Maine Pets

Actually that is not quite true either. A middle management problem comes about when there is a lack of leadership at the wheel, and conflicts are usually more of a beta problem. Though an Alpha may perceive a problem or threat that is not there, if there is no leadership to tell them that they do not have to get involved. IMO, very different than a dominant dog, though an Alpha may be dominant as well. Still those are two seperate definitions in my mind.

I think that my version of dominant is yoru version of alpha :0) Some dogs try you more than others... my Lab, although much more the lover at times than the Chesapeakes I've had, was the toughest to train even though he was the least dominant in an alpha sense. My two Chesapeake bitches, and especially my current girl Casco, ruled the roost in multiple dog situations, but, in true Chesapeake style, love, love, love/d training of any sort and would become more and more my leaning sidekick the more I gave them a job to do. Now, my first Chessie girl was a bit persnickety about which dogs she did and didn't like... she was perfectly well behaved around people and children, but she didn't like dogs in her face... I trained her around this, and she'd usually hide her face in my lap or otherwise avoid another dog rather than face that dog bugging her (now she did have a bossy but working relationship with the neutered male Lab and our intact male Chesapeake). My current Chesapeake has made noise at other dogs at her home, but she has always worked it out that she is boss, and the other dogs end up following her around/licking her mouth/etc.... obviously fine with her being in charge. That, to me, is dominant... and in her training relationship with me, I can be 95% positive in our interactions, but once in a blue moon (mainly between 12 and 18 mos.... a time lovingly known as Chessie Adolescence among people in our breed) she'd totally ignore me in a way that was rather passive agressive. When I know 100% that a Chesapeake is trained on an idea (after months and months of training and proofing) and looks at me sideways as she says, "ahem... speak to the paw"... then we work in a physical (i.e. my hands on the dog... not hitting or otherwise abusing) or e-collar (negative, but again, not abusive... I've had some training on how to use the collar, and I use it sparingly and as an extension of a leash) to drive the, "Ahem... yes, I really meant what I said" followed by major praise and fun when the dog corrects herself (we stop there... on a positive note). In Chessie circles, this is a common conversation... they are a dominant breed (if, by dominant, you mean that they need someone at the wheel who knows how to drive... and that they are a somewhat more primitive but very smart, thinking animal that will once in awhile see if you really mean what you said you meant during the past 52 lessons prior. Like I said, dominance, by this definition is not necessarily a bad thing. I like my dogs to think, and it makes me a better trainer (admittedly, I train my own dogs... I don't train others like you do) and it causes me to have a more solid bond with my Chesapeakes when I live up to their expectation of what they want from me as a boss/master/alpha...

The many definitions that people have out there, are why I decided to document what my meanings were in dog training terms. It gets totally confusing sometimes when you are reading what another trainer is writing, until you get that they are using a different definition of it, OR understand that trainers have so many different definitions or so many disagreements on the actual meanings of the words. Then there are some trainers/owners who insist that dominance does not exist. It probably has to do with what their perception or personal definition of it is.

The way she was trained does, but the circumstance does not speak to dominance or alpha to me. When I was thinking that Leon would be my competition dog, I tried to eliminate chase games (his favorite passtime when he had a toy) until I trained a retrieve, albeit a play retrieve. It is just a good training protocal to have if you want the teaching to be as seamless as possible. Now if she was finding all sorts of ways to force a game of tug (ie your clothes, bedspreads, laundry whatever she could find and make you take from her) that would be more in the lines of my definition of dominance. I also find it to be a positive thing, not necessarily negative. However, there is a difference between the definitions of dominant and intelligent too, although certaintly a dog can have both.

This one is the most intelligent one dog I've owned in my opinion... and I base that on her insistence of trying to show me what she wants and in her incredibly quick way of learning what I want of her. If we are in a training situation, and, say, she isn't in a quite correct heel, she's one who will keep shifting herself and trying to figure out what I want so that she can get a reward (anything from a cookie to a scratch to a "goooood girl!"). I sometimes think that the two of us make a great pair because we both try to figure out how to work together. Now... the dominance idea I have about her is twofold... #1 because from puppy pack to any other doggy relationship she has, she has always been the one the other dogs fall in line behind... and #2 because if I am unfair, inconsistent, or otherwise a bad trainer, she has this look that she gives me that says, "Um... I don't think so...." Anyway... whether or not this is true dominance, I don't see it as a bad trait in any way. She's fair with the dogs she "rules" (all noise and slobber, never attacking or biting in a way that is outside of normal dog play), she responds happily to consistent human behavior and training... but I'd say that she (like so many Chesapeakes) doesn't suffer fools gladly.

The way she was trained does, but the circumstance does not speak to dominance or alpha to me. When I was thinking that Leon would be my competition dog, I tried to eliminate chase games (his favorite passtime when he had a toy) until I trained a retrieve, albeit a play retrieve. It is just a good training protocal to have if you want the teaching to be as seamless as possible. Now if she was finding all sorts of ways to force a game of tug (ie your clothes, bedspreads, laundry whatever she could find and make you take from her) that would be more in the lines of my definition of dominance. I also find it to be a positive thing, not necessarily negative. However, there is a difference between the definitions of dominant and intelligent too, although certaintly a dog can have both.