My Puppy, My Self

How dogs make us human.

by Lee Charles Kelley

Is Your Dog Dominant? Part II

By Lee Charles Kelley on April 10, 2009 in My Puppy, My Self

How can we continue to apply the word dominance to a set of supposedly instinctive behavioral tendencies in dogs and wolves that a) are neither natural nor instinctive, and b) that almost always result in the supposedly dominant animal getting the wrong end of the stick? Read More

What I've Seen with My Dog

Submitted by Frances M. Kuffel on April 10, 2009 - 4:53pm.

I love this because I have what everyone immediately says is a dominant -- alpha -- female. She humps all her friends constantly but when it's time to play, she's on her back, offering her throat. Humping, I've come to believe, is a hundred other things but it's dominance. Not when she's willing to be absolutely prone.

Thanks for your research here.

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Very interesting and

Submitted by Amy Little on April 11, 2009 - 3:26am.

Very interesting and convincing, shows how much of behavior that is assumed to be evolutionary can be actually environmental. I think this also applies to the scientific-sounding arguments of evolutionary biology that explains everything from sex to shopping in evolutionary terms. I take issue with the usage of weaker or inferior though, it puts a certain slant on the interaction that leads to other associations. like the female wolf being inferior etc. One may also call that behavior clever, non aggressive or at least refer to one as physically weaker.
Anxiety and aggression are also related in human behavior, aren't they. This way of viewing things can help people see human relationships differently.