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Being the Leader

I recently heard from someone whose was having trouble with one of their dogs attacking the other whenever he greeted them after an absence. The apparent reason for this was a desire to be the first (only?) one to get attention. This person received advice from several people to “alpha-roll” the attacker. The idea being to make it clear that the owner was the pack leader and was displeased by fighting.

The alpha roll idea is based on early superficial studies of wolf behavior where it was observed that the alpha wolf would roll a subordinate on it’s back and stand over it. Dogs are not wolves and exhibit quite different kinds of behavior. Furthermore, wolves do not behave that way in the wild. The observations turned out to be erroneous. A subordinate wolf will voluntarily roll over to express subordination (and that word is probably not quite accurate either) but the alpha will not forcibly roll a subordinate unless his intention is to kill it. That doesn't make for a good long-term relationship.

For dog training an alpha-roll can work, and work quickly. It can also get you bitten instead. As far as the dog knows, you are threatening its life. Why wouldn’t she bite you out of self-defense? Even when it does work fear of you is not my idea of a good way to take control. Aside from creating an unpleasant relationship, at least from the dogs point of view, if they treat each-other nice just because you said so, there is still a chance that they will fight even more seriously at some point in the future when you are not there to stop it.

Dogs are quite resilient and may not exhibit obvious fear of you in the long term but make no mistake; fear of you is what that technique is based on. It is quite likely to damage your relationship with the dog in ways that you will never notice because you will think that it is "just the way he is". The dog will still love you but love with dogs is automatic. Their respect and trust though, need to be earned.

My suggestion was to completely stop giving them attention in any situation where they would fight each other for it. Have both dogs do something specific before giving affection to either one. Lie down is usually a good command for this. Once they both lie down, give them affection (or whatever it is they are fighting over.)

Make it clear that if they fight they will not get the thing that the fight is about. Give them an alternate behavior to do instead. One that will get them what they want.

My two dogs started to get into a similar behavior over bones and toys. After two days of this I used a sharp "No" and took the toy away from both of them. I had them lie down and once they were both calm, gave each one the same type of toy, plus praise, affection, and a calming manner. The next time, I had them lie down near each other and proceeded the same way. This sort of incident no longer happens and my relationship with the dogs is not damaged. They still have other problems with each other but that one is solved.

I now suspect that the sharp “No” was not helpful. If I had it to do over again I would use a matter-of-fact tone and place my body in-between them to affect an immediate stop to the behavior.

A little trial and error may be in order for any given situation but the idea is that you become the leader not through domination (a highly overrated, outdated, and shallow theory and mostly erroneous) but through:

Controlling the resources

This includes food, toys, shelter, affection, etc.

Teaching behaviors that work

That is, behaviors that will get the dog what she wants. In this way you are seen as the "wise" one.

Being consistent

In this way the dog will always know what to expect from behaving in an appropriate manner.

Being trustworthy

Turning on your dog and performing an alpha roll is not trustworthy behavior. Keeping an even temper is trustworthy behavior, as is being constant, as is providing a safe haven, food, affection, not leading your dog into danger, and all the other things you generally do.

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