All too often nowadays people are obsessed with becoming the 'pack leader'
Always suppressing our dogs and seeing a challenge to their status in every little thing the dog does.
This is all unfortunately because of flawed research done years ago in wolf packs.
The researchers thought they saw packs of wolves with an alpha pair who were the bosses leading with paws of iron
and the rest of the pack was made up of lower ranking wolves all trying to climb the social ladder to be the alpha dogs.
The alpha wolves were the only ones to mate.
People assumed this meant that only the strongest in a pack ever got to mate and submissive animals never got the chance to pass on their genes.
More recently researchers have realised that view was wrong.
A pack is not a group of individuals fighting to get to the top
A pack is a family. The alpha pair are the parents.
Wolves do not become sexually active till they are at least 2 so the other wolves in the pack are older cubs of the alpha pair.
There is no point in the younger animals striving to reach the top - that would mean them breeding with their parents.
When wolves become mature they go off and find their own mate and create their own pack - even the submissive ones.
So rather than the pack leader we should think of ourselves more as a 'parent' role.
Yes dogs need rules, guidelines and training.
But letting your dog on the sofa will not mean he will chase to postman.
Making them wait to eat after you will not make her recall when called
If you have a training problem address the actual problem rather than making up rules that make no sense for the dog
So for today's walk I let Mia be the leader. She found us a wee path to walk along - it seemed like a wee deer path - but I gave it a go.Then it opened into the most lovely park and then a forest walk
and even me letting her 'lead' she still stayed when I asked for a photoshoot and she recalled when I called.
So I guess all this power hasn't gone to her head and she isn't going to steal my credit card just yet
Loved that post and agree completely. Looks like Mia led you on a wonderful walk!
ReplyDeleteVery entertaining post - and so true! :)
ReplyDeleteExcellent!! Excellent!!Long time since I had a dog, but we would read each others body language and worked in a co-operative way. I just needed to point or indicate with my head she would know what to do. She would do a little dance and lead me to something that was a concern to her. I think it's called communication...something human groups could use. Cheers Joan
ReplyDeletePS. so glad I found your blog
Very well said! Looks like your day was wonderful! :) Beautiful pictures
ReplyDeleteExcellent post, loved the photos. Our animals companions have so few choices. It means a great deal to them to be allowed to make some and it sounds like Mia gave you a nice surprise!
ReplyDeleteDear Admin,
ReplyDeleteI produce a dog video conversation and would like to know if you would post it on you blog. We have some great people involved (Dr. Robyn Barbiers from Anti-Cruelty Society, Bernie Berlin from A Place to Bark, Amelia Glynn from SF Chronicle). If you are interested in contributing to the show as a panelist, I would love to speak with you regarding that as well.
Info:
The title of our video is – ‘What is Your Dog Breed Bias?’
The description is – ‘Is your childhood dog your favorite breed? Are you scared of pit bulls? Do you agree with the rest of America that the beagle is the best? Join our awesome team of dog bloggers in a conversation about your breed bias.’
The url (where you can get the embed if your program screens it):
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UxriEAHqLUk
Thanks,
Bill Soule
The Doggie Dish
wpsoule@gmail.com
I read a lovely book by Temple Grandin which addressed this very subject.
ReplyDeleteIt's called Animals Make Us Human. It's pretty fascinating as is Temple herself