Writer's (Contrary) Thought of the Day

"Calling a wolf an alpha is usually no more appropriate than referring to a human parent or a doe deer as an alpha. Any parent is dominant to its young offspring, so "alpha" adds no information. Why not refer to an alpha female as the female parent, the breeding female, the matriarch, or simply the mother? Such a designation emphasizes not the animal's dominant status, which is trivial information, but its role as pack progenitor, which is critical information. The one use we may still want to reserve for "alpha" is in the relatively few large wolf packs comprised of multiple litters. ... In such cases the older breeders are probably dominant to the younger breeders and perhaps can more appropriately be called the alphas. ... The point here is not so much the terminology but what the terminology falsely implies: a rigid, force-based dominance hierarchy."
 
Mech, L. David (1999). "Alpha Status, Dominance, and Division of Labor in Wolf Packs". Jamestown, ND: Northern Prairie Wildlife Research Center Online. Canadian Journal of Zoology 77:1196-1203. Retrieved 21 April 2008. "The point here is not so much the terminology but what the terminology falsely implies: a rigid, force-based dominance hierarchy."

"Dominance hierarchies and dominance disputes and testing are a fundamental characteristic of all social groups... But perhaps only we humans learn to use punishment (and pain - poster's add.) primarily to gain for ourselves the reward of being dominant."

Pryor, Karen (August 1999) "Chap. 4." Don't Shoot the Dog! (Bantam trade paperback ed.). Bantam Books. p.108.

Something to think about when calling the hero of one's novel an "alpha male," not to mention when using the word dominance in other capacities. In an additional note, as someone who lives with a real dog pack - mother, father, four of their offspring and a non-related dog - I can second the above very strongly and suggest that an arrogant, condescending, violence-prone, controlling human man (or woman), and especially one who needs to hurt others to elevate him or herself, isn't anything like a canine "alpha" male (or female), and perhaps ought to only be considered a mentally or emotionally unstable antagonist (or another starts-with-a synonym that isn't alpha). I'm thinking it wouldn't be unfair to imagine that dogs and wolves the world over would be horrified to discover that certain lauded human behaviors today are mistakenly being compared to their own.

(Mama Zoe and two of her pups)

(Quotes courtesy of Wikipedia.)