Thank you for your note asking for information about what's happening with the New Guinea Singing Dogs in the US. I've been intending to write for some time, as I have several questions about Dingo behavior and captive management, but I got side-tracked trying to get a club going for the NGSD and kept putting it off. You gave me the impetus to DO IT!
Dr. Brisbin has assigned me the task of starting an ethogram for the NGSD. I now have three adults, 18 mos old (1 M, 2 F), and three pups 5 mos old (2 M, 1 F) living as a pack. They have all been raised in my home - at least on a part-time basis - and I have taken them to doggy events (fun matches, classes) for socialization. All are extremely affectionate and submissive toward people.
The littermate adult females have so far not been aggressive toward each other, but Brisbin does not believe adult females can be kept together, so we'll see. My adult male, but not the females, is very growly and stiff-legged around strange dogs. The puppies are afraid of any dog bigger that they are, one female going over backwards and screaming/urinating when a collie leaned toward her at a match. She was much better when I took her to the next event with Buna, my calmest adult female, and she was sniffing noses with an Irish Wolfhound!
The Singers have several behaviors that I have not noticed in wolves or domestic dogs, and I was wondering if Dingoes share these behaviors. One is what I call an "open mouth play bite" in which the actor opens its mouth wide and presses it down over the back or neck of the recipient. They do not bite down, just press the opened jaws. I noticed it as early as three weeks. Another is a distinctive "head toss" in which the head and neck are rotated 180 degrees up and backward, then the head is snapped forward and down. They do this when they are frustrated or seeking attention. Also, I have yet to see any NGSD perform a " canid play bow" invitation to play, where the forehand is lowered almost to the ground and the rump is elevated, usually with wagging tail. Do Dingoes do this?
So far all of my NGSD are strongly attracted to water. I have a seasonal creek and pond here and even on first introduction they splash in, jabbing with their forepaws and sticking their muzzles underwater to grab leaves, sticks, etc., obviously hunting. They also do foreleg jabs into every grass tuft, pile of leaves, etc., that they come upon, listening for any movement. In tall grass they locomote in leaps, pausing at each landing for a split second to listen. If they smell fresh scent in a gopher hole they will dig "forever" and must be dragged away. Small prey, here so far only meadow voles (like a large mouse), are instantly crushed and eaten, even by pups. I'm sure that this strong hunting drive will keep NGSD from performing off-lead tasks. I believe that no matter how well conditioned they are the stimulus of a prey-type item would overwhelm their at best tenuous desire to please their human partner (notice I did not say "master" - a concept they do not seem to recognize).
I have tried to give a pup to an experienced dog trainer to see what could be accomplished, as I have no time or energy to work with mine in obedience (and, besides, I like their independent natures and enjoy their friendship, a relationship that I believe would be harmed by strict obedience training), but so far I haven't been able to interest anyone in giving it a try.
I find that NGSD learn "limits" - NO commands - very quickly, and are reliable with few reinforcements of verbal reprimands. They are excellent at honoring requests to NOT do something - like get on table tops - but their response to active commands - DO something - depends on their mood and state of motivation.
They are incredibly intelligent, learning most things in a single association, and with this intelligence comes some "problems." I have kennel runs attached by a corridor to an exercise pen with 18" cement culverts, an open-ended house, stumps and a ramp. The pack is put up each night and spends the day in the yard, depending on weather. My two adult females are starting to refuse my request to come in, and all the "tricks" I've learned in 28 years of working with dogs and wolves to "fool" animals - baiting with treats, giving attention to another animal, picking up the leash, etc. - work only once with each NGSD. Now, if they refuse to come in, I simply leave them alone for awhile, and try again. So far none has stayed out in the big pen all night!
Singer play behavior is much more oral than in any dogs or wolves I have observed. They grab any part of the opponent's body - most often (in order) back, neck, cheeks, hind legs, tail, sides - and if they can get a mouthful of skin they will shake their head and actually even drag the opponent around a little. A picture is enclosed that shows this rough play. Of course, the receiver cries and yelps, but will come right back for more. The adults "put down" the youngsters by growling and muzzle bites, often the pups fall to the ground in total submission, but they seem to have to "make up" to the one who pinned them, and will annoy the adult by following it around, wagging and licking at the adult's face, incurring repeated inhibited bites. If one Singer submits, the other often does a "stand over" head to tail, and sits on their opponent's head - a position that leaves their genitals vulnerable and so seems to me to be counter-intuitive for survival.
