true nature of a dog

Family, Education, Health and Pets
1
what is the true nature of a dog?? the dogs we commonly find... ( not the wild ones).

Is it a fact that since Man has domesticated dogs for many centuries now, dogs have in general adapted themselves to a more docile attitude??

Or is it the fact that the DNA of a dog is more wild and free spirited, while we as HUMANS tend to restrain it??

How does a dog behave in various countries and cultures?? in europe - dogs hardly bark and misbehave.. Why is that so?? i know that the reasons may lay in insurance industry.. but a deeper understanding is required..

My opinion is that "we are not having a situation for the dogs to behave in its natural way..."...

what do you think?

2
Dogs, left to their own devices, are intelligent, articulate and cultured creatures, fond of fine art and delicious gastronomic experiences. There is, in fact, an autonomous colony of dogs on the island of Gran Canaria, in which the inhabitants are free to indulge their desire to drink fine wine and discuss sculptures and paintings at their leisure.

Alas, just as chimpanzees have been reduced to acting like monkeys for the gratification of ignorant humans, so have dogs found it necessary to play up to a certain role, licking their balls at dinner parties, barking at postmen and chasing parked cars, for example, in order to maintain their position in human society.

If we knew what they were really like, we'd consider them a threat and wipe them out, just as we wiped out the unicorn.

It's a dog's life, it really is.

3
I know from personal experience, dogs in India are generally far more ferocious, energetic, and dangerous than their Swiss counterparts... As a pedestrian/road runner I am not happy about it, but from the animal's point I think it is natural; the are basically wolves reined in to suit man's needs and should live the way their DNA dictates.

Dogs in Switzerland are routinely castrated/ovaries removed (euphemism is neutering and spaying)...that apart from formal training could explain why most are docile, surprisingly many are lethargic. I am scared of dogs, but I am not a dog-hater per se. It does sadden me to see the irony of it: they get good food, excellent medicare and warmth of a home but with important bits of them removed...

It is a controversial topic; dog owners will have a different take on it.

4
On a few occasions I have encountered wild undomesticated dogs when I was serving in the military. An interesting one was a dog that had become loyal to a large wild pig on mount Mauna Loa, Hawaii. This pig and his trusty dog would often try to steal food and rubbish from our camp sites. Pigs are known to have a more keen sense of smell than dogs do and my guess is that the dog latched on to the crafty pig for his superior food finding abilities. Whenever I saw them, the dog was never more than a few meters away from the pig and would bark at anyone who came near. The pig did not seem to mind having the dog hanging around him probably because the dog kept him safe from harm.

On another occasion a friend and I found ourselves surrounded by a pack of about 30 very vicious wild dogs in Kuwait a few months after Operation Desert Storm. Like Niranjan said, they behaved very wolf like and had a pack leader. It was almost a little humorous to see some of the smaller breeds (Poodles, Shih tzu's , etc.) behaving like savage animals that wanted to eat us.

5

Most of the pups in CH are sent to puppy playgroups from age 10 weeks to 16 weeks for socialisation and imprinting. So that when they meet other dogs they are usually friendly with one another later on and not threatening to people known or unknown. Most of the well-behaved dogs here are a result of training, not so much because their reproductive bits have been suppressed or removed.

In the dog's family house, if it's allowed to think it is alpha dog, it might develop all kinds of 'unwanted' behaviour such as barking at passersby, destroying the furniture, etc. Some are not natural leaders and would feel highly stressed if the role of alpha is inadvertently pressed upon them. That is why dog experts and authors such as Jan Fennell and Cesar Millan stress the need for us to take on the role of pack leader from the very start. They describe their methods clearly in their books. In this way, the family dog knows its place and can relax and enjoy its life within its human pack. It likes knowing what is expected of it in its pack hierarchy.

6
This reminded me of a show I saw on TV... here (the first few minutes) is the bit about the dogs in "Life After People"

7
Their true nature? They inherently possess wolf-like tendencies because they ARE descended from wolves but under the right human leadership, they can be docile, well socialised and well behaved - not just in Europe. You chose to domesticate this animal so it cannot be allowed to run wild with its instincts. With the right leadership, they are the best companions Man can ask for. Their intelligence, fierce loyalty and the joy they bring, is like no other domesticated animal out there.

Different cultures in various countries value the dog differently. They are more disposable and less pampered in some countries than others - the better behaved dogs you see are not only concentrated in Europe but in other parts of the world as well though I am a firm believer of what Ghandi said: the greatness of a nation and its moral progress can be judged by the way its animals are treated.

