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Our first newsletter went out .The December newsletter's feature story is about Chinas controversial killing of dogs and cat for fur clothing. I also include some things you can do about it.

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* 101 Dog Training Tips Newsletter

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*
* Issue #2
* Published by:
* Andrew Ledford
* Copyright © 2006 Andrew Ledford
* http://101-dog-training-tips.com
*
* January 2006
* 101-Dog-Training-Tips newsletter
* http://groups.yahoo.com/group/101-Dog-Training-Tips/
*
* ==================================================
*
* In this issue
* 1. The Alpha Dog, Fact or Fiction?
Super Alphas and feral dogs in Asia
Is dominance a relationship or a trait?
* 2. 2006 the Year Of The Dog
* 3. Featured website
* 4. New dog trainers directory
* 5. Volunteers

Welcome to the second edition of the
101-Dog-Training-Tips newsletter.
January 6, 2006

I hope to do these newsletters on a bimonthly basis.
However I will try to get some bonus letters posted
when possible.

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This months article is about a subject that is being
questioned more and more by trainers. Although from
what I understand this is a debate that has been going
on in science for some time. It seems to me it comes
down to the same old question of nature verses nurture,
with a few useful twists. It seems to me this debate
is divided into two camps, the behaviorists and
everybody else. Whenever I look at something from a
non-behaviorist point of view I always feel the need
to reaffirm my belief in a behavioral approach to
life. However, I do think the rules of selection found
in evolutionary theory are the foundations of behavior.
Taking this into account we need to realize, it is more
than a coincidence that selection is also an important
part of behavioral psychology.

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1.
The Alpha Dog, Fact or Fiction?
Super Alphas and feral dogs in Asia
Is dominance a relationship or a trait?

It seems progressive dog trainers now debate about
whether there is such a thing as a dominant dog. Many
people think that dominance is strictly a relationship.
I do understand this and it is a valid point. However,
I do think of and speak of dominant dogs. Perhaps it
would be more accurate to think of dogs with traits
that make it likely they will be dominant. It may be
true that a single dog cannot engage others in
socially dominant behavior. However, even when by
themselves they can still act in ways that make it
more likely they will dominate a social encounter.
They can still act like a dominant dog. Dogs I
classify as dominant most likely have traits that
allow them to rise to a dominant position in almost
all social encounters. They have behavior
characteristics that make them predisposed to
establishing dominant positions with other dogs and
often with people. As I remember, B. F. Skinner
suggested that leaders displayed certain behaviors
and so do followers. Skinner points out that leaders
are influenced more by the situation or environment,
and followers more by the behavior of others.

I did not come to this conclusion about dominance in
dogs from reading books about wolves. Some of my
insight on the "dominant dog" came from working with
police dogs. This occurred because occasionally I
would run across a dog who for all practical
purposes was fearless. These dogs also had
moderate to high levels of aggression. Dogs with
these natural tendencies are what I call Super Alphas.
They are not what I would consider an average dog.
Just as those geniuses among us are not average
people. I always think of these individuals as scarce
and valuable gifts from nature. Super Alphas are so
rare trainers who only work with pets have probably
not seen this type of dog. While it's true I have
never seen this type of dog interact freely in a pack,
I believe they would be the leaders if they did.

While spending time with feral dogs in Taiwan I
noticed some common behavior traits of high status
dogs. Most striking are the differences in the
traits of dominant females with den sites and males.
There was also a difference in females with and
without den territories. Females without den
territories acted more like males than females with
den sites. From what I could tell the founding females
who had den sites were the top dogs in their pack.
However, a short distance away from the den site was
a territory shared with another pack led by a very
strong dominant male. This is in contrast to the more
wild dogs I've observed. It seems the females with
den sites derive a lot of their status from the
location of the site and the success of their offspring.
Those with secure den sites do well and outnumber
those with less secure sites. It seems the most
dominant male also shared in this packs success. The
alpha males on the other hand tended to be more pushy
and assertive. While watching these dogs I got to see
a male that went from, constantly being chased away
to becoming a pack leader in a mater of days. It
seems this strong brave male also emboldened the
resident females. I have seen little dominance
related fighting in stable packs of feral dogs.
However, with this dogs rise to power, it
did quite a bit of putting others in their place. Even
with all of these forceful threats, I did not see any
dog fights. There is a good chance there was a
physical confrontation. However, the real violence
probably occurred when I was not there. While I did
not see a lot of dominant dogs fighting, I did see a
lot of defensive aggression from them, towards me.
It's of interest to note, the closest I came to being
bit was by the dominant male with access to the
largest pack in the observation area.

