We’ve been looking into wild wolf society to help us understand the instinctive dog behavior (both good and bad) that we observe in our pets. We find a fascinating organization and rigid structure in wild wolf society, with prompt, consistent, and fair discipline and clearly drawn lines of leadership, support, and boundaries. The importance of the coordinated participation of each rank of wolf pack in hunting, territorial fights and really in all other moments, helps us to understand the roles of dogs with different personalities, how they seek to interact with us and with other animals. , and the kind of leadership and limits that your pet dog expects of you, without which he is miserable!

A wolf’s sense of smell is at least 20 times stronger than ours (and so is your domestic dog’s). The hearing of a wild wolf is more than 40 times better. So the scent of an encroaching wolf pack is picked up by the pack that owns the land, even if they are hours away from the intruders. The wind carries smells and sounds.

Territorial fights are rare between rival wolf packs. Nine times out of ten, the invading wolf pack flees when the wild wolf pack owning that land shows up. Even if the owning pack consists of only three wild wolves and the rival wolf pack consists of nine, the intruders will still run away. The landlord is the winner.

If the intruders refuse to leave, the alpha male leaders will start a fight. Wolf pack members from both sides will stare to see who will win. (Mares do the same when stallions fight.)

The two alpha leaders rarely choose to spill blood on each other. It’s more a matter of who raises his head higher, or the first to be pinned on his back has lost.

Sometimes during the fight, in a clever plot, a wild wolf from the defending wolf pack’s side will cross over to the other pack and steal a couple of teenagers. The intruder leader will notice the robbery and therefore lose the fight due to the distractions. Victor Alpha’s leader won’t let the teens back. They will become part of his wolf pack.

After a fight, the victors mark their borders. They completely drench the edges with a scent so potent it would make human eyes water. They groom and lick every bit of the new members to remove the scent of the old wolf pack, and then rub their own scent on them.

Contrary to popular belief, much of the communication between rival wolf packs is just that, communication, and not a challenge or threat. Alpha leaders constantly howl to each other about things like how that year has been for them, if the pack is doing well or if they’ve had a rough time, their victories, how much stronger the pack has grown, and so on.

Wild wolves also howl friendly greetings to their relatives. For example, an adolescent female may cross over to a rival wolf pack and become part of it, never to return to her birth pack. Still, those in your birth wolf pack will shout news and greetings to you. Family members can cross territorial borders for a visit if they first receive an invitation; without an invitation, however, the visitor would be combated for trespassing the border. Her own pack would attack her too, because that’s against wolf law.

Rival wolf packs always respect each other, and their respective alpha leaders honor each other’s position as pack leader. They acknowledge the accomplishments and activities of the other wolf pack.

Sometimes a wolf pack is led more by its female alpha than by a male alpha leader. There is no sexist attitude in the world of animals. She will scratch the ground and raise her leg to remind trespassers of the proper border. Only the alpha pair raises legs to score. All other members (male or female) squat. If a territorial dispute arises when one of the wolf packs is led by a female, the dispute could be resolved by a contest of voices (howls) rather than an actual battle in which the pregnant leader could not participate.

So, as you can see, turf fights aren’t all that common among wild wolf packs, and when they do occur, bloodshed is rare because things are normally resolved otherwise. Wild wolf society is replete with rules that apply to all wolf packs and give its members stability.