Some of the many articles about it:
The notion that wolves fight amongst each other and the strongest becomes the “alpha” and the weakest is the “omega” and all that, is a misconception that has been debunked ages ago, and even the author of the study who called them “alphas” in the first place is pleading with his old publisher to stop printing the dang book already so this misconception can finally die out.
Wolf packs are more or less just families. One “breeding pair” and their pups, which often stay with their parents way into adulthood.
Indeed. There are many still who are making big bucks on this misconception. The worst offender in my opinion is “The dog whisperer”, who is likely the worst well known dog trainer, and has done (and still does) a lot of damage. The whole basis for his school of thought is based on this alpha/beta/omega hierarchy.
I only watched his show once and it was so clear that he was abusive that I couldn’t even watch the whole episode. Just disgusting.
Cesar Melignant