What are the hallmark traits of the leader or dominant
dog? The first is self-confidence. Dogs that can rise
to be the king of any hill are very self-confident.
High self-confidence translates into a high threshold
for fear. These dogs also seem to be very persistent.
Dogs that raise to dominant positions keep trying,
even when at first they don't succeed. They seem to
deal well with what, for the average dog would be
considered risky behavior. It appears that being
somewhat competitive also plays a role in leading
a well positioned group. A degree of competition is
also a trait of the Super Alphas I've seen. Perhaps
being competitive is a behavior trait for those who
own this kind of dog as well. Another noticeable trait
is the level and type of aggression these dogs display.
There is a different timing and seriousness to their
threat displays that let you know their not bluffing.
It also appears that many super dominant dogs don't
mind a good fight. From what I've seen some like to
fight. Even though they like to fight, they also seem
to respect when others defer to them. The reinforcing
aspects of fighting may be due to the selective
pressures of the work these dogs do. In feral dogs
I have noticed injuries I suspect have been caused by
fighting. It looks like these injuries eventually
lower the status of the individual. In one group I
watched, the crippled leader's ability to hunt was
reduced by over fifty percent. Probably status
conflicts lead to the early demise of many male
dogs. However you look at it, most Alpha Dogs have
innate tenacities that help them rise to the top

Since the issue of dominance and its usefulness is
now such a contested issue I did a bit of reading
before writing this article. I wanted to know what
others are saying about this important aspect of
social life. Low and behold, I found one reason for
disagreement and the seeds of interindustry conflict.
The secret is that in dog training dominance does not
usually mean the animal is dominant, especially when
used with aggression, as in dominance aggression.
This answers a big question I have had for years. The
question I have been asking is why do so many dog
trainers keep saying fearful defensive aggressive dogs
of low social status are dominant? Dominance
aggression is often defined as controlling resources
with aggression. While dominant animals do control
resources in general, all guarding is not from being
dominant. This is like the produce industry getting
together and saying we are now going to call red
apples, green apples. Well it's not surprising that
some people will say there is no such thing as a red
apples. Others will say the term green apple is not
useful. It's not that there are no red or green apples
it's just that the industry has mislabeled them.

Semantic problems aside this brings us to a real
problem, which in itself is bound to raise some
hackles. While it is conventional to call most
guarding behavior dominance aggression, I disagree
with this label. Guarding behavior has some relation
to dominance aggression, but it's not in itself what
I think of as status related aggression. It needs to
be mentioned that even when a dominant dog threatens
there is probably at least some fear involved. What I
call the Super Alpha gives more subtle warnings before
a serious attack than do other dogs. The subtleness of
the warning is because it is a threat without the
influence of fear. This should not be confused with
dogs that bite without warning out of fear. Guarding
the group is often a duty of the groups leader, but
guarding is not always based on social status or
dominance. Often easily stressed dogs do a lot of
guarding. I think of this fearful guarding as
defensive aggression or a form of counter control.
While watching feral dogs I have seen puppies use this
kind of aggression. One incident in particular comes
to mind. A man had put some bones out to feed the
weakest pack in the observation area. After the bone
man left there was a frenzy of competition to get as
much food as possible. Dogs from a neighboring pack
and some transient packs all moved in to get what
they could. Several times during this struggle for
survival a lone pup would come out of its den to feed.
If any dog from another pack approached, the pup
would drive it off with a noisy display of aggression.
This was true even for the high ranking dogs of
neighboring packs. Of course I am aware that me
watching the incident also influenced what was going
on.

It appears to me that there are three aspects to
dominance. First is the leader follower relationship.
It's within the dynamics of relationships that
dominance takes place. If one believes whoever is
leading at the moment is dominant, then the term
dominance takes on a different meaning. We can then
look at the leader as the one initiating the activity
at any particular time. This eliminates the problem of
dominance all together. We then only become interested
in the behavior of the moment without considering
context or history. It's not that dominance dose not
exist it's just that we choose not to consider it. I
can understand why those who only use a
classical/operant conditioning model would favor this
approach. Here we are concerned with the reinforcing
consequences of leading and following, with each
individual social episode evaluated independently.

There has to be a way for group members to decide who
is going to lead and who will follow. I think
naturalists and nurturers can both agree it's based
on behavior. But what behavior determines this? Is it
a skill or is it attitude? Could it be a combination?
Behavior is often influenced by personality traits,
or what I call internal organization. I believe a
level of dominance can be reached through skill but
the very high ranking leaders need the right attitude.
Another thing that influences who will lead is which
group one belongs to. The strongest female in the
observation area was strong because she had the
biggest group. She was not the biggest or most
outgoing. In fact she was quite unimpressive. Probably
the female with the second largest pack was the female
with a den site possessing the personality traits best
suited to being the top female in the observation area.
Other females in some of the transient pack were even
bolder and stronger that this female. It seems that
having a well defined family territory can raise ones
status. This shows that even animals that possess more
or better resources do better than those with poor
resources. Forming alliances with others in the group
can also raise ones status. I noticed that within all
the large packs there were smaller subgroups. These
subgroups may exert a considerable influence in the
pack. There are some dogs who follow more than one
leader. Having more than one leader reminds me of
city, state, and federal governments. Each branch has
its leaders. This makes dominance a very interesting
and somewhat confusing subject.