8
Centuries of selective breeding and inbreeding have altered a domestic dog's body and nature so much that any comparison with wild dogs is meaningless. Feral dogs are a case in point. They'll do what they have to survive (forming packs; scavenging etc) but even after decades, feral colonies don't revert to wolves.

As Summerrain said, conditioning has a huge impact on your dog's behaviour.

9

I'm curious what you mean by this.

Are you meaning behavior wise... or appearance? I ask because I think that the statement should be qualified with a "depending upon" sort of thought train.

Feral dog colonies which are formed of "working" dogs, particularly in areas where said dogs typically are kept chained or penned up outside rather than as pampered pets indoors probably are a bit closer in behavior to wolves. The reason for this is that the "wolf-like behaviors" haven't been as conditioned out through their individual early years, training and proximity to babies which they must not bite.

Meanwhile, there are some areas which are prone to formation of feral dog colonies because of people moving and leaving their "pets" behind and these colonies tend to be populated by some of the more "family friendly" breeds. Because of this and because a majority start out their early years inside the homes of / in very close proximity to humans, they tend to remain relatively near human habitation and rely upon scavenging rather than hunting.

These dogs, other than becoming shy but defensive, really probably aren't "so different" for many generations than the ones among them who did spend years inside human habitation, partially because of a near-constant influx of "left behind" pet dogs.

What I mean is that a pack of say... fox hounds... which have been kept in a kennel but from which some individuals escaped and became feral will likely be MORE "wolf-like" in behavior than a feral pack formed of a mix of "pet" (poms, doxies and yorkies mixed with labs, shelties and poodles of various sizes) dogs which developed into a colony after individuals were abandoned.

10
Ah, OK I get it now. Their gonads are removed for reasons other than primarily behavior alteration

Speaking of culture and dogs in different countries, another striking thing I notice is, in India, most dogs outrun most humans by a wide margin (factor of 3 or 4 in sprints). A typical dog owner will be seen struggling to hold on to the leash while the dog is pulling away with gusto.

In Switzerland, I see the opposite: many dogs are so spiritless, barely keeping up with their fit masters. Like that dog in PegA's video link...

11
In the dog pack I found in Kuwait, several of the dogs wore collars. My guess is that prior to Iraq invading in August of 1990 they were somebody's pet. Another thing I noticed was a complete absence of large dogs. The biggest dogs in this pack were no more than 10 or 15 kilograms. In the harsh desert environment I would assume that the larger dogs required too much food and water to stay alive.

Despite their small size, the pack worked very efficiently and it seemed as though each dog knew what his job was. My friend and I had to stand back to back. With anything more than a couple of feet between us, dogs would surge forward and try to separate us. Other dogs would boldly move in and bark at us to draw our attention while others would quietly move in for the kill. Every move seemed to be initiated by the pack leader. We could tell when they would try for another attack because the leader would look at all the other dogs as if he was making sure all the others were in the correct place. It was pretty impressive for a bunch of dogs who were likely to be living the good life less than a year earlier.

12

Most of the time, dogs are neutered or spayed so that they don't produce unwanted puppies. That is why you hardly see any stray dogs here (other than the likelihood they'd be rounded up soon enough, unless the dog is extra-smart). I know quite a few dogs that aren't fixed but they're still well behaved because they've accepted their humans as their pack leaders.

The 'pulling on the leash' you see in India or anywhere else is because the dog has not been trained to walk calmly beside the owner. I've seen a jogger here with his dog off-leash running by his side; the dog kept pace, stopping when his human stopped. Training can do wonders.

(Guide dog pups are allowed to pull a little as they'll be required to wear a halter to guide/lead the blind later if they pass their exams, but that's another story.)

If you think a dog is 'spiritless', it's probably a very old dog. Here many dogs do live to a ripe old age because of good medical care and nutrition.

13
Let me do a castration procedure on you and I believe you'll behave out of fear to get something else removed...

That makes anyone walk straight!

14
Because dogs are social and intelligent, their behaviour is not completely instinctive. Their behaviour can therefore depend a lot on their upbringing, whether that is in the company of humans or other dogs.

Unlike most cats, a dog that is a human pet may starve if abandoned alone. A dog that grew up in a feral group fares better when not in the company of humans.

I once saw a pack of urban feral dogs in Thailand maul a couple of strange dogs on their territory.

