Today I want to talk about a topic that causes a lot of controversy, and it is dominance in dogs , is there dominance among dogs? some trainers, trainers, or ethologists, say that there is no such thing as dominance among dogs even if they are not pack animals or have hierarchies among them. Some are bothered by the term ” pack leader ” and believe that we should not be leaders or dominant with dogs and that applying dominance to our dogs is even an act of cruelty.

Is there dominance in dogs?

In my experience and what I have learned from working with packs of dogs, I say that there is dominance in dogs , even from puppies they exhibit dominant behaviors and it is nothing serious. The real problem has been the negative connotation that some trainers or trainers have given it.

During 5 years working in shelters and with packs of dogs I have learned that dogs are animals that have the need to be part of a pack, and in a pack there are two positions, dominant or submissive, leader or follower, people who have two or more dogs have the experience that one of their dogs tends to dominate the rest when it comes to playing or eating, or when it barks or does something the rest follow. Even mothers dominate their cubs when they engage in improper corrective behavior.

But what is dominance?

As I always say, dominance has nothing to do with being violent with our dogs , dominance is nothing more than being assertive and safe when communicating with our dogs in order to avoid territorial or dominant behaviors against other animals or people. A dominant dog is not an aggressive dog or a bad dog, it is a very high energy dog ​​that tries to control situations that seem irregular to it.

Let us understand that domination is not a problem, the problem is when the people responsible for pets do not know how to control certain situations and the dog escalates in its behavior and gets out of control.

So is being leaders bad for our dogs?

Not at all. The word leader is not negative, leading is nothing more than guiding in a positive way, if we are leaders for our dogs we will earn their trust and respect.

I leave you this video where you can see how Brenda (the mother) dominates Samantha (the daughter) when it comes to playing, without hurting her at any time and knows how to stop when ordered.