Monts de Gueret Animal Park
The wolf pack howls on average for 85 seconds. It is usually started by a single wolf, after which other wolves may join in. The pack leader, the alpha wolf, usually uses a lower-pitched howl and howls more frequently than wolves standing on the lower rungs of the pack's hierarchy. Although some functions of the howling are still unknown by scientists, they believe that wolves may howl to scare off other wolf packs from their territory and to gather their own pack, as wolves possess perfect hearing and their howling can be heard for up to in the forest and in open space. Researchers have found a relationship between the number of times a wolf howls and the strength of their relationship with other pack members. According to Friederike Range, co-director of the University of Vienna's Wolf Science Center, "the strength of the relationship between wolves predicted how many times a wolf howled."
Jan Fennell
Her training method is based on the theory that dogs, being descended from wolves, fit the social model of the pack - an ordered hierarchy with a clearly defined leader. She believes that dogs are unable to understand any other social model, and when co-opted into human families as pets still see themselves as pack members. Fennell argues that most inappropriate dog behavior arises if the owner does not consistently signal that he or she is 'pack leader'. Theoretically this makes the dog anxious: it cannot conceive of a leaderless pack, and so if its owner abdicates leadership the dog has no option but to try to take on the 'alpha' role itself. In the attempt it may become aggressive or difficult to handle, as it tries to assert dominance; hyperactive, through uncertainty on what it should be doing, or sometimes acutely stressed.