Our alpha dog, Declan, is a four-year old Shetland Sheepdog. Most of the time he's a regular member of the pack in that he doesn't revert to his "leadership" role around the other canines. As I think about it, those instances when he does exhibit his alpha tendencies are when there's food in the vicinity & he thinks he's not getting enough of same. We think his line of logic goes something like this: "If it wasn't for you other dogs, there'd be more for me to eat!"

From what we've learned over the years, alpha dogs are the leaders of the pack when they're in the wild. They're the ones that eat & drink first, allowing other pack members to share in sustenance only after they've gotten their fill. This is because it's alpha's job to protect the pack from intruders: other dogs, wild animals, etc. If alpha's strong, s/he can fight off predators. If not, the pack stands to be viciously attacked.

Here's Declan, quite appropriately behind bars:

So, when we were simply sitting in the living room yesterday & Declan "attacked" Dougie, we were a little surprised...

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The TV was on, I had kicked back in the recliner reading the Sunday paper. The bride was also in the room, reading her section of the paper. All of a sudden, there was a growl, a single bark and I saw, out of the corner of my eye, Declan fly across about four feet of living room floor in less than a second and slam into the broad side of Dougie, our happy-go-lucky tri-color Collie:
 

The attackee, Dougie, immediately turned sideways & ran out of the room and into the kitchen, as he knows Declan would slip on the smooth floor if he followed. In the meantime, the bride & I had both jumped up and intervened in the now full-fledged dog scuffle, since as soon as the initial bark was raised, our other two Shelties, Lily and Lyric, decided they, too, had to join in the rumble.

We managed to separate all parties and reintroduce at least a semblance of order in the den, but with no food having been involved, we were at a loss as to why Declan slammed Dougie. Incidentally, Dougie was fine, still smiling the whole while as I asked him if everything was O.K.

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