Take a walk in any park and you'll see them flapping and calling out in vain, shouting, yelling, stamping their feet. These are the frustrated owners of disobedient and dominant dogs. The dogs themselves are unaffected by their owner's display. To them it is nothing more than a toddler-tantrum. They won't go back to their owners or obey commands until they decide they are ready to do so.

The Pack Mind

In order to understand why some dogs seem to be disobedient it is necessary to look back at the ancestors of the dog; the wolf. Wolves live in packs that have a rigid system of heirarchy. Each member of the pack has his or her own rank and status, it behaves submissively to those who are of higher status than itself. When one pack-member challenges another for higher status, there will be a repeated refusal to submit, which occasionally escalates into fighting. There can be two possible outcomes; either the dominant wolf remains dominant and the challenger is defeated, or else the challenger wins and rises in rank while the defeated wolf is demoted in status.

Domestic dogs are no different from wolves in this respect. When a group of dogs live together it will be relatively easy to spot which dog is the dominant one, and the order in which the others rank below it. But what about the dog which lives alone, with its human family? The answer is that the human family replaces the canine pack, and each member of the human family, as well as the dog, has it's own status within the "pack".

In the ideal situation, the dog has the lowest status in the human pack. It does not get upset by this (except in rare cases), It is happy to know its position, and a low-status dog will be easy to train and command, looking to its human pack-mates for instruction at every opportunity. Problems occur only when a dog becomes unsure of its status within the pack, or worse, it realises that it is the pack leader.

Dominant dog behaviour

A dominant dog will display its status as pack leader in many ways, When out for a walk, it will pull the owner where it wants to go. Inside the house it may show agressive tendencies, barking or growling at its owners. It may get posessive over its bed, toys, food, or your favourite armchair. It may get destructive when left alone, and may be particularly clingy when its owners are present. Do not mistake clinginess in a dog for insecurity. A clingy dog watches its owners carefully and follows them around the house because it does not trust them to be able to supervise themselves. To a dominant dog, the owners are like children, and it is the dog's duty as pack leader to protect them and take care for them.

A dominant dog is at best, an embarrasment. Owners get disheartened when thy see other dogs happily obeying commands like "sit" and "stay" while their dog blatantly ignores them. At worst, a dominant dog can be a danger to itself and others. It may run out into a road leaving the owner unable to call it back to safety. It may even bite its owners.