I could change my mind about what constitutes an alpha
dog. My understanding and definitions are constantly
evolving. I want to note here that I usually don't
use the term alpha when talking to people about
dominant dog behavior. My reason for this is that
there is an overabundant misuse of this term. We need
to be aware there could be other explanations about
the behavior we think of as dominant. One of these may
be that the traits thought to make an Alpha are not
related to dominance, but to a different class of
behavior. Even if these traits are related to
dominance they could be secondary characteristics or
by products of high status. Since humans are so
susceptible to superstitious conditioning I may have
just made the wrong associations. But, it is also
possible that others have made some superstitious
associations of their own.

I feel one of the dogs most useful traits is to teach
humans about nature. By confusing the issues of
leadership we deprive humanity from seeing the wonders
of a system we are an integral part of. If dominance
is the temporary deference given by a leader to a
skilled subordinate we should have a special word for
this. If that is not possible we should have a word
for the one who is in control of those with temporary
leadership responsibilities. I am not opposed to
throwing out the term alpha for a more politically
correct one. Since leadership is such an important
part of human and dog behavior we need to know what
it is. It is my belief that we need a term to define
who the leader really is.

This is not so much a problem of observation as a
problem of politics, power, and semantics. Sounds like
a dominance struggle, doesn't it?

101-Dog-Training-Tips newsletter
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/101-Dog-Training-Tips/

Website
http://101-dog-training-tips.com

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2.
2006 the Year Of The Dog
As I mentioned in the last newsletter I really enjoy
Chinese culture. Chinese culture has been and is, a
big influence in my life, and on my approach to dog
training. Traditionally it's Chinese custom to
celebrate the New Year on the first day of the lunar
calendar, which for 2006 is January 29. This is the
Year Of The Dog. For me this is a special year. I
plan on implementing many special dog centric projects
in the Year Of The Dog. First 2006 is the year to
finally publish my book. This will be the first in a
series of books I hope to do over the next few years.
There will be new training programs offered
throughout the year. I think that they will be a
totally new concept for how dog training can benefit
society. I also plan on doing a project with orphans
and dogs in Mexico. I have been wanting to do the
Mexico project for the last five years. It's in the
Year Of The Dog that I am finally getting it together.
If the Mexico project works well I would like to
expand it to other parts of the world, probably Asia
and East Europe. I also hope to have some kind of
celebration on the weekend closest to the first day
of summer. This celebration is to show how we can
make the world a better place through the human/dog
experience. The mission to make the world a better
place through the human/dog experience came to me in
a dream while camping in the desert a couple years
ago. The name given to this summer day of the dog
celebration of peace and achievement is RenChenZa™.
RenChenZa™ has an international origin mainly
comprised of Chinese, African, and Egyptian influences.

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3.Link of the month
This is a web site about one of our most popular breeds,
the Golden Retriever. This site is not a glossy hi-tech
site but is does win as our first featured website
http://www.goldenroseretrievers.com/

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4.
We have introduced a dog trainers directory on the
website. Free listings are available to trainers
outside the Orange County, CA. and Los Angeles
Metro areas. Trainers in the San Fernando Valley
and San Diego can get a free listing. These listings
are for face-to-face dog trainers not web based
training programs such as e-books.

You can either fill out the form at
http://www.101-dog-training-tips.com/dog_trainers_directory/index.shtml
or you can simply request to join our yahoo group with
your business info.
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Dog_Trainers_101_Tips/

We are continuing to give free directory listings to
other dog related businesses including dog breeders
and rescue groups.

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5.
Looking for a volunteer Spanish speaker who would
be interested in helping to set up an educational / dog
training program for orphans in Mexico. This project
is in the planning stage. I hope to have some funds set
aside for this project within five months. I would prefer
working with someone local to the Los Angeles – Orange
County area. However I'm open to suggestions. Please
reply to the list
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/101-Dog-Training-Tips/
with contact information including your phone number

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Last month's newsletter Issue #1 December 1, 2005 was about
Animal cruelty and the pet fur trade in China. The title of
the main article
To Reward or Not to Reward - Pet fur coats from China
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Newsletters will be archived on the
http://101-dog-training-tips.com website
after posting them to the group

Andrew Ledford
Concepts In Dog Behavior®
Concepts In Dog Behavior® is a registered Trademark
http://101-dog-training-tips.com
newsletter
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© Copyright 2006 Andrew Ledford all rights reserved
worldwide. 101 dog training tips Newsletter is copyright
Andrew Ledford, 2006 except where indicated otherwise.

Concepts In Dog Behavior® is a registered Trademark

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