Except, as much biting and screaming that goes on in the pack, and even one serious fight (at 11 mos. of age, between the resident female and a newcomer female I was trying to introduce) that lasted about a minute before I broke it up, there are never more than minor scratches, so they have very good bite control. Emke Voth did a thesis on the NGSD and she has pictures of severe injuries and one female was even killed during her study. However, her group consisted of up to 17 animals in a zoo exhibit and I think the social pressure was just too great. Mine get a lot of individual attention - each comes in the house for two nights a week and sleeps on our bed, and they have toys, beef bones, etc. - and they have never had to compete for any resource.
I have yet to see any NGSD forcibly take an object from another. Even the adults respect the property rights of the pups, and leave them alone if they growl - probably the reason they are easy to train to limits. However, they do their best to distract the "owner" and squirm around just out of personal distance, waiting for a chance to insinuate themselves in and get the prize.
They will lie nearby for many minutes, seemingly uninterested, looking totally relaxed, but they are alert to every movement and dash over if the owner even turns its head away for a second. If "caught" before they have gained possession of the prize, the thief will show extreme submission and whimper loudly, especially as puppies under a year old. If they are able to get the prize in their mouth, the owner may give a short growl of protest, then resigns itself to the watcher role. Adults will often relent and let a puppy have something if the pup is especially annoying, getting up and leaving the prize with a short protest growl, or seeming to suddenly lose interest in the prize.
My mother Singer, Buna, regurgitated for her pups until they were 4 1/2 months old. I had to not only wean the pups, I had to wean her from the pups at nine weeks! I separated them and she howled for three days. I let them interact for a few minutes each day, and when her milk dried up I let them spend the days together with the rest of the pack. Buna would whine after she ate, until I let her out so she could throw up for her pups. I had two pups three weeks older than Buna's, and if either of them tried to eat the regurgitated food, Buna pinned them. Buna also intervened with growls, open mouth bites and body slams if any adult was too rough with one of her pups, and she stopped the older pups from "beating up " on hers. She didn't run over at the first whimper, but if the cries were prolonged she investigated. All in all I would say she was just about the most perfect canid mother.
None of the other dogs here (two adult females and one adult male, the sire) ever regurgitated for the pups, although Voth says in her group they did, and that all the pack shared in the feast. The sire of my older pups, who was separated by a plywood barrier from contact, nevertheless threw up at least once against the fence when the pups were about five weeks old. Do Dingo males feed the pups? How long do Dingo females regurgitate for their pups?
My most important question is: Have you found any reliable method of birth control, other than neutering and separation? My male howled so much last season August here) that I had to pay a fine because a neighbor complained. If I could let him stay with the females there would be no problem. A related question - do Dingoes come back in heat if they are not bred? Singers often come in again in about four to six weeks if they are not bred. One of mine came in three times in a row!!! Of course, this exacerbates the problem as instead of two weeks of separation, we have six weeks spread out over three/four months. Any suggestions, especially of what you have tried that didn't work, would be most appreciated. As this is such a rare breed - only about 300 world wide - every documented breeding animal is too valuable to take unwarranted chances with, and I have heard via dog gossip that many bitches given hormone shots never cycle again.
Do Dingoes have dark masks as puppies? NGSD almost all have at least black chins, usually masks up to the eyes, and the underside of the chin has a white streak down the center. This would seem like an excellent flag for social communication. The masks fade out to tannish-gray by the time the dog is two years old. Perhaps this coloration serves, as it does in many species, to mark the young, who are tolerated more by the adults.
Like Dingoes, NGSD are born dark sable color, except of course for white markings. Then they fade and at about eight weeks a saddle of dark guard hairs appears and the end half of the tail remains dark. The tail, by 4 mos. or so, and eventually the saddle fade until they are the same color as the body. I've enclosed a pup picture to show the pattern at nine weeks. Do Dingoes go through similar color phases?
