I got a call the other day from a person that owns a Pit Bull male puppy that’s about four months old. I have seen the puppy and he is gorgeous and BIG! The head on him alone makes him look older than he is. But he’s a friendly, fun loving puppy. I absolutely fell in love with him. Anyway, they wanted to know about crate training the puppy because every time they eat something, there he is begging for a handout. I told them, “Well he’s a puppy and that’s what puppy’s do.” I told them that they will have to train him to sit or lie down quietly while they are eating. I told them if he really is a nuisance than they can crate train him until he knows what they expect from him.
I think owning a crate when you own a dog is probably one of your best investments you can make. I start to crate train my puppies at eight weeks old. I’ve never had a problem with this method at this young age. The German Shepherd Dog is very smart and they learn very easily with lots of persistence on the owner’s part.
Some pet people will question the use of crates. Many times a breeder will hear them say that they think putting a dog and especially a puppy in a crate is cruel. They don’t think that a puppy should be locked away in a crate like they are in some sort of jail!
There are many reasons to use a crate for a dog. The number one reason probably would be for the safety of your animals. Then the number two reason could be for the safety of your household items and valuables. Puppies and some dogs are notorious chewers. Anything they can find to put in their mouths, they will. You don’t want them chewing on dangerous electrical cords. You don’t want them chewing on your furniture or getting into your collectible items. You don’t want them getting and eating the garbage.
Many people don’t realize that a dog is a pack animal. If he were in the wild he would look for a den to get out of the elements with the changing of the weather. He would look for a warm, safe haven to rest in. The crate if introduced properly would represent to the dog a safe haven to rest in. The key word here is PROPERLY. A crate should be used and viewed to the dog as something positive, no negative.
A crate should not be used as a means to punish the dog. If it is, the dog will grow to hate it and you will have your hands full putting him in it and leaving him in it without a fight or a lot of ruckus. You want the dog to view the crate as a safe place for him to go to when he wants to rest and relax. You want the dog to treat his crate as his den. Like anything else when training a dog, this should be a positive experience for him.
I always train my dogs to go into the crate and they’ll get a treat when they cooperate. So at bed time, I get the box of dog biscuits, give it a shake and my dogs run in front of me to get to their “den.” They go in it and they are rewarded with the dog biscuit. I tell them they are good dogs. They swallow their treat and then it’s “Lights out time!” They have been trained like this since they were little eight week old puppies. Sure the puppy will complain the first few nights, but better than him destroying your house and going “potty” anywhere they chose. The crate is an excellent house training tool!
If however, on the other hand, if you use the crate as a punishment for when the dog is doing something bad, he will hate the crate. By yelling and screaming at the dog telling him he’s a bad dog and putting him in the crate, he’s just associated the crate with something bad. He’s associated it with a place that he goes to when he’s being punished. Association is very important to a dog when you are training him. You want the dog to associate the crate with something good, not bad.
Also when you are training your dog to get used to the crate, don’t expect him to love it if you leave him in it all day long. The dog needs and wants to be exercised. The crate should represent a place for him when he goes to bed or if you can’t trust him alone in the house, then this is a place he can “wait” until you return. Just don’t make it an all day event because then it will feel like a jail to the dog.
When a dog has a negative feeling about the crate, he can try to do everything in his power to escape from it. Most crates are secure enough that he won’t be able to do this. However, there are those few that are escape artists and somehow have figured out how to get out of his crate. Don’t ask me how they do it, but some of them can. I’ve personally never dealt with a dog that could do this, but I’ve heard about it.
When you first train the puppy to stay in the crate over night, it’s wise to take him outside to go to the bathroom before you put him to bed. The later, the better. Also plan on getting up earlier in the morning than you normally would as the puppy won’t be able to hold his need to “potty” for excess lengths of time. Gradually, you can increase the time he stays in bed in the morning as he gets a little older. Most puppies and dogs will not go “potty” in the place that they sleep, so if he does have an accident, he probably was in the crate too long.
Sometimes an indication that a dog has been in a crate for the majority of his life is how he reacts when he’s out of the crate. If you buy a dog from someone and the dog spins around and around a lot of the time, it MAY be an indication that the dog was crated for too long of a time. I have experienced this with two dogs that I bought with different bloodlines. Both of these animals were left in crates for long periods of time.
