Alphas and Dominance as you know them are a myth

No problem! I only recently found out about it myself too and in hindsight it makes sense, but I'm not surprised it isn't common knowledge either. Just be careful!

Yeah, no problem at all! Things like that aren't often common knowledge :) Thank you for being such a good sport about it!

Thank you for putting this out there, it's so refreshing to see info on proper wolf dynamics. I mean, I wrote up a whole set of rules to challenge myself to play more like a natural wolf pack. My starter wolves will be the original parents, and a new male will be brought in to breed to the next generation. Obviously you can't play 100% realistically, and I had to make up some "these are super smart wolves" lore about puppy adoption to get my pack started, but I absolutely despise the hierarchy myths. It ALWAYS gets applied to dogs and I want to just rip my hair out. Ugh.

For dogs especially it's way simpler to redefine a 'dominant' attitude or behaviour as 'confrontational', and 'submissive' as 'non-confrontational'. That way you don't have all the associated ideas about one being better than the other, and so on. If you put it in those terms, it becomes easier for pet owners to realise that they don't have to be "the alpha". Half the things they end up immitating are rude, erratic, confrontational behaviours, and not all dogs will put up with that. Plus, studies have shown that when domestic dogs team up, they pick their (temporary) leaders based on who is the most sociable, not who is the most confrontational. It makes so much more sense to be calm and kind to your dog if you want them to listen to you, but people get these myths into their heads, then wind up with weird ego issues about them :/

oh wow this went OFF! hopefully I don't miss anyone, I'll try to respond to everything! Also, bolding names of who I'm responding to, so you can find it easier!

Venex; I didn't know that, thank you for telling us! Already went back and fixed it. I can, unfortunately, see exactly what you mean :/

Sneeps; Exactly. I don't mess with toxic masculinity like that. Both ethically and morally, and just... emotionally, it feels gross. Being queer probably pushes that a lot, I don't see gender the same way, and seeing it so strictly bound is icky. 

Maya; I can appreciate certain aspects of it, but there's also a lot that's uh. Questionable and uncomfortable. So I completely understand that.

Yeah, acting "alpha" to any dog will damage your relationship with it, literally according to science, and it's especially damaging to sensitive and naturally timid animals like wolves. Vets aren't behaviorists, and their word should never be taken as fact with anything but what they are trained in. Even then, get a second opinion if you have any doubts, especially with older vets. My stance on breeding wolfdogs is honestly the same as with dogs; do it with health and temperament testing, when you know they'll have good homes, and with a good buyer's contract. People WILL breed wolfdogs, so I'd rather support and encourage those who do it well than condemn them all. I don't support saying that x breed/mix should never be bred really, because it leads quickly into ARA/PETA territory and harms more than helps.

Vague; I am a fool who can't stand people spreading misinformation willy nilly when I can see it and its implications/consequences so clearly, so I had to lmao. I'm so glad that you all appreciate this and think I did good. I want to add in some more info and nuance and maybe some easy to digest links when I'm actually alive! I'll honestly be playing my pack pretty chaotically, I'm mostly here for the design aspect of these games, but I'll be utilizing some similar background lore!

You're absolutely correct about that, I was trying to think of the best analogous but less weighted words to use and couldn't think of them lmao. I don't think confrontational vs non-confrontational would be the best way to split dominant vs submissive though, as even dogs you would classify as dominant aren't looking for confrontation, so much as being more firm about their boundaries. Confrontational dogs are usually those with fear aggression, same gender aggression, territorialism, etc, so I hesitate to use that wording as well. It's complicated, which is the point and also the issue in conveying it simply T.T

Well said. The whole alpha theory thing is definitely perpetuated a lot, and exaggerated to a huge degree. Alpha theory far oversimplifies the actual dynamic - and sounds more like the idea of a lazy observer or someone trying to explain a very complex unit into layman's terms, and then misinterpreted.

I'm hoping to see more titles for our primary wolves open up here as events begin and such.

Paramnesia; Alpha theory originated in a very unnatural environment, so it's really worse than a lazy observation or hyper-simplification, it's just outright wrong. But people still cling to it and I don't understand why they get so upset when you question it. 

I'm pretty hopeful that more will be added, if Lioden is anything to go off of at least!

I really like this post but I have a minor nitpick. David Mech didn't create alpha theory in the context of wolves. It was created in the 1940s by Rudolf Schenkel who based his findings on captive grey wolves. There was no research on wild wolves during the time Rudolf was doing his research. Mech just made it popular and then redacted it once understandings changed.

Atomic; shoot, okay! Thank you for correcting me! I haven't done much looking into the former beliefs within the study of wild canines, so I wasn't aware of that! I'll go in and change that now so I don't forget lmao

@Coyote: Ahhh very very true! My apologies I keep stumbling over my words today lol! New community anxieties and all that 😭 I agree, people who breed them appropriately should be supported, and animals in proper homes should be allowed to stay with their families - my family had a friend who owned a high content wolf dog, but the county forced her to give it up because it was /too/ high content :(

My mom's dog was unfortunately a total accident. His mother got loose and met a half wolf dog and the rest is history. He was not in a good home and my mom and I's situation when we lived together when he was a pup definitely traumatized all of us, so he has anxiety almost as bad as mine, but he's in a good home with my mom now so all is well!! I just wish the owners of the wolf dog and the owners of my mom's dog's mother had all been more careful...

@Coyote The descriptors are more for humans to understand tbh, so I get that. To me it makes sense because they 'confront' the issue, and the other animal can choose to assert themselves (leading to a bit of a stand off) or back down and use appeasement behaviours. Then again, I've been told I'm sometimes weird or hyper-literal about definitions. Somebody studying canine behaviour should just make up some new words, haha.

I do find it silly that what people tend to think of as "alpha" or "dominant" behaviours are actually the ones that would be performed by insecure, poorly socialised, and/or fear-agressive canines. It's pretty much the opposite of what they're trying to achieve