15
Owner struggling to control his or her dog has obviously not spent enough time and effort on training that dog. they are pack animals, as said, and a dog pulling his owner thinks that he is the alpha one in the pack - after all, the dog decides where the owner goes and how fast. that dog will probably also sleep on beds or sofas (alphas always sleep higher), beg at the table (alphas eat first), jump up, bring you toys and demand that you play with them when they want to play etc.

which of course can also be seen as signs of joie de vivre , but will make living with such dog (who thinks that he is the boss) quite difficult. which is also the reason dogs are trained not to misbehave. After all, our pets don't need to go out and hunt for their own food - in return they need to behave so we can live together.

16
On the one hand, that is quite scary!

On the other hand, and perhaps I am strange... I think that is quite wonderful and fantastic.

17
That's actually a really fascinating story, very interesting. Did you have to shoot any of them, or did they get scared and run in the end?

18
fascinating story! so what happened next?

19
I hope it is not too bad in style to just throw in these links. But for those who are interested, here are two studies on the subject...

This study suggests that dominance/pecking order is often wrongly used when it comes to analysing the behaviour of dogs and that even the behaviour of feral dogs does not follow the wolf pack model.

summary:

http://www.universityworldnews.com/a...90528173752516

study:“Dominance in domestic dogs – useful construct or bad habit?”

http://www.pawsoflife.org/pdf/Librar...haw%202009.pdf

This 50 year long study shows what changes occured when silver foxes have been selected and bred in regards to behaviour (tameness).

http://scienceblogs.com/thoughtfulan...ian_fox_st.php

20
Here's a little more to the story (and don't worry, no dogs were harmed). This took place in early June of 1991. After the fighting was over in Kuwait, my unit had to wait it's turn to fly back to the United States. Because we were one of the last units to arrive (Christmas day, 1990) we wound up sitting in the desert outside the city of Al Jahra. By June, the area was declared safe and Kuwaiti citizens were just starting to return to the area.

With absolutely nothing to do besides wait, we took to getting ourselves back into good physical condition. My buddy Tom and I decided to go for a 3 mile run, and because it was extremely hot and the fighting was over for months, we decided to not bring our rifles with us. When we were about a mile out of our camp, I saw the dog pack. Being a dog lover, I thought "Oh how cute. a bunch of puppies!". The dogs looked at us and thought "Oh how cute. Lunch has arrived".

The dogs ran towards us and it didn't take long to figure out that they were not looking to have their ears scratched or bellies rubbed. They quickly surrounded us and began their attempts to separate us. We stood back to back and started looking for some kind of weapon for protection. When we tried kicking or punching, the dogs snapped at us. Although they were not big, they made up for it with speed. If a dog doesn't want you to touch him, they can easily jump out of the way and take a bite out of your hand.

We were in open desert with absolutely nothing around us. We kicked in the sand for rocks and the best we could come up with were small pebbles. Nothing that could hurt a dog, but they didn't know that. Luckily, the dogs had had a few rocks thrown at them before, so they would back off if you looked as though you might throw one. Actually throwing the pebble was a mistake because they knew we were then defenseless.

So we held our pebbles above our heads and started our way back towards base camp. We had to move slowly or the dogs would lunge at us more boldly. We also had to constantly turn in a circle. If we ignored any angle for too long, the dogs covering that area would move in on us. After about 30 minutes, which felt like hours under the hot sun and the bad situation, a Humvee (American military vehicle) saw us and drove up. The driver got out and fired a few shots into the air. The dogs took off running farther into the desert. The driver got back into his Humvee without so much as saying hello and drove off (a ride back to our base camp would have been the polite thing to offer). Tom and I sprinted the remaining half mile back to base camp where we took our fair share of ribbing for being scared of a bunch of mutts. We never left base camp again without our rifles or in large groups.

The fact that these dogs could survive out there was absolutely amazing. I have no idea how they were staying hydrated, and what they were eating for food was a pretty grim prospect. I remember a few of the dogs looking as though they were apologetic or unsure if they were doing the right thing. Others looked quite savage as though they never knew about the traditional bond between man and dog. We were just prey to them. The alpha dog of the pack had a real intelligence to his eyes. He looked like a smaller version of an Australian Dingo and was maybe 15 kilograms. From time to time some of the dogs would start backing away like they had doubts about the venture, and the alpha would then bark at us even more fiercely, which would rally the other dogs back into the hunt. We focused our threats of thrown pebbles towards him because all of the other dogs would jump back when he jumped back, and when he moved forward, they all joined in.

Looking back on this it seems very interesting. At the time I was genuinely in fear for my life. They may not have been big, but with so many attacking at once, I am quite sure they could have killed us.