The Pack Leader Approach, how and where did it originally come from?

It's very easy to simply dismiss the 'pack leader' approach nowdays. But surely it came from research (flawed or not).

How did this theory come up and what was the research to substantiate it?

I understand it came from studying wolves but how did they equate that behaviour to dogs and humans?

I really don't know, but I do find it very interesting to watch Ben and Missy...

If Missy gets through the bars of my gate and comes back in, Ben picks her up by the head/neck/throat and carries her to the back patio, where he unceremoniously drops her.. To me that looks like negative reinforcement... Why would the puppy want to come back? She always does, and soon she won't be able to fit through the bars...

Also when Missy is getting too annoying, Ben will flip her over, if she doesn't do it herself...


If he gets really annoyed with her he'll pick her up and shake her like a toy... When she screams loud enough, he'll let her go...

I don't know the full workings of the animal's mind, so I leave them to it, unless it gets too hard for me...

Missy never have any injuries whatsoever, and she's not at all scared of Ben (I would be, if he did all that stuff to me)

It's flawed because the studies done were on captive packs of wolves, if you fancy reading this is a good article.

http://www.diamondsintheruff.com/packtheory.html

IMO Dogs do need rules and boundaries, but we're a different species so they don't see us as part of their pack!

Ethology has come a long way in 50 years.

Sorry a bit O/T here I know - but no way would I let a dog shake a puppy
You are right we are not dogs and we cannot understand 100% what they are thinking
But we as the humans can set the behaviour we find acceptable and reinforce that

My friends let their older dog have the job of teaching the puppy all its rules - they thought their older dog could do no wrong and found it funny to watch him carefully taking toys and chews from the puppy

Now the younger dogs is v agressive around dogs when she has a toy or a chew cos she has learnt that they get taken off her
and the poor thing is getting punished for that - when they should have taught her that she is safe to eat her chews in peice

didnt it come from the schenkel report you linked for us the other day?

I was thinking that but I still couldn't equate the two (dogs and wolves).

Colonel Konrad Most

I think it was Mech (who to his own chagrin did much to promote the alpha wolf idea based on Schenkel's work) who explained that it was just assumed that dogs and wolves were thought similar genetically, and pack animals, etc. It's really very flimsy science because the whole domestication process was not even taken into account.

When you look at it, there is no reason for pack leader ideas at all - but they caught on.

Wys
x

Previously to Schenkel, Norwegian Zoologist, Thorleif-Shjelderup gave us dominance theory, when he first described hierarchy in chickens in the 20s.

And going back to the start of the human/canine relationship, I'm sure it just worked and was accepted. Every family/community/pack has leaders.