Dominance is a misunderstood and misapplied concept
Animal behaviour expert David Ryan at BVNA Congress.
"Do animal owners need to be the boss?" asked animal behaviour expert, David Ryan, at the BVNA Congress in Telford on Friday 6 October.
He began by analysing the definition of 'dominance' and suggested that there is a connection with gene theory and the importance of survival, not only as an individual, but when living in groups. "You can either fight over every crumb or develop a relationship to reduce costly combat," he said.
It is only when one individual submits to another that the competition abates and dominance can occur and a hierarchical structure begins to emerge. In theory this structure falls in line with Darwinian evolutionary theory and the 'survival of the fittest', such that the dominant individuals will tend to breed most often and provide the strongest offspring in the group.
However, there are several alternatives to this 'linear' approach to hierarchy and these beg the question as to whether being 'dominant' is necessarily always the 'best strategy'. There are examples where activities in dogs – that humans brand as dominance – are actually a consequence of competition.
And, of course, positions in the hierarchy are constantly changing. "Dominance is an outcome and not a characteristic trait," said David.
The typical free-living wolf pack is a family with the adult parents guiding the activities. The female predominates primarily in pup care and the male in defence and territorial issues. Dogs living in the feral state have a fluid social structure and scavenge rather than hunt. There is, therefore, little point in having a hierarchy.
We need to remember that pet dogs are not living in a natural state. They don't have any need to form a hierarchy because they are invariably provided with everything they need. Most of the behaviour we as humans interpret as 'greeting behaviour' is in fact 'submission'.
In horses, basing human-horse relationships on dominance may actually be harmful. They tend to form bilateral relationships in which one will regularly defer to another. In the wild, this helps group cohesion and stability.
Aggression is costly and avoided wherever possible within the group. Submissive postures and moving away are the primary method of dealing with this. Only when the relationship breaks down do individuals resort to aggression.
Concluding, David said: "Animals perform their own species-specific behaviours towards us because that's all they have. They form relationships with us through learning what works best for them."
Because we have put animals into situations that are not natural, we have a responsibility to give them guidance; but this means that we have a choice of methods of how to show it. Any consideration of dominance is about how this guidance is provided. Keep providing appropriate guidance and the animals will 'promote' you to be 'the boss'.
RCVS' Mind Matters Initiative (MMI) has launched round two of its veterinary mental health research grants.