Many times you will notice that your dog that is in the house with you may disappear occasionally. If you go to take a look, you might be surprised to find that she went to take a snooze in her crate. I always leave the crate doors open for my dogs if they feel they want a place to go away from the rest of the family.
If you must leave a puppy in a crate for a short period of time while you do an errand, it’s a good idea to leave a radio on so she doesn’t feel alone. If you leave toys for her to chew on while you’re gone, make sure there is nothing that she can choke on. Sometimes you will get a dog like one of mine that is a “chow hound” and this means everything that she can get her mouth on she has to eat. I’ve learned this lesson when I’ve put big beach towels in for her to lie on. She would shred them time and time again. So she no longer lies on anything but the crate floor. This is for her safety so she doesn’t swallow big hunks of the towel and end up choking. Every dog is an individual and should be treated as such.
Getting a dog used to a crate in the house is a great idea because when you take her for a ride, you can put her in a crate in the car and she’ll feel safe and secure without giving you any problems.
Make sure that the crate is large enough for the dog to stand up and turn around in comfortably. His needs as a puppy will be different as he grows. I like using the plastic shipping crates for my dogs and puppies. I don’t change the size of crate that the puppy sleeps in. Right from the beginning he sleeps in a large crate and this is the crate that he will grow in and sleep in as an adult.
So as you can see, the crate can be a place for peace and solitude for a dog or a place they view as solitary confinement. Make it a pleasant experience for the both of you. A happy dog is a quiet and peaceful dog. This makes for a very happy and content owner.
From the book: "Don't Dump the Dog: Good advice—"Dear Abby" style—for bad dog owners. Do you want to dump your dog because he tries to escape your yard? Barks too much? You-know-whats in the house? Doesn’t play well with others? Chewed up your favorite pair of shoes? You wouldn’t be the first person asking to “return” your pet. And dog rescuer Randy Grim has heard every reason under the sun. But before you load Fido into the back of your car, read this book. In it, Randy addresses the concerns of dog guardians everywhere by responding to letters that he’s actually received. With humor, and from his vast experiences with abandoned dogs, he reveals exactly what you can do to remain calm and fix every bad behavior problem. (Even if it means dumping your husband instead of the dog.)
My rating: crates: (4), used as punishment: (1)!
Showing posts with label dog problems. Show all posts
Showing posts with label dog problems. Show all posts
Monday, March 8, 2010
Friday, March 5, 2010
CO-OWNERSHIPS, GOOD OR POOR INVESTMENTS?
So you go to the famous kennel that breeds all the famous dogs and you inquire about purchasing one of their famous show puppies. One in particular catches your eye and you tell the famous breeder that you would very much like to purchase that puppy. The famous breeder chuckles and tells you, “You and everyone else would like to own that puppy!” The famous breeder tells you, “Maybe…..just maybe, I might consider selling her to you on a co-ownership.” Co-ownership……what is that, you wonder?!
Pick up one of the German Shepherd Dog Reviews magazines. Turn to the back pages where it shows the pictures and names of the dogs and their owners winning at different shows across the country. Now take another look at the names of the owners. Many, many of these dogs you will notice are owned by more than one person and sometimes up to four or five people. You’ll see this time and time again by some of the most well known kennels and breeders names in the country. Just what is this about?
Co-ownerships have been around for years. In the simplest of terms, what it means is that the breeder has something that you want, but he’s not willing to sell it to you outright. He still wants a part ownership on the animal. Now there are all different types of co-ownerships available. They really can be anything the breeder and you decide on.
Perhaps the price of the puppy is too expensive for your budget right now, but you would really like to own him. This is when a co-ownership can be rewarding for the buyer because many times the breeder reduces the original asking price in favor of a co-ownership.
