Are Dogs Really Pack Animals?

Dogs are social, yes – they communicate with one another and with us and they form social bonds. Sometimes dogs will form a temporary band, for instance to run down a rabbit. And obviously most dogs adapt well to living in households with people and other animals. But scientists have observed free-living dogs – city strays and village dogs, for instance – for decades, and those dogs just don’t form permanent, stable packs. You’ll see a mother dog with pups, or a bunch of males following around a female in heat, but you won’t see the dog equivalent of a wolf pack, with a long-term parent pair, an adolescent or two, and the current crop of pups.