“Today’s dogs are clearly not wolves on the outside, but their behaviour is often interpreted as if they were still wolves on the inside. Indeed, now that we know for sure that the wolf is the dog’s only ancestor, it seems impossible to avoid such comparisons. The idea that dogs retain most of the wolf’s essential character is not only out of date, but also reflefts some deep-seated misconceptions about wolf behaviour that science is only now beginning to overturn. Despite these holes in the dog-wolf theory, however, it is still widely used to inform dog training, with unfortunate consequences for the dog and owner alike.”

Taken from In Defense of Dogs by John Bradshaw.

It is vital to understand why we should stop comparing wolves to dogs.

The deep-seated misconception refers to something explained earlier in the book, that the behavioural studies done on wolves, which we use when talking about dog behaviour, was done on Captive Wolves!

Captive wolves that could not and did not display natural behaviours!