Many times the breeder has bred a beautiful dog that he can’t keep and show himself for one reason or another. Perhaps he has too many dogs already. Maybe he’s campaigning other dogs right now and needs to concentrate on finishing their championships. But now he has another top quality puppy that he wants to be shown. This is when he might consider a co-ownership on this puppy. He doesn’t want to let it go outright because he may want puppies back from the dog to keep his bloodlines going in his kennel. He may take the puppies back and sell them to make money to show his other dogs. Then again, he may be a silent co-owner where he doesn’t take anything back but keeps his name on the dog in case the co-owner can no longer keep the animal. Or he just wants the notoriety that comes with owning a superstar. Sometimes if a male is co-owned, the stud services are split, but this is rare unless both the co-owners are helping foot the bill to campaign the dog.
Co-ownerships can become “sticky” if the two parties are not operating from the same level of integrity. One might get greedy and not live up to their part of the co-ownership. Lawsuits are not unheard of when dealing with unscrupulous co-owners. Make sure everything is laid out in a contract and that both parties understand their level of responsibility. If on the other hand you find yourself a great co-owner, you may form lasting friendships where everyone is happy.
Most of the time when a dog is co-owned, the person who didn’t breed the dog but is buying the dog has physical possession of the animal. So at least they get to enjoy their investment. There are others who don’t have physical possession of the animal and are an owner by name only even though they are helping foot the bill. Some people just do it for the prestige of having their name on a champion. There are many different ways of co-owning a dog. It’s up to you and the breeder to decide what it is that you both want from this type of ownership.
I only co-owned three dogs in my lifetime. In fact my very first show dog I co-owned with his breeder. She was great to deal with and gave me many tips about what I should and shouldn’t do. She was a very intelligent (Cornell educated) woman. She knew that I was just a novice, but she liked me because she knew I was going to do what she was looking for with her young dog. Because of the co-ownership that I had on this dog, it opened up so many doors for me. I got to meet some of the “elite” of the breed. She used to tell me all the time. “Barbara, when you own a stud dog, you’re going to hear all sorts of comments and see all sorts of jealousy. When they start up with their tongues wagging, just blame it all on me (meaning her). Besides German Shepherds, she also bred a toy breed, which was the ones that she concentrated more on in the show ring. So she didn’t care what the Shepherd people would say because she had her main focus on another breed, so that’s why she told me to blame everything on her.
Many years down the line I co-owned another male with two judges. They too were excellent to deal with. I only kept my name on this champion and helped write his Review ads. Otherwise, they had full ownership of him and directed his career the way that they saw fit.
For every wonderful co-ownership experience, there can also be some true horror stories. One of the parties doesn’t live up to their side of the bargain. Know the people that you’re dealing with. Check around inquiring about their reputation. What has other peoples experience been like dealing with this breeder? Remember if he/she looks or acts like a snake, then rest assured, they probably are a snake!
Know exactly what’s expected of you before you sign your name on that dotted line on the contract paper. Many times the breeder will reduce the original price of the puppy in exchange for puppies back, or a puppy back, and sometimes even whole litters back. Sometimes the co-ownership will end once they get back the puppy or puppies that they want. Other times the co-ownership lasts for the lifetime of the dog. When you think about all the puppies that you are expected to give back to the breeder, the original price no longer looks too expensive!
Co-ownerships can be a rewarding experience for those that are involved in this type of transaction. The breeder is happy that you are showing his dog. You’re happy that you have a good dog to show. In this instance, it is a win-win type of situation. If on the other hand you come across those who have no moral compass, seek help from the Parent Club, the AKC, legal council or all three if need be!
Taken from the book: "How to Solve Your People Problems: Dealing with Your Difficult Relationships"....Interacting with people brings problems with people. The closer the contact, the greater the potential for conflict. In How to Solve Your People Problems, Dr. Alan Godwin shares biblical, practical principles to help readers avoid conflict when possible and handle difficult encounters constructively. The key to healthy, growing relationships is successfully handling differences. Dr. Godwin gives readers the tools and the framework to:
* benefit from every relationship
* handle conflict with grace, reason, and flexibility
* change problem situations into positive encounters
* reduce conflict situations
* successfully deal with unreasonable people
This valuable resource will help readers successfully live and work with others, know how to implement conflict resolution, negotiate problem areas, and create positive connections even when people disagree.
My rating: "How to Solve your People Problems (book): (4), co-ownerships: (1-4)!
