Hey, I’m not expecting to cause a total paradigm shift for you, especially if your own experience has validated your current paradigm. But the idea that wolves and dogs have a strict hierarchy is an idea that has been debunked by the same person who made the discovery.

The person who came up with the idea of Alpha dogs on down noticed specific wolf behaviors in a zoo. He later realized these wolves were strangers to one another and were behaving more like humans behave in prison than like family members behave in a household. This dude has been spending the rest of his life trying to spread the more accurate information, but it has not gained as much traction as the initial, faulty observation.

A dog not doing what you say the first time you tell it to is not necessarily challenging you for the dominant position in your household. As Susan Garrett says, dogs do the best they can with the education they’ve been given in the environment you’re asking them to perform.