The Pack

Late last week we got a lab mix in and today she was introduced to another lab named Walker. Between the two dogs, Millie and Walker, Walker is definitely the leader. I walked the two of them together and Millie was looking to Walker the entire time for guidance and permission to go ahead of him as I wanted her to.
Later as the two were allowed to play together Walker asserted his dominance very clearly but without aggression. He used eye contact and body position to communicate with Millie and tell her what he wanted her to do.
While I only got to observe these two interact with each other for about an hour I saw some of Cesar Millan's theories in a real life situation. Energy^1 and body language^1 were exactly how Walker and Millie communicated with each other. Walker was clearly the dominant dog in the pair and he showed it through his body language as he nudged, pushed, corrected, and herded Millie to make her do what he wanted.
On the other hand, Millie showed her submission to Walker in her posture. She kept her tail low but moving to show her calm-submissiveness. She kept her ears back as she was intent on what Walker wanted from her.

The most important part of this observation is the application to the life of dog owners and dog trainers. As humans striving to make their dogs well behaved to make humane society dogs more adoptable it is important to understand how dogs think and interact with each other to keep the pack stable and productive. Humans hoping to control their dogs and fulfill their dogs need to take the role of the pack leader just like Walker has done in his relationship with Millie.

More will come as I continue to work with these dogs in the days to come.