Pick up one of the German Shepherd Dog Reviews magazines. Turn to the back pages where it shows the pictures and names of the dogs and their owners winning at different shows across the country. Now take another look at the names of the owners. Many, many of these dogs you will notice are owned by more than one person and sometimes up to four or five people. You’ll see this time and time again by some of the most well known kennels and breeders names in the country. Just what is this about?
Co-ownerships have been around for years. In the simplest of terms, what it means is that the breeder has something that you want, but he’s not willing to sell it to you outright. He still wants a part ownership on the animal. Now there are all different types of co-ownerships available. They really can be anything the breeder and you decide on.
Perhaps the price of the puppy is too expensive for your budget right now, but you would really like to own him. This is when a co-ownership can be rewarding for the buyer because many times the breeder reduces the original asking price in favor of a co-ownership.
Many times the breeder has bred a beautiful dog that he can’t keep and show himself for one reason or another. Perhaps he has too many dogs already. Maybe he’s campaigning other dogs right now and needs to concentrate on finishing their championships. But now he has another top quality puppy that he wants to be shown. This is when he might consider a co-ownership on this puppy. He doesn’t want to let it go outright because he may want puppies back from the dog to keep his bloodlines going in his kennel. He may take the puppies back and sell them to make money to show his other dogs. Then again, he may be a silent co-owner where he doesn’t take anything back but keeps his name on the dog in case the co-owner can no longer keep the animal. Or he just wants the notoriety that comes with owning a superstar. Sometimes if a male is co-owned, the stud services are split, but this is rare unless both the co-owners are helping foot the bill to campaign the dog.
Co-ownerships can become “sticky” if the two parties are not operating from the same level of integrity. One might get greedy and not live up to their part of the co-ownership. Lawsuits are not unheard of when dealing with unscrupulous co-owners. Make sure everything is laid out in a contract and that both parties understand their level of responsibility. If on the other hand you find yourself a great co-owner, you may form lasting friendships where everyone is happy.
Most of the time when a dog is co-owned, the person who didn’t breed the dog but is buying the dog has physical possession of the animal. So at least they get to enjoy their investment. There are others who don’t have physical possession of the animal and are an owner by name only even though they are helping foot the bill. Some people just do it for the prestige of having their name on a champion. There are many different ways of co-owning a dog. It’s up to you and the breeder to decide what it is that you both want from this type of ownership.
I only co-owned three dogs in my lifetime. In fact my very first show dog I co-owned with his breeder. She was great to deal with and gave me many tips about what I should and shouldn’t do. She was a very intelligent (Cornell educated) woman. She knew that I was just a novice, but she liked me because she knew I was going to do what she was looking for with her young dog. Because of the co-ownership that I had on this dog, it opened up so many doors for me. I got to meet some of the “elite” of the breed. She used to tell me all the time. “Barbara, when you own a stud dog, you’re going to hear all sorts of comments and see all sorts of jealousy. When they start up with their tongues wagging, just blame it all on me (meaning her). Besides German Shepherds, she also bred a toy breed, which was the ones that she concentrated more on in the show ring. So she didn’t care what the Shepherd people would say because she had her main focus on another breed, so that’s why she told me to blame everything on her.
Many years down the line I co-owned another male with two judges. They too were excellent to deal with. I only kept my name on this champion and helped write his Review ads. Otherwise, they had full ownership of him and directed his career the way that they saw fit.
For every wonderful co-ownership experience, there can also be some true horror stories. One of the parties doesn’t live up to their side of the bargain. Know the people that you’re dealing with. Check around inquiring about their reputation. What has other peoples experience been like dealing with this breeder? Remember if he/she looks or acts like a snake, then rest assured, they probably are a snake!
Know exactly what’s expected of you before you sign your name on that dotted line on the contract paper. Many times the breeder will reduce the original price of the puppy in exchange for puppies back, or a puppy back, and sometimes even whole litters back. Sometimes the co-ownership will end once they get back the puppy or puppies that they want. Other times the co-ownership lasts for the lifetime of the dog. When you think about all the puppies that you are expected to give back to the breeder, the original price no longer looks too expensive!
Co-ownerships can be a rewarding experience for those that are involved in this type of transaction. The breeder is happy that you are showing his dog. You’re happy that you have a good dog to show. In this instance, it is a win-win type of situation. If on the other hand you come across those who have no moral compass, seek help from the Parent Club, the AKC, legal council or all three if need be!