As for current research on the NGSD, two of my pups have gone to Dr. Mark Feinstein, Hampshire College, Amherst, Massachusetts, a linguist specializing in canid vocalizations, who will study their behavior. This college has specialized in dogs, especially sheep herders and guards, and has done some DNA research on canids. They have had a male NGSD for several years, and Feinstein told me that of all the scores of dogs that they have kept, only the NGSD learned to open the "dog-proof" latch on the kennel gates. Hampshire College Farm Center is well known for importing rare breed livestock guard dogs (Maremmas, Anatolian Shepherds, Akbash, etc.) to use in coyote predation control experiments. I'm confident that the study will find that the NGSD has a unique vocal behavior, a fact that could be used to lobby for subspecies status for them and gain them some support from conservation groups. Dr. Brisbin has also just informed me that canid DNA researchers at the University of California at Berkeley are interested in the NGSD, and that I may be contacted for blood donations. I hope that these researchers can be persuaded to test Dingoes, Telomians, and other "pariah" types to help elucidate their relationships. Last night I saw a "Wild Discovery" show on the Komodo lizard, and was surprised to see a short scene of a dog eating some carrion. It looked like a lowland (tropical) NGSD, only bigger - maybe about he size of a Dingo but very slender - and the announcer said the dogs had been on the island for "l5,000 years." Of course I didn't have the VCR set up, and didn't get the credits, but I will find out whom to contact to see where this estimate came from. If you have any information on these island dogs, please share it with me. I believe the Dingo and NGSD have been in their habitats far longer than the 3,500 years so far "provable" by the archaeological record. I think the "domestic dog" arrived with the first settlers long before the accepted date for dog domestication in the Near East of some 12,000 years ago.
My interest in the NGSD started with my quest to learn about the domestication of the dog, because, after working with wolves and doing literature research on feral and pariah dogs, I had come to seriously doubt the widely accepted hypothesis that the original domestic dog was a direct descendant of the gray wolf. I wanted to live with the most primitive "domestic" dog and see how close their behavior is to that of the wolf. So far I can confidently say only that they are not "little wolves" and that their social behavior and vocalizations are very different from wolves'. I am actually starting to think that the Dingo and its relatives are an older, separate line from the rest of modern dogdom, kept pure of subsequent crossing with the wolf because of geographic isolation. I think they are their own species, as separate from the wolf, as is the coyote or jackal, and I will work toward finding acceptable proof for this so that the powers that be will judge them worthy of salvation.
I have been corresponding with a Nikki Roden, formerly with the UC Berkeley and now retired, who has been a "fan" of the Dingo and especially of the NGSD for over 20 years. She told me in her last letter all about he Dingo Education Center she used to belong to, recommending it to me. I was pleased to be able to tell her I found you 2 years ago, and have already learned much from the materials I have received.
Speaking of that - I am enclosing a check for a copy of the new booklet. Hopefully, I have sent enough to cover air post, but if not let me know and I will forward ASAP. Thank you for your attention. If anything "exciting" happens in research here I will let you know.
3/3/96
Post Script:
I thought you might be interested in some of the physical differences between Dingoes and NGSD, as outlined by Wolfhart Schultz in his 1969 paper, based upon animals at the Domestic Animal Institute in Kiel, Germany. The Dingoes used came from German Zoos and one from the San Diego Zoo. The NGSD were from a pair bred at the San Diego Zoo - first or second generation captive born.
Of course NGSD are on average about a third smaller overall than Dingoes. In proportion NGSD legs are shorter and their skulls, while shorter, are nearly as wide as the Dingo's.
I have observed two litters of NGSD from birth, and was very surprised to see how fast they grew in the first four weeks. They all got very fat the first two weeks, little rolls on their necks and legs, and their skin was very loose. They soon grew into all that skin! I have enclosed a few pages from the Schultz article comparing the two "breeds" and the growth records I have kept on my NGSD, and would appreciate any comments you might have in comparing these with your own observations of the Dingoes at Merigal.