Positive PetzineL. David Mech on the "Alpha" Wolf
L. David Mech is one of the world's foremost authorities on wild wolves, and has spent the better part of his life observing wolves in the wild. He is also partly responsible for introducing the term "alpha" into scientific literature, which then trickled down into dog training.
In this video he explains when it would be appropriate to use the term "alpha", and how scientists no longer refer to the breeding pair in a pack of wolves as the "alpha" male and female.
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Comments
Alpha
Good post : You cannot argue with David L. Mech, he is 'the Don' I personally misuse the word in Mech's opinion but the dictionary term also says the highest rank in a dominance pack, throw in passive submission as well as active you could argue that dictionary interpretation does allow the word to be accurate as every wolf pack displays passive submission. To 'me' alpha means descision maker> All wolves lead the pack depending on their personalities, some dominate and some do not. I do however feel people misuse the phrase with dominating in mind!
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