I don't think that dogs are not social animals, I don't know if I'd call them "pack" animals because their "pack" would be quite a bit different from a wolf pack. So I just call them social. See I consider gerbils clan (pack) animals, studies have been shown that they behave differently and live shorter when not provided with another animal of their species. Dogs can be just fine without another dog, many are happier without another dog.
What I do consider ridiculous is not at all that people call them pack animals but how people go about treating their dogs because they think this. They think to be "alpha" you have to manhandle the dog, intimidate the dog and do unnecessary things like walk through the door first, ban dogs from furniture, not play tug, show little affection, not praise (because only subordinate dogs show the aloha affection, not the other way around), always have the dog behind you or next to you when walking etc. because "That's how dogs do it". Well hey, I'm not a dog, I can teach and control my dog without acting like a dog, I can use my big brain to think about other ways to do things. I have tools that allow me to reward my dog in the best ways to teach him (toys, treats, clickers are all tools because of how I use them, food sitting on the floor is not a tool, food being used as a well timed reward is a tool). I can teach commands that allow me to control my dog without punishing him.
We have what other dogs do not and we should USE it if it works, and more importantly training has been moving forward because this new stuff DOES works (like clicker training). We don't need to stay stuck in the old methods, there is a reason things have changed.
The leader is simply the one who controls resources, and because we are humans with our big brains we can do that without force, we can teach using tools. I choose to use positive reinforcement tools. Some people use punishment tools. Some people act like dogs and use what dogs have, themselves. Dogs have to bite, snap, growl, charge and intimidate sometimes or a lot of the time. It's not like they can bust out the treat bag or start praising the other dog. The most praise they can give is negative reinforcement by removing their punishment/intimidation. we can do more. if you took away my ability to use tools and language and you took away the big brain of mine that allows me to think up methods of prevention, think to the future, analyze the past etc., I'd have to use those punishment/intimidation methods too, luckily I have all those things and have chosen to use them.
And don't let CM come into this, talk about methods not people because we all know that will branch into all his other methods/ideas and we have been through that already, talk about the article if you could (I can't see it for some reason so I'm going off of what you guys are saying. If it does talk about CM then never mind.