Dominance in dogs: fact or fiction?

AUTHOR: Barry Eaton

PUBLISHING YEAR: 2010

SUMMARY: List of pack theory counter-arguments (I mean, against the pack theory)

AUDIENCE: For those of you who have developed a real aversion to the dominance theory, it will crystallise your arguments. For those of you who interpret every dog behaviour in terms of dominance, it might make a dent.

REVIEW: Another must-read (sorry!). At least this one won’t take you long, It’s tiny.

It lists, in layman’s terms, the arguments against the pack theory (dog comes from wolf, wolves try to dominate each other, dog tries to dominate us).

The problem with this book is that it aims at condemning the dominance theory. This makes it inevitably one-sided, as it fails to report any experiment/observations that suggest that there might something to the pack theory (they exist, so the jury is still arguably out there still).

I personally found the book extremely enjoyable, and would recommend it to anyone as long as you remember that it is not a balanced survey on the subject of dominance, but a collection of very sound arguments against the public’s (and some trainers’) obsession with the topic.

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