Dominance... again

I get so tired of seeing the same tripe spewed by people from a totally outdated understanding of interactions between dogs and people. Let me put it this way:

First, if dogs were "dominate," as it has come to be defined, when they were first being domesticated, the dominate dog would most likely have been killed or driven off. Second, dogs in the wild are scavengers. They do not form packs but only form "temporary alliances" usually lasting only a few days at most. Third, if dogs are descended from wolves and retain wolf like traits (which would get way to scientific and be way too long to discuss here), wolves' packs are formed by a mating pair and their offspring. Once the offspring reach sexual maturity, they leave to form their own packs. There is no struggle for a place in the hierarchy or for dominance. It just doesn't happen.

Even the popularized "Alpha Roll" is totally misunderstood. Dogs and wolves simply don't do it. What is being seen is one dog voluntarily rolling over to another one. This is a way of saying "I'm totally at ease with you" or "We're just playing and I'm no real threat" among other things. But the dog rolling over volunteers the behavior.

Dominance, as science has defined it, is not a personality trait, but an aspect of a relationship. What that means is a dog is not dominant until another dog submits in a specific situation. For example, my two dogs, Puck and Duncan, come upon a tennis ball. Duncan is crazy about tennis balls and wants this one a lot. To avoid conflict or because he just doesn't care, Puck will submit to Duncan, in this case making Duncan the dominant one. Later, they come upon a mole. Puck is a terrier and loves to dig for them if they get in our yard. In this instance, Duncan will defer to Puck making Puck the dominant one.

If it matters to you, remember that you control the door, you control the food and water. Thus you are the dominate one. However, if you see your life with your dog as going to be a constant struggle for dominance, why even have a dog?