Thats great, Id hate to have dogs that stole food, could be dangerous.

Dahlia has learned that plates on the ground = food for her. Plates left on coffee tables or in laps = not food for her. Which I'm fine with. I just let guests know not to put their food on the ground unless they want Dahlia to have it.

I'm glad someone has said that ~ I was about to say the same.

David Mech's 2008 paper "Whatever Happened to the Term Alpha Wolf" & David Ryan's article "Why Won't Dominance Die" on the APBC site, both explain why the outdated "pack theory" is flawed, why the term "alpha" should be replaced by "breeder" & that there's no such thing as a "beta enforcer". It also explains why it is inappropriate to compare the social structure of wolves with that of domestic dogs.

As for our pet dogs thinking that we could be "alphas" ~ well in the light of those articles using the term "breeders", rather than "alphas", I'd hate any dog I met would think of me as a "breeder"

I haven't read all the posts but i have a 5 month old bitch pup here at the moment that i am fostering. My two have both been ok with her, Kym doesn't bother with her all but Bella plays quite a lot with her but i noticed the pup tries to mount Bella whilst playing, so i though maybe shes coming into season or maybe it is a dominance thing ?

Or quite possibly neither! Many dogs hump when excited & often in play. It's usually a displacement behaviour, i.e. a normal part of a dog's behavioural repertoire but in an inappropriate context.

Of course your dog is not a mindless robot....In the same way that dominance does not have to mean force - control does not mean that you rule over your dog with an iron fist....control....in any situation, parent/child, owner/dog, rider/horse is about so many more different things....I take charge of my dogs (therefore control them) for example...I put them on leads around traffic...this is a from of control...I do this as (like a child) they are unaware of the danger they are in.....It is not a bad thing to control your dogs.
If I am walking multiple dogs - I will often call them back or get them into a down as another dog walks past - (they are fine - but single dogs often find it daunting) - again - it is not a bad thing or something done with yelling or force....it is simple control.

I'm very impressed with that, Dawn. Ben and Tai and Gucci respect each other's bones and bowls, but the poor cat seems to be fair game. I feed her now up on the bay window in the dining room, else they steal her food. Ben and Tai are very good in that they do not chase her in the house or hassle her in any way, but her food seems to be fair game. I could train them not to do it, I'm sure, but it's just easier to put the food up where they can't reach it. But I am impressed!

Thanks for the lesson, but no thanks! I don't care whether they are right or wrong, flawed or flawless, for me and my dogs the ideas I have accepted as being good ones work for us, and that's good enough for me. And I choose to think, as is my right, that David Mech has drawn the wrong conclusions from his later studies, for reasons only known to himself.

But that's going off topic!!

Um ok then. So much for learning and growing. You just go control your dogs then. I'll enjoy my non-dominance relationship with my dog.

I totally agree, which is why I train all my dogs to "trust" for food, and not touch it until I tell them.