The dying fire cast dancing shadows on the dark granite outlining the cave entrance. A hairy hulking humanoid figure squatted near the fire gnawing at a huge elk quarter. He grew tired and satiated. He tossed the meat to the side and shuffled off into the cave. A few minutes later a wolf cautiously picked his way toward the discarded prize. The wolf stopped frequently to listen and raise his nose to test the air currents for threatening scents. He snatched the hindquarter with powerful jaws and quickly dragged it off a half mile into the forest where the other members of his pack quickly joined him.
Many
generations ago the ancestors of this pack had learned that food could be had
in proximity to man. The pack had passed that learned behavior down. Now the
wolves tended to hang around the vicinity of the bands of men, especially in
times of climatic extremes and difficult hunting.
During
this evolving social process, man had been learning as well. An ice age was
glacially approaching. The large easily killed game was disappearing. Man had
to work much harder to kill enough to survive. However man was also gradually
recognizing that the wolves with their superior sense of smell, could
occasionally lead him to the few remaining elusive large animals.
Thus
in prehistory may have arisen the social bond between ancestral men and
wolves. Note that the relationship was not one sided with man saving the
wolves. The wolves probably had a very beneficial effect on our evolution,
allowing the present branch of our family to survive rather than all the other
branches that died out. We could have been vastly different creatures with
hulking bodies, knuckles dragging the ground, and a propensity for swinging
through the trees. Perhaps we owe a great debt to wolf ancestors of dogs;
Perhaps not.
Today we can look to the wolf behavior for
explanation of what makes our dogs tick. That dogs are descended from wolves
is no longer mere speculation. Recent DNA analysis has demonstrated that all
today’s dogs are descended from a single common ancestor, the Eurasian gray
wolf. Thus pup’s behavior and communication has its roots in his wolf
ancestors. We need to look to wolf behavior to understand our dogs.
The
wolf is a pack animal and the pack gives the wolf his primary underlying
behavioral traits, dominance and subordinance. All the behavior and
communication and order within a wolf pack derive from the powerful
instinctive behaviors of dominance and subordinance.
There
is always a pack leader and a defined hierarchy of subordination. The pack
leader enforces and defends his position in a relatively bloodless manner with
several ritual behaviors that act on the instinctive level. The behaviors in
order of increasing severity are:
(1)
A direct threatening stare – A dominant canine gives a steady direct
threatening stare at an underling to put him in his place. You can see this
mechanism in effect by going to the zoo and staring steadily into the eyes of
one of the lions. He will become very irritated. Similarly, if you are in need
of excitement, you can stir up a good bit of trouble by trying on an adult
male human in a bar on Saturday night.
(2)
Looming over- The dominant wolf stretches up on his toes, raises his
hackles and makes himself larger to intimidate a subordinate.
(3)
Shoulder touching – The dominant
wolf puts his muzzle on top of the shoulders of a subordinate. If the desired
subordination effect isn’t achieved the dominant wolf will rear up and put
his paws on the subordinate’s shoulders. This behavior has some very direct
relevance to the common problem of dogs jumping up on his owner. If the owner
is dominant in the social hierarchy, then the dog is psychologically incapable
of jumping up and putting his paws on the owner.
(4)
Shaking by the throat – When all else fails the dominant wolf will run
at the subordinate, hit him in the shoulder, knock him down, roll him over,
grab him by the throat and shake him roughly while growling fiercely. This is
very extreme behavior and not exhibited with great frequency unless there are
two wolves in the pack who are very similar in dominance drives. It is also
the only dominance demonstration accompanied by a large amount of noise.
Wolves
within the pack rarely fight to the point of injury. Usually when two are
similar in dominance drive, they will continue to conflict until one leaves
the pack. Dominance is determined by the individual genetic makeup, and
enforced by the instinctive ritual behaviors.
The
dominant canine carries himself boldly erect with ears up and exhibits a
confident manner. He carries his tail high, well above horizontal. The
subordinate exhibits a posture less bold.
Reading behavior, posture, and body language of fellow pack members is
a highly developed trait and skill in dogs. In a wild pack where the members
are not skillful at reading dominance levels and emotional states of fellow
pack members, chaos and fighting would predominate, and the pack would not
have time to hunt enough game to feed themselves. Therefore natural selection
has made wolves and dogs masters of the skill of reading emotions and posture
and body language. Thousands of years of evolution have developed pup into a
creature that can read you like a book. You must be a skillful actor to fool
him.
Your dog’s mental health to large degree depends on leadership and
consistency. Pup is a product of thousands of years of evolution as a pack
animal. He needs a pack leader. If he doesn’t get one he is quite likely to be neurotic. Additionally he needs a fairly stable
position in the pack. You as the pack leader have a responsibility to conduct
yourself like the pack leader so that pup can feel confident of his position.
Mixed signals and alternating between leading and following make a dog
neurotic.
Now
that you have a basic understanding of the powerful pack behavioral mechanisms
that affect pup, how do you use them in training?
1.
Raise pup in the
house so that he imprints with the right pack. Raising him in the house
insures that he associates you as a pack member as opposed to say, the
neighbor’s beagle. Additionally, raising pup in the house will help develop
a bond that becomes a desire to please on the part of pup. Most important, if
you and pup live in the house together, you will develop some communication
skills. You will both learn much better to communicate with each other.
2. Be
quiet. Conduct your training sessions with a minimum of verbiage from the
trainer. Remember that the dominance mechanisms involve little in the way of
sound. They are mostly visual. Remember also that dogs communicate very little
to each other with audible signals. Most of dogs’ communication with each
other is in terms of visual signals provided by motion, posture, attitude, and
other aspects of body language.
2.
Be the pack leader.
This means acting with authority when you expect pup to obey. It means
conducting yourself with authority in training sessions and when hunting. Your
behavior is the only way pup can tell whether it is work time or play time.
Have a signal for playtime. When it is work time don’t sent play signals
with your voice or mannerisms. Be consistent and don’t give mixed signals.
Don’t change your tone of voice or mannerisms just because pup happens to be
300 yards away, or just because he’s not wearing that check cord. Always act
like the pack leader when you want a response from pup, because he reads you
like a book.
Start the obedience properly. Train pup to heel and
to watch you. When you do the quick turns and direction changes impart enough
momentum to pup that you shift his front feet off the ground. This is of major
importance in the initial formation of dominance.
Give a lot of your reward petting as slow stroking on top of pup shoulders to reinforce your dominance in a positive manner. Pay attention to pup’s attitude. When his tail is up high and his ears are up, he’s a lot less likely to be responsive to you. He should show a tail at or below horizontal and his ears back slightly. Then pup is properly submissive and will respond consistently.
3. When you must punish use canine mechanisms. For minor infractions, and as a first effort use a direct threatening stare. For a more serious rebellion grab pup by the nape of the neck and give him a shake with sufficient vigor to pick up his front feet. If he is really bad, and if you are strong enough, pick him up by the nape of his neck and the loose skin above his rear quarters and give him a shake such that all four feet are off the ground.