Canine Evolutions

Over the 30 years that I have been working and Training with Dogs I have studied and I have tried almost every method and training system out there. I found good things in all of them and also flaws. However they have one crucial thing in common and that is that there was no real relationship between the dog and myself. The dog either worked out of avoidance of a correction or he worked because I had something to offer him, either food or toys. His motivation was to work for the things I had and NOT to work for me. By studying the new findings on how wolf packs are organized and work together I came to realize that the strongest bond wolves and other wild Canine packs have is the relationships they have with each other, and that they are based upon Respect for the Parents, Respect for the Teacher, Respect for the siblings, Trust in the Parents and Trust in the Teacher and that when observed in the wild those wolves have a lot of “Fun” together. These wolves don’t work for a ball all a Frisbee. They work together because they have fun together. 

As an outcome of my findings I developed not a training method or system but rather a “life Style” in how to interact with dogs, especially working dogs, in such a way wolves would do in the wild.  

 It is in this “Relationship Building Life Style” I will teach you many training techniques that will contribute to achieve the ultimate goal, a top-performing (sport) dog. Like in the wild wolves play games, so will we with our dogs. Like in the wild wolf are taught certain wanted pack behavior, so will we teach our dogs the behavior we want in our pack.  

 In the wild wolf cubs are taught how cope with certain environmental stressors, so will we teach our dog how to deal with environmental stress and how to deal with distraction. In the wild wolf packs are taught certain social rules, so will we address our Social Rules with our dogs. Wolf cubs are taught how to deal with conflict, so will we teach are dogs how they can deal with conflict. 

However Dogs are not Wolves and in order to better understand this training process it is important that we have a closer look at the domestication process of the modern Dog. 

The domestication of our Canis Lupus Familiaris (Our Modern Dog) all began several ten thousand years ago with the domestication of the Canis Lupus or Grey Wolf. Evidence both genetic and archaeological proofs that humans domesticated wolves at the latest 15.000 years ago. How exactly the domestication of the Canis Lupus happened is still very unclear but science has his theories on how it all started. Several of these theories include, Orphaned wolf-cubs, Promise of food/self domestication and some experimental evidence.

The rapid evolution of dogs from wolves is a great example of neoteny orpaedomorphism. As seen in many other species, young wolves or far more social and less dominant than adults; therefore it made great sense for the selection of these characteristics. This paedomorphic selection resulted in retention of juvenile physical and mental characteristics. If we compare many of the domestic adult dog breeds, compered to wolves, many of these adult breeds retain such juvenile characteristics. 

The important thing to learn from this is that we need to compare the behaviors of our dogs today with that of young wolves rather then that of the adult wolves. Doing so will give us a far better understanding on how dogs, think and act and on how we as humans should think and act. 

A process I call de-humanization and Caninenization for the human. We need to develop behaviors that are unnatural for us humans but natural for our dogs in such a way that we became natural unnatural, which means that those unnatural canine behavior become our second nature. In order to do so let’s have closer look at the behavior of the young Canis Lupus.

Wolves are highly gregarious animals. At the foundation of their social unit, the pack, is the mated pair accompanied by the pair’s adult offspring. In ideal situations this pair produces pups every year with such offspring staying in the pack for 10-54 month before dispersing. Triggers for dispersing include the onset of sexual maturity and competition within the pack for food. A average wolf pack consist of a family between 5 – 12 members, (1 to 2 adults, 3-6 juveniles and 1 – 4 yearlings). Sometimes we see a pack with a combination of 2 or 3 of these families with a total up to 42 pack members. 

These packs are bond and ruled by strict rules, limitations and boundaries controlled and enforced by one pack leader, the Alpha, the dominant one. Dominance is a ubiquitous phenomenon in many social animals. The alpha wolves are the genetic parents of most cubs in the pack. Deference to the alpha pair (often Alpha male and Beta Female) by allowing them to eat first, choose the best piece of the hunted prey, the only ones to reproduce. The alpha will determine where the pack goes to hunt, defines and sets the pack territory, will determine where to sleep, when to rest, to eat, the defecate and so much more. Nothing for the other pack members is free their life is. However calling the pack leader Alpha is not entirely correct. Wolf biologist L. David Mech stated :

“Calling a wolf an alpha is usually no more appropriate than referring to a human parent or a doe deer as an alpha. Any parent is dominant to its young offspring, so "alpha" adds no information. Why not refer to an alpha female as the female parent, the breeding female, the matriarch, or simply the mother? Such a designation emphasizes not the animal's dominant status, which is trivial information, but its role as pack progenitor, which is critical information. The one use we may still want to reserve for "alpha" is in the relatively few large wolf packs comprised of multiple litters. ... In such cases the older breeders are probably dominant to the younger breeders and perhaps can more appropriately be called the alphas. ... The point here is not so much the terminology but what the terminology falsely implies: a rigid, force-based dominance hierarchy.”

The most important thing to learn from Dr. David Mech is that the natural wolf pack is more a family, with a Father figure, mother figure with their offspring together with some aunts and uncles. The terms “Alpha” and “Dominant” are far less correct then the terms “Parent” and “Teacher”. Of course, the parents are the typical Alpha and are dominant but Dr. David Mech argues that these terms are misleading because they imply that a pack of wolfs consist of individuals, like a tribe, and that the members assume a place in the linear hierarchy. A wolf pack should be seen as a family unit, with young wolves of age dispersing and begin their own families in new territories.  

So how relate this knowledge to modern dog training? 

