Social Dominance Theory in dogs
It is occurring when one individual actively competes with another for access to or control over a desire resource. The concept of social dominance deals with social relationships and was developed originally for bees, then chickens, and applied eventually to wolves. In the 1970s, social dominance was studied in captive wolves and described as a hierarchy-type situation. Then, it was extrapolated to the domestic dog. It is way too often assumed that animals misbehave because they are striving for a higher rank. As a result, many dog trainers and owners think they need to use force or coercion to modify these undesirable behaviors.
Social Dominance Theory explains wolves' behaviors. In wolf packs, the dominant individual is defined as the animal who actively seeks out competition for social rank, either through the use of ritualized communication patterns or through overt aggression. The individual who most often controls access to and possession of resources is considered to be the most dominant animal. Adult wolves engage in different roles to help the pack survive. It is a cooperative living situation, not a dictatorship. Unfortunately for dogs, the concept of dominance communicates to humans that they must be masters over their dog and that their dogs must obey.
However, in dogs there is little evidence supporting the highly popularized belief that dogs form hierarchal social groups. The dominance model has limited use when discussing dog behavior because dogs are not wolves. While it is sometimes helpful to describe behaviors as dominant and submissive, we should not label an individual dog as dominant. Social Dominance Theory was not intended to be used to predict conflict management across species.
Priority access to resources in pet dogs is not the major concern. The majority of behaviors owners want to modify are excessive vocalization, unruly greetings, and failure to come when called. These behaviors are not related to value of resources and may not even involve aggression. These behaviors often occur because they have been inadvertently rewarded or because the dog has not been trained in appropriate behavior to do instead.
According to the American Veterinary Society of Animal Behavior, pet owners really want is to not gain dominance but to obtain the ability to influence their pets to perform behaviors willingly, which is one accepted definition of leadership, not dominance.