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I just got thru reading "The Genius of Dogs" (Hare and Woods). Good book - I'll recommend it. Talks quite a bit the bond between human and dog. Also helps dismantle the "alpha" business along the way, but while doing so also helps clear up why dogs DO have some dominance traits, but not an "alpha". The authors point out that feral dogs, when they pack up, don't follow the physically dominant dog - they follow the dog with the most friends (doggy friends, of course!). Different dynamic.
BTW, in case you didn't already know this, there has been more research done on dogs in the last 20-30 years than ever in history. A whole lot of stuff that was no more than "he said/she said" between different trainers and breeders 50 years ago is now validated - or not.
I just got thru reading "The Genius of Dogs" (Hare and Woods). Good book - I'll recommend it. Talks quite a bit the bond between human and dog. Also helps dismantle the "alpha" business along the way, but while doing so also helps clear up why dogs DO have some dominance traits, but not an "alpha". The authors point out that feral dogs, when they pack up, don't follow the physically dominant dog - they follow the dog with the most friends (doggy friends, of course!). Different dynamic.
BTW, in case you didn't already know this, there has been more research done on dogs in the last 20-30 years than ever in history. A whole lot of stuff that was no more than "he said/she said" between different trainers and breeders 50 years ago is now validated - or not.
I know - the research when you get into it is truly fascinating. Basically, my dogs never fail to surprise me. Some of the stuff we've been working on in our agility class - much of the theory guiding our instructor is based on that new research - is about how dogs respond to our body language. It's been enlightening.
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