Taken from the book: "How to Solve Your People Problems: Dealing with Your Difficult Relationships"....Interacting with people brings problems with people. The closer the contact, the greater the potential for conflict. In How to Solve Your People Problems, Dr. Alan Godwin shares biblical, practical principles to help readers avoid conflict when possible and handle difficult encounters constructively. The key to healthy, growing relationships is successfully handling differences. Dr. Godwin gives readers the tools and the framework to:
* benefit from every relationship
* handle conflict with grace, reason, and flexibility
* change problem situations into positive encounters
* reduce conflict situations
* successfully deal with unreasonable people
This valuable resource will help readers successfully live and work with others, know how to implement conflict resolution, negotiate problem areas, and create positive connections even when people disagree.
My rating: "How to Solve your People Problems (book): (4), co-ownerships: (1-4)!
Monday, November 30, 2009
I WANT YOU TO SHOW ME
When the rock and roll group known as Foreigner made the song “I WANT TO KNOW WHAT LOVE IS” popular back in the 80’s, obviously they were writing about the human kind of love. They were looking for someone to show them what love is. I wonder if they found their answer. For as long as man lives, he may never know what REAL love is because for some, it comes with too many conditions. Sure many people have forever love relationships. But even those have suffered their ups and downs while participating in what we call living. Sometimes one person might give 90% and the other one gives 10%. And then the next year it might be the other way around. It’s all about give and take. It’s never this way with the dog. He gives love 100% of the time.....no questions asked, nothing expected in return which means no conditions. His only requirement is that you just show up each day.
It’s not unheard of to hear a person who owns a dog say that he and his dog have formed a bond or an attachment to one another. Even more common to hear is someone saying that their dog is their best friend. Have we attached human emotions that we feel to our dogs? Do dogs really feel emotions or do they respond to their human owners by instinct?
The dictionary defines emotions as a heightened feeling – a strong feeling about somebody or something. Instinct is described as a biological drive – an inborn pattern of behavior characteristic of a species and shaped by biological necessities such as survival and reproduction.
The limbic system of the brain is the location of emotionally charged memories. An animal that is traumatized shows many of the same physiological signals in the brain as a human who has been traumatized with the same symptoms. An animal can show the same behavioral and physiological signs of depression as a human does. So similar are these signs that vets have prescribed human drugs for animal’s emotional and behavioral problems, such as Prozac, Zoloft and Paxil. The animal’s chemical neurotransmitters are the same as humans. Their hormones are similar. The same hormones perform the same functions – oxytocin, for example initiates maternal bonding of tenderness, affection and protectiveness that all mammal species feel, including humans. We can interpret this to mean that the tenderness or grief over the loss of a loved one is real whether it’s felt by a human or an animal. The distress or pain of a baby of any species, the need to nurture and protect this young one evokes a motherly response across all the animal kingdom.
Dogs are considered social animal’s comfortable living in a pack. Therefore, it is necessary for them to use their intelligence and instincts to survive and maintain order. They learn to interact in their pack, and respect their pack leader who is considered the alpha dog.
Living among humans, the dog has adapted to his owner as being the alpha or leader. Some might say that the dog acts out of instinct towards his human leader. This is where he gets his food and shelter. But if given the same equal amount of food and shelter from someone else, they would still want to stay with the original owner because of the emotional bond with this person. So could one conclude then that the dog acted out of emotions rather than instinct?
The dog stands out among other domesticated animals for he is perhaps the only one that is fully domesticated of the different species. H.Hediger, the director of the Zoological Gardens of Zurich, writes that the dog, basically a domesticated wolf, was the first creature with which humans formed intimate bonds that were intense on both sides. He continues that no other animal stands in such intimate psychological union with us; only the dog seems capable of reading our thoughts and “reacting to our faintest changes of expression or mood.” So one must never forget that a dog is really a wolf and his instincts are that of a wild animal, but one that has allowed man to become part of his world. This is something that no other wild animal would ever do, even when they seem in some ways to trust and respect man.
