Originally posted by PJ's Mom
I was always under the impression that you had to create the alpha dog, or at the very least, reinforce who the alpha dog is. This is all very interesting.
You do not create an alpha dog. It is either in their genetic makeup or it isn't. Some dogs don't show their alpha characteristics until the need arises. For instance, my Dixie is a alpha dog. She always submitted to her Aunt Jazz and never challenged for the alpha position when Jazz was around. Then one day out of the blue the two started growling and a mild attack out of the blue ocurred. Jazz won but not by much and then we discovered that Jazz had cancer and within 4 months passed on. Dixie realized her Aunt Jazz's weakened condition even before the humans did and challenged her for alpha position amongst themselves.

Dusty went through a stage where he wanted to be alpha over Dixie but she always put him in his place. If other dogs come over or we meet other dogs at the dog park, Dixie is happy to make sure everything stays in order with all the other dogs but she never exerts her alpha status. She just has a presence about her that lets other dogs know she is alpha.

If you don't clearly know what dog is alpha, my guess is, you don't have alpha dogs (period). In this case you don't need to worry about following "alpha rules" at all. If you had an alpha you would know it, you wouldn't have to figure it out.

In my case, I am alpha over both Dixie and Dusty and they know it. Dusty also knows his mom is alpha over him. So I don't particularly follow alpha rules in my house either. I pet who I want when I want and feed them in no particular order. I also treat them to the first one who does what ever behavior I tell them to do. I always incorporate a little NILIF to their routines. Not as much as when they are puppies and learning the ropes but enough that they realize I am the boss.

If you do have an alpha and a challenge arises in the pack, then you need to follow "alpha rules" to ensure harmony presides in the pack. However, the human is always the head alpha no matter what heirarchy the dogs assume. You just need to be aware of the canine heirarchy and reinforce it if you have two alphas that challenge for the top position. Otherwise, don't worry about it and just enjoy the fact that both your dogs are probably not alpha by genetics.

The biggest problem I see with people and Alpha misconceptions is "this dog was here first, so it's the alpha". The alpha could be a newcomer over a dog that was here for years. It's the strength and dominance the dog exerts over the others in the pack that makes it the alpha. Not who was here first. When people have a alpha newcomer and they treat the "first come" as the alpha even though it is not, problems could arise that are unneccessary. I always say let the dogs work it out amongst themselves and let the human abide by there choice, as long as the human is always alpha over them all!