by James O'Heare

In this, 2008 second edition of his book, James O'Heare neatly explores what 'dominance' means to us and our domestic pets. If you are a student of canine behaviour or have an interest in why dogs do what they do, this is up-to-the-minute reading! Perhaps the best referenced work of its type on the market, packaged full of essential material.

Comments from the author

"My goal in writing this small book will be to explore dominance theory in general and then to explore it in relation to domestic dogs. I will attempt to describe the theory and research that has been done in this area. I will also try to evaluate the evidence as I see it. I will try to stick to the literature where possible but there are serious gaps in the research in this area. Some aspects of dominance theory are well covered in the literature, and other areas, (particularly in respect to dogs) are not well researched. In those cases I will analyze the existing evidence. Where necessary I will speculate based on my personal experience and knowledge. This is meant to contribute to the present ongoing debate surrounding this topic and criticism is welcome. Being a polemical topic, please quote me in context if you wish to criticize my statements and be fair to what I actually claim. I would be pleased to be corrected on any topic. I hope you find the material thought provoking.

Part one of this book will be on sociability, part two will be on dominance theory itself, and part three will apply what we have reviewed to dogs. It is important that we set the stage for our discussion of dominance in dogs by looking closely at the science and research behind it first. You will not see the word “dog” too many times in part one and two but rest assured we will address dogs in part three, once we have come to a better understanding of what dominance theory is and why we have such a theory."