Pernille Hustad

Social behaviour of wolves and domestic dogs

 

 

Domestic dogs and wolves appear to be quite different. It is hard imagine our sweet, innocent dog that is waiting for us at home to be closely connected to the wild, dangerous wolf. What are the differences and similarities in the social behaviour of wolves and domestic dogs?

Usually we find that wolves live in groups called packs. In the wild a pack normally consists of a male, a female and their offspring. The breeding pair is known as the alpha pair, they are the only ones to copulate within the pack. Within the pack, there is a strict hierarchy with the alpha male on the top. The alpha female is typically lower ranked than the male, but together they are dominant over all the other wolves in the pack. The highest ranking mature wolves under the alpha pair, is known as the beta wolves. On the bottom of the ranking list we find the immature, young wolves who play-fight to form their own dominance hierarchy.

When speaking about the average dog we are used to see in families, there are normally only one or two dogs in each family. So how can we compare the single dog in a family with a pack of wolves in the wild? For the dog, the family is the pack and the hierarchy is within the family. The parents are the alpha pair, which also could be reffered to as the breeding pair. Under the alpha pair we will find all the mature people and the dog, when it is mature. A mature dog will feel dominant over immature kids. We often see dogs riding the leg of children at a certain age. This is a way for the dog to dominate the child.

The ranking system also works for the feeding within the pack. Wolves hunt together and share their pray. It is the alpha pair that eats first and then the rest of the pack in ranking order. Wolves are sharing animals and will spare food for those who are week, young or hurt. In order for the humans in a family to show their superiority, they should eat before giving the dog its meal. This is especially important when handeling with potentially dominant dogs.

It is a well known fenomen that all male dogs, when mature, raise theis hind leg and squart som urin during walks. By observing wolves, we see that this is a way of marking its terrirory. Both male and female wolves rais their hind leg for marking a spot and they sit like we know female dogs when simply urinating. The marking of territory is discussed to be as much just a warning to other animals of their presence, because wolf packs are travelling over such great distances, that the territorial nature of wolves is doubted. But it is observed that wolves use the same paths and often mark the same spot each time they pass the spot. Wolves can differentiate the smell of a pack mate’s urine and the urine of a stranger and it is normal that the pack members mark the same spot in turn. This may be a reason for why dogs mark the same spot every time we go out and on its way back will smell the same spot before marking it again. The dog is marking its territory. Because dogs have adapted to human life and are used to meet other dogs in what it finds as his or her territory, it will not fight or try to scare the other dog away, but if we study the bodylanguage of the two dogs meeting, we will see that there is a comunication where one is the dominant.

Comunication is ecxhange of signals between two individuals who understand each other. Bodylanguage is an important way for dogs to communicate and it is much used when showing dominance or subordinance. A dominant dog will walk holding head and tale high when passing other dogs, while subordinate dogs will show this by holding its tale low and sink a little in the body when passing. A secure and dominant dog, together with a scared dog will turn its head away and initiate for play telling the other dog that it is nothing to be afraid of. Tail and head are also important parts of the bodylanguage of wolves to show their position in the pack and it is used in the same way as dogs. Dogs and wolves cannot understand words. They use their voice in form of barking or howling. The romantic picture of the wolf sitting and howling to the moon is missleading. Wolves howl to communicate with the pack, with other pack or signals. They often howl before a hunt and to gather the pack after a successful hunt. Wolves will whol when alone to locate the pack and packs may howl to locate other packs, because other packs will respond to the howling. They can recognice a howl of a pack mate since each wolf has its own frequency and way of howling. The alternation of frequencies often fools people to think 5-6 wolves are about 20. This can be heard for 16km under favourable conditions. Domestic dogs use more barking and grawling than howling. It is used for variation and increase of body language in close contact with other individuals and it is more tolerated by humans. We teach the dog not to howl when it is left alone. This is in contras of the wolves’ nature where they need to locate the pack to find it again.

Dogs and wolves have many simmilar ways of communicate and organize. The largest differences are because of human intervention. We have formed an animal the serves our purposes and now is thought of as humans’ best friend.