Wolf Bite

So! Between my online statistics class and petsitting, I will be a busy busy bee for the rest of April. But I shall do my best to post science! Even if it is the science of statistics.
For now, check out this melanistic wolf. Melanism is the result of an abundance of dark pigment (melanin) in the skin, hair, feathers, scales or fur. Dark colors can be very adaptive and help animals hide from predators or prey, but in certain environments they’re highly detrimental to survival. Plunk this pup in the arctic and see how much food he catches. Conversely, an albino animal does great in the arctic snow. Albinism is the absence of any pigment in the skin. This is often highly detrimental because you’ll stand out even in shadow. Certain animals have evolved to be semi-albino (their skin can produce melanin, it just won’t) in the winter and melanistic in the summer. A lot of the animals that do this are actually arctic animals. Since winter camouflage is so important to survival but retaining that through the summer is such a problem, they evolved to switch coats seasonally. People do this too, but it’s usually a wool to cotton kind of change.
Anyway, if you’re not an albino, even if you’re fish-belly pale like me, you have a little melanin in your skin. More is released from melanocytes (melanin producing cells in the skin) when you’re out in the sun. This prevents UV damage and results in a nice golden tan. Unless you’re me, then nothing happens except a growing conviction you’re descended from highly sun-resistant vampires.

Fluffcake Behavior

Now for something near and dear to my heart. No, not the cluster of nerves forming the natural pacemaker, I mean my dogs. These two fluffcakes are Wheaten Terriers, a non-shedding breed originally bred to hunt rats and mice (like other terriers). Mine are similarly fond of all things small and furry; Emer (the one is the grey sweater) could sit in the rodent aisle of Petco for HOURS. It’s Terrier TV and her favorite channel is always on. Anyway, getting to my main point, terriers also bred to be very good with people since effective ratting required them to live together. But the result was a breed that forms a strong pack with humans.
These packs are based on those found in wolves, the ancestors of dogs. At the top of the pack is the alpha male and female, the only members who breed (although care of pups is shared amongst the pack members). Alphas will stand over submissive pack members and grasp the sub’s throat with their teeth to display dominance. Establishing dominance can be more aggressive and violent if the alpha is either new or there are new, less submissive members entering the pack. Wolves hunt as a pack (with a couple staying behind to watch the kids) but feed according to rank, with the most dominant feeding first. Rest time also is stratified; everyone rests in a clump, but the alphas reside in the center with the more dominant wolves closest to them.
How does this translate in dogs? Let’s look at the fluffcakes. Good training, besides smoothing interactions with a pet, establishes hierarchy. Trouble dogs are often much less submissive than obedient ones. Makes sense, huh? Obedient dogs see their humans as the alpha members of the pack. When Emer was little, she’d often roll on her back when we would return home from something; she was acknowledging our dominance. She also used to pee, which is a hypersubmissive display that we discouraged for obvious reasons. Namely, the carpet. Many years later, we brought home Zeppo. Zeppo was the belligerent jerk of the litter, but Emer was knocking over the other puppies like bowling pins, so we got the one that liked knocking back. Even though Zeppo is now bigger and not so easy for twelve year-old Emer to pin to the couch, he’s not assertive enough to challenge the order.
In other breeds, trouble can arise if the dog is bred to have a very specific concept of pack. Dogs bred to fight and guard are like that; they consider their human family (traditionally a single aloof handler) the alpha(s) and everyone outside that is a stranger. When they dogs become pets, they need extra help to keep from reacting aggressively to outsiders. Some still have trouble with a human alpha; sled dogs take direction very well, but are NOT house pets. Their pack is focused within the sled team, they just learn to adjust to the hairless thing in thick clothes shouting at them before giving them treats.
Hope that helps you hairless things with furry family understand the pack dynamic. Cheers!

Source

Grandjean, Dominique. 2000. The Royal Canin Dog Encyclopedia. Royal Canin, Paris.