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Canine Behavior/Dog acting out

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Follow-Ups to Answer from Expert Susan Downes

Lee Charles Kelley wrote at 2007-10-20 00:23:21
Since there's no pack leader in wild wolf packs I'm wondering where a dog gets an instinctive "awareness" of such things from?

David Mech at the University of Minnesota has been studying wild wolves since the late '60s. And he says, "The concept of the alpha wolf as a 'top dog' is particularly misleading." In fact Mech doesn't like to use the word alpha anymore because "it falsely implies a hierarchical structure in which a wolf assumes a place in a linear pecking order."

The idea of the pack hierarchy comes from studies done on captive wolves, who didn't know each other, weren't a real pack, and weren't able to offload their captivity stress through hunting. The pack instinct is about hunting as a cohesive, harmonic social unit in order to kill large prey, NOT about who's most dominant. That's a myth.



Best wishes,

LCK

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Susan Downes

Expertise

As an animal behavior specialist for over 30 years, I can answer your questions regarding training problems, help you solve behavior problems, and help you and your dog have a wonderful, productive relationship. Often times it is harder to train the people than the animals simply because they cannot speak to us to let us know exactly what is happening. So try to be as detailed in your posts as possible. That way I can give you the best answer. It is so very important to get to know the owners as well as the animals. They are the team, the partnership is what we want to improve in this field.

Experience

AS degree in Animal Science, Essex, 1984 Breed specialties: Doberman Pinschers, Terriers, Standard Poodles and many more. Excelled in classes in obedience, advanced obedience, behavior, reproduction, training and more.

Organizations
Service Dog Training Therapy Dog Training, Canine Good Citizens, National Toy Fox Terrier Association

Education/Credentials
AS degree from Essex Ag.& Tech Inst., Hawthorne, MA. 1984. Website: http://downes.8k.com . Offering Advanced classes in animal behavior and training in West Central Florida, located in Brooksville, Florida. We are willing to travel, special requests for training in other locations will always be considered. Contact downesfarm@gmail.com for appointments.

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