The establishment of a hierarchy between individuals of different packs

By Stephan Mairesse · 2026-09-29

I've had the opportunity to observe dog packs in many countries: India, Portugal, several North African countries, the Dominican Republic, Turkey, and Mauritania. This fascinates me — and those observations also served a specific purpose: to confirm, or refute, the findings of my theoretical studies in ethology and canine behavior.

Nowhere else have I had as many dog packs available to study as I have in Bali over the past four years. I can observe a multitude of them constantly, since these packs are present all over the island — on the beach, in the streets, around the rice paddies, in the mountains — literally everywhere, and in great numbers.

This is a goldmine for me, especially since these dogs live alongside humans without being cared for by them, in the sense that humans don't interfere at all in the dogs' interactions. Humans can approach them very closely, but cannot touch them, with rare exceptions.

These four years of study have led me to discover something I had never read about in any research: a hierarchy exists between individuals from different packs when they come into regular contact — for instance, when one pack crosses another's territory. Members of a pack newly arrived in an area of already-occupied territory will fight, or engage in highly conflict-ridden interactions, with members of neighboring packs, until a hierarchy is established among the individual members of the different packs. Once that stage is reached, fights and conflicts become sporadic, and the established status remains stable — at least as far as I've been able to observe.

Stephan MairesseProfessional dog trainer & canine behaviorist, 30 years of experience across 16 countries. Certificat de capacité N°750108. Read his full background →