Its in the subject line really!  Any clues anyone? 

How do you define 'Top Dog'? With my four the balance of power seems to vary according to the activity.

Really?  So one is not in charge overall?  I'm trying to get away from using the word dominance, I guess I'm trying to find out who is the highest ranking.  Not just with my two but also within her dog walking group.  I didn't realise this could vary according to activity!

I think it depends on your dogs. With mine, who are 10, 3 and 1, all males with the 1 yr old entire, it is more clear cut because of the age gap, but as JG says it can vary depending on the situation. A friend of mine has 2 neutered males, one is 3, the other is nearly 2. When it comes to toys the eldest is clearly in charge but bring food into the situation and the youngest is very definitely the boss!

Also I think the sexes make a difference. With domestic dogs it is usually the bitch who is in charge with the next eldest male following her. In larger packs there will often be an obvious 'omega' at the bottom. Again this varies from pack to pack but it is not always clear who is in charge, although the dogs usually know!

Within a dog walking group, by which I assume you mean literally a group of dogs and handlers who all go walking together, things will change again. The pack's alpha males and females will be in control of their subordinates and it is down to them (and handlers of course!) to decide who plays with whom, etc. The alphas themselves will not usually confront each other unless they are particularly fiesty or a problem arises they can see no other way out of. Sometimes you can get a very strong alpha bitch who will take charge over the entire pack but this is normally done by strength of character. In other words, dogs are not stupid, they don't want to get injured unnecessarily!

I must emphasize this can be drastically different from one pack to another and is just a theory on how packs work. There will always be dogs who are different and don't behave as expected so please don't go thinking your dog is weird because it doesn't behave like this! ;-) Personally I am fascinated by pack dynamics and spend hours trying to work out what different behaviours mean.

Hope that helps, or has it made it clear as mud?! :-)

you are right, its totally fascinating.  I'm trying to work out my dogs current positions and the fact that one may take charge in different situations is definitely food for thought!  Thank you for replying with such an easily understandable and interesting post!

If it helps, one of my boys will go into the undergrowth to seek out rabbits. His litter brother and older sister wil space themselves out to see what gets flushed out. Their mum (who they give way to in the house) gets barged out of the way and plays no part in this. But if she goes over to see what they've caught they step back ...

>So one is not in charge overall? 

Exactly right. Within the canine group, each situation has different 'leaders' - at least as far as I (an alien species to them) can perceive. Of course they accept that they are all subordinate to all the humans in the family - the final decision in what's allowed to happen is ours.

This has reassuringly been proven to us this weekend where one of our 'puppies', now aged nearly 6 years, came to stay overnight for the first time since she left at 8 weeks. Our (humans') decision was accepted as final by all - including the visitor!

If I had to take a guess at the ranking within the dogs I'd say that the oldest bitch (now spayed) is top, her oldest daughter (also spayed) is second, and the two entire males (aged nearly 6) are dithering as to who's at the bottom. But what's important is that any grumbling between them stops instantly with an "OY!" from any human.
:)

And is it agressiveness and submissiveness that tells you who is who? 

Just like children, a subordinate dog will fight back if pushed too far. Often the top-ranking' dog will allow subordinates to get away with bad behaviour.

Also keep in mind that dogs can be veru fluid in the hierarchy according to what is happening - one may be more confident out on walks and appear to lead, another in doors or in the garden.

Any dog may resource guard too, for example; it doesn't have to be the "top dog".

Lindsay :)
X

Jodenice - thought of you last evening when a 'situation' broke out downstairs...My youngest collie gets very jealous when the middle one comes up on my lap for some fuss. Last night he actually nipped him as he climbed up. This resulted in a very noisy one way fight between the 3yr old and the 1 yr old. The 3yr old pushed the other one onto the floor, holding him by his scruff and repeatedly grabbed at him. The 10yr old circled around them, occassionally making a lunge at the 1yr old too. Despite the noise and violence I don't class this as a serious fight - no blood was spilled. I let it go on just long enough for the youngster to realise he was on his own and I wasn't going to rescue him when he does stupid things like nip the others. Then I grabbed hold of the 3yr olds tail and pulled him out. The 1yr old then began to circle almost frantically around the room, back and forth looking towards the still growling 3yr old. In a perfect example of an alpha male taking control of his pack and backing up the ultimate pack leader, i.e. me, the 10yr old began to push the youngster back and whenever he tried to pass him, would 'collie nip' at his ear. He kept this up until he gave in and laid down. It was, you sort that one, I've got this one, OK mum?

He doesn't always get this right though. Sometimes when I tell them all to get out of the kitchen when I'm cooking he will turn and swear at the others and push them out. He looks most baffled when I tell him I was speaking to him too! :p

Well its funny you should say that - I have noticed that if I tell the pup off (for example, trying to get round the back of the TV and chew all the wires) - I can quite clearly say NO as he's going behind, whereupon he will turn around to come back  - and find Poppy rushing to the front of me to really growl at him and lunge at him, its almost like she's joining in telling him off!

Top dogs are rarely actively aggressive - they are the calm leader types, benevolent.  Think about it, would you rather have a nice boss at work or a complete bumhole? :)

This is very interesting, when we tell our youngest off he always turns and growls at one of the other dogs as if he's blaming him. Why is this.
Sandie.