Dominance in Domestic Dogs: A Quantitative Analysis of Its Behavioural Measures.

ABSTRACT: A dominance hierarchy is an important feature of the social organisation of group living animals. Although formal and/or agonistic dominance has been found in captive wolves and free-ranging dogs, applicability of the dominance concept in domestic dogs is highly debated, and quantitative data are scarce. Therefore, we investigated 7 body postures and 24 behaviours in a group of domestic dogs for their suitability as formal status indicators. The results showed that high posture, displayed in most dyadic relationships, and muzzle bite, displayed exclusively by the highest ranking dogs, qualified best as formal dominance indicators. The best formal submission indicator was body tail wag, covering most relationships, and two low postures, covering two-thirds of the relationships. In addition,

SUBMITTER: van der Borg JA 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4556277 | biostudies-literature | 2015

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature