No

by Lee Charles Kelley

Created on: May 29, 2009   Last Updated: May 30, 2009

Since there's no such thing as a pack leader in nature it would be impossible for any dog to view any trainer, or even another dog as a pack leader. The idea of the pack leader is a complete myth, which originated in the 1930s in Germany by a Nazi biologist who had never actually observed the behaviors of wild wolves when he developed his theories. His Nazi leanings, which made him an avid fan of Hitler in particular and totalitarianism in general, colored his thinking. No wonder he saw the wolf pack as being run by a "strong leader!" That was his entire world view at the time. The idea of the pack leader has been thoroughly disproven and discredited by thousands upon thousands of hours of research on wild wolf behavior done in the last 40 years.

Here are some facts about actual wild wolf behavior:

No wolf always walks ahead of the group when they're traveling. They take turns. That's a fact.

No wolf always eats before other members of the group. That's a fact.

No wolf always goes through an opening or crosses a threshold before other members of the group. That's a fact.

No wolf ever puts one of his packmates in an alpha roll. That's a fact.

No wolf tells his packmates how to behave. That's a fact.

Dominance displays are rare in wild wolf packs and usually only take place between the mother and father over how to disburse food to their young. The female almost always wins these battles by acting "submissive," which would mean she's supposedly subservient to the male, when she's actually almost always victorious.

These are all facts. And here's what they all add up to:

THERE IS NO SUCH THING AS A PACK LEADER.

Yes, it's true that in any animal group there will be one member who is more experienced, more knowledgeable, and who has more animal magnetism than the others. And most members of the group will tend to be drawn to or gravitate toward that animal. But animal magnetism-which is felt on a visceral level-is something quite different from rank, leadership, and authority-which are almost purely mental constructs.

There's another factor. In wolf packs it was long believed that the alpha or leadership role changes hands during the hunt. We now know, through the principles of emergence theory, that the reason this seems to happen is simply because one member of the pack will have a better skill set for a certain type of terrain at some point during the hunt, or another wolf may have more emotional flexibility for adjusting to the changes in the prey animal's energy during that part of the hunt, or what's even simpler: one wolf may suddenly be in closer proximity to the prey at certain points, giving the impression that the others are now "following" his leadership when in fact the hunt is always led by the prey.

Going back to dogs, in any situation where dogs are in conflict it's always about who has control over resources, i.e., things in the environment. And I don't know if you've noticed this, but you automatically have more control over your dog's environment than he does. Who has the keys to the car and the house? Who knows how to operate doorknobs? Who knows how to use a can opener? Clearly, if a dog is capable of perceiving things like leadership or superiority, your dog already sees you in that light.

So why doesn't your dog listen to you the way the dogs on TV listen to Cesar Millan? Because he acts more like a predator than like a pack leader.

A predator?

Yes. The spatial relationship between two dogs or wolves takes place on the horizontal. Their eyes face each other. They're on the same level. But the spatial relationship between dog and human is quite different. We move through space on the vertical. Our eyes are far above theirs. They look up at us, we look down at them. Spatial relationships-which are concrete and visceral-are far more important to dogs than intangibles like leadership or status-which again are more abstract and conceptual in nature.

This brings up an interesting point about wolves, which is that in the wild the only animal that poses serious threat of deadly harm to a wolf (other than homo sapiens) is the same animal the wolf usually hunts: elk, moose, deer, bison. These animals have sharp horns and hooves that could easily kill or maim a wolf. When a moose, for example, is running away from the wolf, the wolf is energized by its movement, and is highly attracted through his desire to chase and bite. But if a moose finds itself cornered, and as a result it turns and stares down at the wolf, brandishing its antlers, the wolf will stop dead in his tracks.

In the wolf's experience the prey has now become the predator.

Note the similarities in the spatial dynamics between the moose and wolf on the left, and the dog and man on the right. Essentially the wolf (on the left) and the pet dog (on the right) have a horizontal axis of symmetry while the moose and the man are vertical. Now note how different these two images are in comparison to the two wolves in the center. They're facing each other directly; they're on the same horizontal axis.

I'm not suggesting that a dog thinks his owner is a moose. What I am suggesting is that even there were such a thing as a pack leader in wild wolf packs (which there isn't), and even if dogs had inherited that behavioral tendency from wolves (which they haven't), there is no way a dog could confuse a human being for another dog, i.e., his "pack leader." It simply could not happen. As I said before, the relationships between objects in space is concrete while the idea of the "pack leader" is more abstract and cerebral. So when you add yet another cerebral element-that the human owner or trainer is a stand-in for or symbolizes the already abstract idea of the pack leader-you're getting into mental territory that is way beyond what a dog's brain is capable of.

The facts of nature and evolution strongly suggest that wolves, and by extension dogs, have a long adaptive history of being cautious about any animal whose eyes are set in a large head and are looking down at them from above, particularly when that animal is facing them directly. They would feel even more fearful or cautious if that vertical being happened to be coming toward them.

Now think of the way Cesar Millan acts when he enters a room and believes he's being a "pack leader." Picture the way he stands and stares down at a dog. The level of gaze he has seems "magnetic," correct? The dogs are on their "best behavior." Is that because they see him as a pack leader? Of course not. The spatial dynamic is nothing at like that between a supposed pack leader and another dog or wolf. But remember, when a moose suddenly turns and looks down at a wolf, the wolf stops dead in his tracks. And that's exactly how most misbehaving dogs act when Cesar Millan enters a room.

Another of looking at is that when Millan acts the way he does the dog isn't thinking, "I respect your authority and leadership over me so I will submit and do as you ask." It's far more likely that the he's thinking, "What can I do to survive this moment? Show me how I can keep from being injured or killed." So while he probably means well, the feeling Millan is actually stimulating in dogs is the polar opposite of magnetism or leadership. It's really just a form of intimidation, pure and simple.

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