Like the Alpha A-hole comment as well. Spot on.

From the cross-disciplinary
perspective on social nature of species, members of all social species will
change behavior based on situation and environment, and how the social context
relates to fitness goals. In a context where dominance roles allows for the
best availability to resources and the least danger, members of a social
species will often vie for dominance. Yet
not all members exhibit the same level of drive for dominance.

The problem with the
alpha concept is we tend to look for a label or character - a package of
explanation and description that persists across contexts and time. We
liked the idea of the label “Alpha” because it is easy, and the combination
with the "character" model of describing people yields the popular (yet
inaccurate) view about dominance behavior in people. Problem is this does
not work consistently for social species (including us).

Regarding the “artificial”
pack of wolves, in a “real” pack there is various and stratified social roles
that evolve with the pack. Dominance will always be one of those roles, even
the first role that must be determined, but the difference is the type of
dominant behavior and the level of aggressive behavior observed. Dispelling
with the Alpha concept did not dispel with the concept of a dominant role and I
believe they are still using the term Alpha.
It’s the description, explanation and meaning associated with the
original Alpha that was mostly myth, not the idea of pack leader or who has the
role of dominance. Compare servant
leadership to dictatorship. Both are dominant roles.

The dogs are cute.

Comments re Alpha Assholes sums it all up. Nice one.

Have a good weekend

Nice. And the idea of alpha personalities as a euphemism for assholes reminded me of this 'celebrated' piece by @julien in which he essentially encourages people to embrace their inner asshole. Thanks for the counterpoint. https://medium.com/@julien/...

Perhaps the alpha notion is an anthropomorphism, as the tendency to defer to a "pack" leader seems particularly strong in humans.

Hey this doesn't support Markdown! Switch to Isso stat! ;)

That reminds me of an interview I heard from a trainer for the [Cavalia](http://www.cavalia.net/en) show in which he explained that training was actually play sessions between the humans and the horses and that they were extra sensitive to the mood and the characters of both.

Along similar lines, there's a beautiful and moving documentary called 'Buck', about a horse trainer who uses sensitivity and positive reinforcement with dramatic results.

Totally agree, both on the merits of the films (this and the first one) and on the training aspect you bring on. Interesting!