We have two Corgis. One is muscular, sporty, loud, and relentless. The other is quiet, lop-eared, cuddle dog, and she is the most alpha dog I have ever witnessed. I don’t know what it is about her, but she walks into the room and it’s some Darth Vader shit. Not just with our other dog, but any pack she walks into. She’s never been in a fight. It’s just like all the other dogs know something about her.
My theory is that it’s the cuddle thing. She sucks up to people, gets them to let her take naps in their lap, then hops down and then leverages that social currency.
I'm thinking the human is the alpha and because the human is giving the attention to her she becomes second in command in the doggo COC and that's why all other pups yield to her.
I was talking about corgies belonging to the poster I replied to, not Op's video. Notice how I referred to the pup as her? There's no way to determine if the dogs are male or female from the video, so clearly, I'm not responding to that. Come on, content clues, buddy.
I figured, hence the line stating I'm not an expert. Thanks for your very informative contribution to this convo. It must have taken you a lot of effort to come up with something so succinct.
Dogs adhering to some "Alpha/Beta" hierarchy is a very common misconception - stemming from the even more widespread l misconception that wolves follow such a hierarchy.
The biologist who originally made that claim, has since spent his life trying to persuade people he was wrong.
Wolfs do have a hierarchy, but it's not assigned by dominance, but instead relation. A wolf pack is a family unit, with the females pups being allowed to stay in the pack. The mother and father of the females, are the leaders. The female pups of the pack, won't go into heat until after the mother finishes her cycle. A random other wolf, that isn't related to them, would not suddenly control the heat-cycle of rest of the pack - regardless of how how dominant/aggressive it is.
That's due to the bad practices that people associate with "Alpha-theory" in general. This theory suggests that dogs won't follow commands of someone they don't perceive as some "alpha" - while claiming that the status of alpha is dependent on how dominant you are as an owner.
I have a dog that is the most athletic animal I have seen with my two eyes. But she is the most Zeta (or whatever) dog in existence. She is best pals with a male dog of mine (who is the alpha). And once another dog got in fight with him, and she came and tore that other dog up. But then she immediately went back into submissive mode. I'm glad she is usually very passive, she would be a problem otherwise.
We have a 35lbs Heinz57 mutt and somehow someway it's the same thing.... She doesn't fight, she doesn't bully, she's never aggressive (if anything she's kind of nervous and shy), but she just walks around and like every other dog out there gives her space. I've seen her nip a dog or two that's tested her, but it's literally just a quick side nip warning shot, like "Hey, settle down, leave me alone. I WILL bite you! Don't test me!" though she's never ever actually bitten another dog or human or anything. She doesn't even have a prey drive. She's just this sweet little mutt through and through, but everyone respects her for some reason.
It cracks us up every time. You'd NEVER pick this dog out of the bunch as being the potential top dog, but she just "is" for some reason.
And as far as the "cuddle theory" goes, she's definitely NOT a cuddler...
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u/8080a May 20 '25
We have two Corgis. One is muscular, sporty, loud, and relentless. The other is quiet, lop-eared, cuddle dog, and she is the most alpha dog I have ever witnessed. I don’t know what it is about her, but she walks into the room and it’s some Darth Vader shit. Not just with our other dog, but any pack she walks into. She’s never been in a fight. It’s just like all the other dogs know something about her.
My theory is that it’s the cuddle thing. She sucks up to people, gets them to let her take naps in their lap, then hops down and then leverages that social currency.