Dr. Mech Debunks Dog Myths! Leadership in Wolves Explained

Get ready to have your mind blown as Dr. David Mech joins me on Episode #43 of the "Ask the Pack Leader Show" with Steve Del Savio to debunk some of the most widespread wolf and dog myths out there! Understanding leadership in wolves has never been clearer.

In this eye-opening episode, renowned wolf biologist Dr. Mech, with over 40 years of research under his belt, sets the record straight. His insights on wolf behavior have been controversially spun in the dog training world, but today, he's here to clear the air once and for all. From dominance to pack leadership, we're diving deep into what these concepts really mean in the animal kingdom and how they apply to the world of dogs.

Are you ready for a fresh perspective on dog psychology and training? Prepare to challenge everything you thought you knew about being a pack leader. Dr. Mech's explains how the dog training community has severely misinterpreted and misrepresented his work.

Dr. Mech describes how many dog trainers have been spreading this misinformation about his work for decades and debunks this misinformation being spread by dog trainers about alpha theory, dominance theory, what is a pack leader, who are pack leaders and pack dynamics.

If you're a fan of Cesar Millan, the Dog Whisperer, you may understand how many people in the dog training community incorrectly used Dr. Mech’s studies to discredit Cesar’s approach to working with dogs. Dr. David Mech makes it very clear what his research found, and what he really said, so this is an episode you can't miss!

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CHAPTERS:
00:00 Introduction
01:43 Welcome Dr. David Mech
02:09 Is there a Pack? Pack Leaders?
02:50 Role of Pack Leader
04:12 Dominance? What is it?
05:30 Punishment
06:01 Dominance Not Once Size Fits All
07:18 1970 Book vs. 1999 Paper
09:03 Does Your Work Prove No Pack, No Dominance, No Leadership w/ Dogs?
09:45 Clarity of His Work
10:19 Objectivity in Science
11:06 Controversy w/ Studying Wolves
12:21 Observing Wolves in Wild
12:59 International Wolf Center
13:45 Controversy in Dog World
14:32 Different Dogs, People & Relationships
15:09 Ground Scratching
18:13 Observing Wolves in Nature vs. Captivity
19:16 Wolves at Yellowstone
21:50 Where to Find Dr. Mech Work
22:20 Thank You Dr. Mech

[WendiwooJarmy]

Thank you for this interview!! I’m so sick of being told dogs don’t need a pack leader .. that it’s outdated 🤦🏻‍♀️🙈… I always say it’ can never be outdated it’s Mother Nature . And the hate for Cesar Millan needs to STOP 🛑 he is a genius .

[natmiguel]

I like at 3:06 when he says "I am not an authority on dogs."

Why we are still trying to study wolves to learn dogs is beyond me, and if you have not figured this out by now there is no hope for you, Dr. Mech says "I don't know" when referring to dogs.

[americandingo]

Love that you were able to get Dr Mech. There's been. A few things I don't agree with in your Training but this I'm so grateful you have this interview. I've been trying to explain to people what alpha theory really is. So many people including trainers don't bother to read his full journal I'm going to share this as much as possible. Trainers cherry pick articles off Google that have been written by people who cherry pick etc etc. And it doesn't help when people do not have comprehension skills.

[judithcampbell]

I have been studying both wolves and dr mech's work for decades now. Dr Mech is the godfather of wolf research and he is to be respected! Wolfman, I thank you for sharing your time and knowledge with me and the public! You are a godsend, Thank you. I have all your books and am a member of the international wolf center.

[candacewoolard]

Awesome interview! Thank you for sharing this!

[hay_Z]

This is a gold nugget!!! EVERY dog handler and trainer needs to hear this interview!!

[ninasorenson]

Thanks so much! I just had a text saying exactly what he says is opposite of what he said. This is so helpful!

[WendiwooJarmy]

This is actual gold 🥇!!!! THANK YOU IL BE SHARING THIS EVERYWHERE

[Angeleno]

Great interview. I look forward to reading more on David Mech's research. Thanks!

[tomsteve]

excellent video!! something id suggest- visit yellowstone before visiting the sanctuary.