Another fascinating fact about the dog is that no other species of animals has shown that it prefers the company of man to that of his own species. If given a choice, the dog would choose man.
Samuel Coleridge was one of the first to note that “the best friend a man has in the world may turn against him and become his enemy. His son or daughter….may prove ungrateful. Those who are nearest and dearest to him….may become traitors to their faith….The one absolutely unselfish friend that man can have in this selfish world, the one that never deserts him, the one that never proves ungrateful or treacherous, is his dog.”
One emotion that all animals have in common is the emotion of fear. It is after all the emotion that’s most important to survival. And what about the emotions that some say that dogs display? Dogs have been known to whine and carry on hysterically when left alone. When their owner returns, they show joy by circling around and around, tail wagging happily and jumping up to plant a sloppy kiss on his cheek. One dog will show jealousy when you are petting another dog by pushing his body between the two of you so he’ll get all your attention. What about the dog that has been abused and beat up? Is it fear that we see in his big sorrowful brown eyes when someone raises a hand or voice around him? Is it fear when his body involuntarily begins to quiver and shake? Then there’s the issue of forgiveness. If the dog is shown the least bit of kindness from a new person, his great big heart will shower the new person with an abundance of affection forgetting it was a person who caused him so much pain to begin with. And what about grief? Do you think a dog can feel this emotion? Is it grief he feels when his owner has died and he no longer feels the comfort of his hand stroking his neck? Is it grief a mother dog feels when her litter of puppies dies at two weeks old from a virus? She searches unsuccessfully to find them and she physically becomes sick? Emotions or instinct?
Scientists like to avoid this subject pertaining to dogs and emotions. After all, emotions are contributed to the human being and isn’t this what sets the human apart from the dog?
To say that the dog could experience emotions that were only considered a human feeling would change everything we were taught to believe. Aren’t we “way up here” and they’re way down there?” Aren’t we at the top of the hierarchy of the animal kingdom?
One thing is for certain, anyone who owns a dog knows that man could never love completely, totally and unselfishly as a dog does. The dog is incapable of holding grudges. There’s purity to his love. He loves blindly. It is rare for a human to love with so much abandonment and forgiveness as a dog. The author Jeffrey Moussaieff Masson wrote in his book “Dogs Never Lie about Love” that “dogs are love.” So the question shouldn’t be whether dogs love, but rather how they can love with such a complete and enormous surrender of self.
The love humans feel for one another can turn to hate and distrust when the first blush of affection subsides. Sometimes loving someone doesn’t survive through a growing friendship when one is truly known. When the true person is revealed, is when the emotions felt for another is tested. For a person to love someone who has done them wrong is very difficult. The dog loves a person no matter if his true colors show deceit, weaknesses or unkindness. This is probably the biggest reason we call our dogs our best friends, because we know when it comes to love, our canine friends are the teachers and we become the students. Their love for us is constant. It doesn’t change. It always remains the same.
This is why man loves his dog so much. The dog loves him no matter what the scale shows his weight to be, no matter how old he is, no matter what mood or disposition he’s in – tired, weak, strong, indifferent or foul of temperament. Many a person carries on a conversation with their dog. The dog seems to sense when he is sad, or glad. They respond to his every mood. They listen to him when no one else cares to. Man never fears being judged the fool. His dog thinks he’s wonderful just the way he is. The dog then has an amazing capacity for an unlimited amount of love towards his master which comes naturally to him. This is perhaps why the man and his dogs love and affection lasts a lifetime. This is the kind of love that humans hope to have with each other, but sadly most only experience in the movies.
As science looks more in to the study of dogs and emotions, there are uncomfortable issues that we face about our domesticated friends. We are forced to face as a society what part we play in the treatment of these animals that are born with the capability to soften even the most hardened heart. For if indeed, our dogs have emotional feelings similar to mans, what does this say about how man treats these creatures? After all, not all dogs are domesticated and pampered. Some live their lives in cages, while others are used for experimentation. Some are bred every season; some from their first season to their last and then when they are all used up, they’re destroyed.