Old-School-  and still many current training techniques assume to be the dominant alpha and to show your leadership by punishment and fight. We punished unwanted behavior. While the alpha pair within the wolf pack is teaching their siblings by building a relationship, a relationship based upon Respect and Trust, they also have Fun together as they play with their pups. The assumption to use “alpha rolling techniques” and “dominance by punishment” has more to do with human phycology then with dog behavior. “Dominance hierarchies and dominance disputes and testing are a fundamental characteristic of all social groups... But perhaps only we humans learn to use punishment primarily to gain for ourselves the reward of being dominant. 

On the other side many trainers will only use positive rewards such as food and toys to reward the dog for wanted behavior WITHOUT actually building a relationship build upon Respect and Trust. 

It is my opinion that a good pack leader adopts a leader attitude, a teacher attitude, and a father and mother father attitude. A dog automatically senses when he is in the presence of a leader. Good leadership doesn’t require a leash or a prong collar with hard corrections to show your dog you are the “Boss”. As a matter of fact this type of improper corrections will only confuse the dog and will ruin the Respect and Trust of the dog towards you. 

Loving your dog is also not enough to become a trusted and respected leader. Many people think if they love their dog and give the dog a lot of affection the dog will respect him. This is absolutely not so. Respect of your dog is depended on how you handle and live with your dog on a daily basis and on the consistency of your own behavior. It is this consistent behavior of you as human that will contribute to the improved trust and respect your dog has for you.  

It is my believe that whatever methods’ used, the psychological health and physical health should be our main priority. It is most important that the relationship with the dog should be carried Fair with Respect, Trust and Fun and that these fundamental building blocks are the foundation on how we handle our working and sport dogs and our companion dog for that matter too.  

So how do we become that Respected and trusted leader, parent and teacher? How to we create and build that balanced harmonic relationship that we see in wolf pack? Let me guide you so you can become a true friend, a companion who takes responsibility in building and maintaining a harmonic and balanced relationship.  

The heart of my work is built around a model I created called the Canine Performance Pyramid™ which I developed in 2009 —a neuroscience-driven roadmap that moves a dog from instinctive survival toward calm, cognitive partnership. Too often people start training in conflict, trying to force control when the dog’s nervous system is still in a fight-or-flight state. That approach fails because when the amygdala is firing in fear or arousal, the prefrontal cortex—the part of the brain that can think, decide, and inhibit impulses—is offline. Real change begins at the base of the pyramid, where safety and relationship are built first.

At the foundation is the Relationship Phase. Here we create respect, trust, and joy before we ask for obedience. The dog’s limbic system learns that the human is safe and predictable, cortisol levels lower, and dopamine begins to mark interaction as rewarding. We establish routines, play, exploration, and calm handling so the primal brain no longer needs to stay on guard. Only in this state can the cognitive mind—the one capable of problem solving and impulse control—emerge.

Once safety is secure, we enter the Teaching Phase. Dogs already know how to be dogs: they use body language, scent, and social rituals. Humans, on the other hand, are inconsistent communicators. Here we build a shared language, aligning the dog’s innate behaviors with clear human signals. Through precise timing, marking, and shaping we help the dog’s basal ganglia and associative networks attach meaning to our cues. This is where miscommunication disappears and understanding begins.

From there we move into the Training Phase, where we teach the skills our human world requires but a dog is not born with: loose-leash walking, calm settling, service tasks, polite greetings. We rely on the science of reward prediction error and neuroplasticity to install new habits. Owners learn to deliver reinforcement at the right moment so the brain encodes the behavior efficiently and ethically.

When a dog can think and respond in a quiet space, we add complexity in the Distraction Phase. Real life is full of moving stimuli, novel scents, and social pressure. Here we systematically raise environmental challenge while increasing the human’s motivational salience—the ventral striatum’s calculation of what matters most. By staying predictable and rewarding while slowly increasing arousal, we inoculate the dog against stress so it can stay cognitive under pressure rather than reverting to primal reactivity.

Next comes the Proofing Phase, where we take what the dog knows and generalize it to the unpredictable real world. A sit in the kitchen does not automatically transfer to a busy sidewalk or a hospital lobby. The hippocampus and prefrontal cortex must reconsolidate memories in new contexts, so we deliberately change surfaces, sounds, smells, people, and environments until the response becomes reliable anywhere.

Finally, there is the Conflict Phase—the place where most owners and even many trainers mistakenly begin. Conflict arises when instinct, fear, or prior reinforcement outweighs human influence. In this state the amygdala dominates, the dog is no longer thinking, and force only deepens mistrust or avoidance. By following the pyramid from the ground up, conflict becomes rare and manageable; when it does appear, we have a relationship, a language, and a trained skill set to resolve it safely rather than escalating the fight.

This model works because it is biologically aligned with how both canine and human brains learn. It prevents the emotional flooding that shuts down cognition, gives humans the skills to communicate clearly, and produces dogs that are confident, resilient, and willing partners. The Canine Performance Pyramid™ is not just about training dogs; it’s about shaping two nervous systems—yours and your dog’s—so they can trust, adapt, and thrive together.

As humans, we choose to bring dogs into our lives. We give them names, we invite them onto the sofa, we buy them fancy collars, coats and toys, and we assign them a personality…and then we expect them to automatically understand our “language”. By applying the techniques correctly as describes in the Canine Performance pyramid we are giving our dogs a chance to deal and cope with the inconsistent, impatient nature of the human being. It is OUR responsibility to continue building and maintain this motivational relationship with our animals.