[EmiliooooEstevez]

Great interview. Not a lot of interviews of Dr Mech on youtube and certainly, not with dog trainers. Going through the comments I was surprised to see how some people interpreted Dr Mech’s words to fit their narrative. As a scientist, he had to remind us that he is an expert on wolves, not dogs and probably does not want to get caught in the dog training controversy, but it is good to hear him talk about the wolf pack, the roles of the leaders, etc as some folks often claim that the wolf pack hierarchy is a myth. I guess now the argument will be that dogs are not wolves, so we can not learn anything about dogs by studying wolves.

[propheticintervention]

The interview structure of "question and answer" wasn't the best. I would suggest for you to take classes on interviewing. You want to ask more open ended questions. It seems like you are looking for a confirmation of your methods instead of opening the arena of discussion and allowing the allegory of "wolf" and "modern domesticated dog" to intermesh. I believe it was a missed opportunity to really hear from the Dr. and understand his conclusions and relevant applications to the modern dog dynamic with their humans. Have him on again and polish up your interviewing style. Love your content!

[xamaqueen]

Wow! I think dogs are “enough wolf for me!” 😬


Go away together exploring a wolf pack!

[carolinachioli]

La pregunta es si ese nivel de estructura se sostiene en relaciones interespecificas

[millie]

if you, or no one knows why dogs do ground scratching, why in your video do you say you know exactly why that dog is ground scratching and train it out of a dog? how are you training dogs by assuming things about why they do their behaviour? thats so unprofessional and just crazy? this hasn’t really changed anything about how i see it tbh, and before you come at me for having a ‘closed mind’ just because i disagree with you, dogs always have my best interest at heart. so if this were to teach me something counter to what i believe i would have no problem in saying so if it would benefit my relationship with my dogs and the dogs i work with at the shelter. but, dr mech said himself that wolves are a family pack with a human-like hierarchy. dr mech is an expert on wolves and clearly doesn’t know a lot about dogs, which speaks volumes to me and really shows the gap between wild wolves and domesticated dogs. so training domesticated dogs using an approach that has been formulated around wolves is just crazy? i personally have a big issue with it and i find it disrespectful to the dogs themselves. they deserve better and more respect than to be trained to be afraid if they do something wrong and forced into submission. the exact same way i would have a problem with a human family setting that the parent(s) were using extremely strict rules & fear based tactics to make the children do what they want.

[classicmax]

i feel like a lot of the debate on this subject among laymen comes from people defining "dominance" differently from each other. that's only natural, but i only wish people would clearly communicate how they define any ambiguous terms before they argue. wolves have dominance hierarchies, but when we say that, we don't mean the leaders' positions are necessarily established or maintained through aggressive behaviors. however, if someone hears 'dominance' and thinks 'domination', then the word implies aggression or threats of violence, so they'll disagree that there's dominance hierarchies in wolves.
there's also the misconception that if wolves don't establish or maintain their hierarchies with aggressive behavior, then it must be true that they don't train less-senior dogs using behaviors that perhaps resemble aggression. as he says, wolves sometimes snap at their pups. it's important to clarify, i think, that a correction doesn't exist to establish a hierarchy; the hierarchy is there regardless, the correction is just to correct a behavior.
i also see some people saying that _all_ animals have social hierarchies, and people saying that a group cannot exist without a hierarchy, neither of which are true.

[JamieHumeCreative]

The breeding pair. The parents are the leaders, teachers, protectors. Equally so.

[WendiwooJarmy]

My male rotti started scratching the ground after a wee .. he would growl and his hair on end .. so I started correcting him because he can be dominant to other un neutered males .. Correcting this and any dominant signs has made him a lot calmer !! 🤗

[Rainn]

Thank you so much. You have no idea the amount of time that I’ve had people say dogs cannot exhibit any form of dominant behavior, to others dogs or to people. And their excuse was Dominance has been debunked. Finally I understand that it has not been debunked, it actually just occurs in a different way than we thought.

[sandramenard]

Thank you for this relevant interview which helps to re-establish the understanding of dominance and leadership within a pack and especially of its existence within a pack of dogs. I received training in 2023 on dog training in Quebec, Canada from a renowned French-speaking trainer who works with wolves and he taught us that Mech himself had refuted his own theory of hierarchy within wolf packs, without explaining it in its entire context and with the nuances provided and that thus domination, hierarchy and the term "Alpha" no longer applied. This means that many dog ​​trainers are trained with the understanding that hierarchy does not exist within dogs, nor even dominance signals and an almost religious dogma has formed in the world of dog training and that any dog ​​trainer who refers to these terms is labeled as "not of a positive and benevolent approach".