You A Better Friend to Your Pet (9780465019441): John Bradshaw: Books

One thing that "alpha-ness" doesn't address is that different resources may be more or less important to a given dog at any time. A non-confrontational dog may change his stripes when he's hungry. Or maybe one dog always gets human affection first, but doesn't care about toys particularly.

I have seen two contradicting arguments based on alpha theory on possessiveness. The first says that you should allow dogs to work it out among themselves, because dogs are happier when they know their place. The second says that you should not allow this kind of behavior, or even force the possessive dog into "last" place, because not intervening displaces you as the ultimate alpha.

Since there's no evidence for either side of the argument as far as I know, I vote for doing whatever you want. But of course, the wife is always right.



Down with people who believe in four-kneed elephants!

Listen, One-Dog-Wanda, I don't expect YOU to understand the practical applications of my theories. (Or is it theorems? That always used to sound smarter when I was failing algebra.)

I'm not a Cesar Milan worshipper, at least not for average dogs without severe behavioral issues. I've actually tried the alpha roll and some of those techniques, and they failed miserably. But I definitely see a pecking order in the dogs I've owned and the dogs I've hung out with. However, I've bookmarked your book suggestion and plan to devour it and debunk anything you like in it, just as I've debunked you in the past. I will agree with your penultimate conclusion, however: Do what works for you.

I'm heartened to see how many people share my observation in this poll. I especially like Patti's situation. Your "alpha" (I will put that in quotes until I can debunk QS) doesn't like toys! To me, that would be the perfect world.