We breed dogs. We notice that females--even neutered--compete with each other and even with the smaller or less dominant males. A spayed female once sneaked into a kennel and killed two of another female's puppies. My wife shipped one of our females to my out-of-town studio, because she'd been "voted off the island" by all the other dogs. She was constantly jumping on them and it got to the point that only the toughest males would walk into a room if she was there. I have a sweet little male here who is so not an alpha that we call him an epsilon--if you remember "Brave New World." About once every three months she beats him up just to stay in practice. She doesn't actually hurt him so he thinks it's all just a family ritual: "Oh, here she is pinning me to the floor, gosh is it July already?"
Among the males it's only the ones with the alpha instinct, and/or the intact ones, who compete.
And that's very often ritual combat. We had two males who would stand on opposite sides of a glass door and jump and snarl at it like Siamese fighting fish, making the whole room shake. But if we had to open the door and leave them staring face to face, they'd sit down a little awkwardly and start making small talk about football and the stock market. Then as soon as the door was closed they'd spring back into action, yelling, "If it weren't for this damn glass, I'd rip your throat out!"
Humans have been interfering with the natural breeding of dogs for more than ten thousand years. We breed dogs who have a natural herding instinct, or the ability to exterminate vermin, or catch frisbees or just cuddle up on our pillows. The alpha instinct is not at all valued by humans because we want these dogs to be unquestioningly subservient to us. As a result I think the alpha behaviors have been diluted over time and show up in odd and mild ways.
Our Lhasa Apsos are a rare exception. They were bred to be temple watch dogs, just sit around on their own recognizance, without a lot of supervision, and actually challenge human intruders. As a result they have a high incidence of alpha behavior, as ours do. They are generally solitude-tolerant (the pack leader don't need no damn companions to feel at ease), don't even really form a pack at most times because nobody wants to follow anybody else, respect human authority only grudgingly, and have no reluctance to show hostility to a human they don't trust. We've learned over the years to trust their judgment, even if it's a relative.
