{"id":23087,"date":"2026-03-04T15:37:37","date_gmt":"2026-03-04T22:37:37","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/woodriverweekly.com\/?p=23087"},"modified":"2026-03-19T15:42:54","modified_gmt":"2026-03-19T21:42:54","slug":"what-is-an-alpha-dog","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/woodriverweekly.com\/index.php\/2026\/03\/04\/what-is-an-alpha-dog\/","title":{"rendered":"WHAT IS AN ALPHA DOG?"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Fran Jewell<\/em>
\nIt\u2019s not what you think! I need to preface this with the fact (yes, it\u2019s science) that dogs are still 99% genetically the same as wolves. That is pretty concerning to many people because that will signify to them that dogs are inherently aggressive. What is absolutely true is that dogs have inherited drives from wolves. As an example, some dogs have more \u201chunt\u201d drive than others, meaning one dog may want to find ground squirrels with their nose while another wants to chase balls or have \u201cplay drive.\u201d These drives are what are inherited from wolves.
\nA crucial drive from wolves is \u201cpack drive.\u201d What is pack drive? It is an instinctual, insatiable behavior inherited from wolves for survival. However, some individual dogs inherit more of this drive than others. Pack drive can consist of the dog\u2019s need to be with and interact with just people, just dogs, or both.
\nGenetic wolf behavior is not necessarily aggression. However, that is another story. Genetic pack behavior will help us understand our dogs much better and give them a more comfortable and anxiety-free life. I don\u2019t know about you, but that certainly is one of my goals living with dogs.
\nMany people will describe their dog as an alpha because he has to win all the time and will scrap with other dogs to prove his rank. Some are unstoppable and it can turn quickly into constant aggression with other dogs and even sometimes people.
\nI describe dogs at home that live in a pack that have benevolent control as \u201chigh-ranking\u201d dogs. A high-ranking dog is not a fighter, but can look at another pack member with their head a little higher, their chest just slightly more pronounced, and a tail slightly higher with a soft tip (long-tailed dogs). The other dogs immediately recognize this slight gesture and will behave. HOWEVER, if that high-ranking dog is in another pack situation, he may concede to an even higher-ranking dog. Every time new dogs get together, it is another pack. The same pack rankings may not exist as you saw at home. However, a true alpha dog will maintain that dominion over any other dog without a scrap.
\nThis is where we as humans have some disability to be able to see the new ranking every time new dogs get together and establish another pack. It can happen in moments or in several days. As an example, I lost my high-ranking dog, Kalidor, last year to cancer. Two of the remaining boys have had a hard time with that adjustment. Steel is 3 and Crowe is 8. What has been interesting is that they still have not decided who is going to be the high-ranking dog here at my home. They don\u2019t fight, but you can see that neither one of them thinks of themselves as higher than the other. In some moments Steel is higher ranking and does the higher ranking activities, then it can switch. Neither one of them would ever become an \u201calpha\u201d in every new situation.
\nA true alpha never fights. They don\u2019t have to. The other dogs recognize who they are instantly. It\u2019s almost like they wear a general\u2019s uniform. A true alpha may even give a toy to a lower-ranking dog. This is why it is so complex for us humans to try to understand.
\nIn general, the rule is that true alpha dogs NEVER have to fight. They may roll another insubordinate dog from time to time, but it very rarely turns into an all-out fight. Dogs that fight \u201cgenerally\u201d fight from fear, not domination. There are always exceptions to every rule.
\nCohesive members of the pack will change rolls often, depending on the situation. This, as I see it, is remarkable. It\u2019s as if they know each other\u2019s strengths and weaknesses and will help each other as the situation calls for it.
\nFor us to maintain our relationships with dogs, we try very hard to put labels on behavior, whether it is situational or instinctual. Many of us are even oblivious to dog behavior to have a solid understanding about what is going on. The incredibly hard part of it for humans is to be as flexible as our dogs are and yet still have an understanding about what is happening. Mostly, I find in my 40 years of dog training and dog behavior consultation that even I can still miss something, or mistakenly identify a behavior. Still, we must ALL be open to learning and being as flexible as our dogs are. Every dog will teach us something new if we look for it and accept it.<\/p>\n

Fran Jewell is a dog behavior consultant, NADOI-certified instructor and vice president.\u00a0She owns Positive Puppy Dog Training\u00a0LLC and can be reached at (208) 721-7221.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Fran Jewell It\u2019s not what you think! I need to preface this with the fact (yes, it\u2019s science) that dogs are still 99% genetically the same as wolves. That is pretty concerning to many people because that will signify to them that dogs are inherently aggressive. What is absolutely true is that dogs have […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":479,"featured_media":23088,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"tdm_status":"","tdm_grid_status":"","_pvb_checkbox_block_on_post":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[2,19],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-23087","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-commentary","8":"category-no-bones-about-it"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/woodriverweekly.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23087","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/woodriverweekly.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/woodriverweekly.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/woodriverweekly.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/479"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/woodriverweekly.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=23087"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/woodriverweekly.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23087\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":23090,"href":"https:\/\/woodriverweekly.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23087\/revisions\/23090"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/woodriverweekly.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/23088"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/woodriverweekly.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=23087"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/woodriverweekly.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=23087"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/woodriverweekly.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=23087"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}