A few years ago, I heard someone say that love is a verb; an action. Anyone can say I love you. It’s simple enough. It’s just words. But to show someone we love them is a whole other story. It is in our actions that we show who we are. The dog can’t talk and say those three little words (I love you), but boy oh boy he’s got the market cornered on how to show you that he loves you. His body speaks volumes for a creature that can’t verbalize his feelings. He can however, whine and cry as he tries to express to you his excitement in seeing you walk into a room. Isn’t this the stuff that the great romance writers write about in their novels pertaining to a man and a woman’s love for one another?
So then what can be concluded about this most unselfish of animals known as the domesticated dog? If he can feel emotions like man who experiences love, grief, loss, jealousy, fear, and joy, should he be any less recognized and respected? Because man has superior intellect it should stand to reason that we would treat the dog who shares a similar emotional make-up to us with dignity and care. For the loving heart of a dog is ours for the taking to do with as little as we want or as much as we like. Treat it with care. Man has to do very little to be treated like a king in the dog’s eyes. What did we ever do to deserve such devotion and unlimited love and affection? How did we ever reach the highest level of love in this wonderful creature’s heart? Many times we don’t deserve it, but it is what it is and how did we get so darn lucky anyway?
So at the end of each day when I’m counting my blessings, my dogs are high up on my list of those that I am thankful for having in my life!
My rating: the love of a dog – no special requirements needed: (4), the love of a person: (1 – 4) depending on different circumstances!
It’s not unheard of to hear a person who owns a dog say that he and his dog have formed a bond or an attachment to one another. Even more common to hear is someone saying that their dog is their best friend. Have we attached human emotions that we feel to our dogs? Do dogs really feel emotions or do they respond to their human owners by instinct?
The dictionary defines emotions as a heightened feeling – a strong feeling about somebody or something. Instinct is described as a biological drive – an inborn pattern of behavior characteristic of a species and shaped by biological necessities such as survival and reproduction.
The limbic system of the brain is the location of emotionally charged memories. An animal that is traumatized shows many of the same physiological signals in the brain as a human who has been traumatized with the same symptoms. An animal can show the same behavioral and physiological signs of depression as a human does. So similar are these signs that vets have prescribed human drugs for animal’s emotional and behavioral problems, such as Prozac, Zoloft and Paxil. The animal’s chemical neurotransmitters are the same as humans. Their hormones are similar. The same hormones perform the same functions – oxytocin, for example initiates maternal bonding of tenderness, affection and protectiveness that all mammal species feel, including humans. We can interpret this to mean that the tenderness or grief over the loss of a loved one is real whether it’s felt by a human or an animal. The distress or pain of a baby of any species, the need to nurture and protect this young one evokes a motherly response across all the animal kingdom.
Dogs are considered social animal’s comfortable living in a pack. Therefore, it is necessary for them to use their intelligence and instincts to survive and maintain order. They learn to interact in their pack, and respect their pack leader who is considered the alpha dog.
Living among humans, the dog has adapted to his owner as being the alpha or leader. Some might say that the dog acts out of instinct towards his human leader. This is where he gets his food and shelter. But if given the same equal amount of food and shelter from someone else, they would still want to stay with the original owner because of the emotional bond with this person. So could one conclude then that the dog acted out of emotions rather than instinct?
The dog stands out among other domesticated animals for he is perhaps the only one that is fully domesticated of the different species. H.Hediger, the director of the Zoological Gardens of Zurich, writes that the dog, basically a domesticated wolf, was the first creature with which humans formed intimate bonds that were intense on both sides. He continues that no other animal stands in such intimate psychological union with us; only the dog seems capable of reading our thoughts and “reacting to our faintest changes of expression or mood.” So one must never forget that a dog is really a wolf and his instincts are that of a wild animal, but one that has allowed man to become part of his world. This is something that no other wild animal would ever do, even when they seem in some ways to trust and respect man.
Another fascinating fact about the dog is that no other species of animals has shown that it prefers the company of man to that of his own species. If given a choice, the dog would choose man.
Samuel Coleridge was one of the first to note that “the best friend a man has in the world may turn against him and become his enemy. His son or daughter….may prove ungrateful. Those who are nearest and dearest to him….may become traitors to their faith….The one absolutely unselfish friend that man can have in this selfish world, the one that never deserts him, the one that never proves ungrateful or treacherous, is his dog.”
One emotion that all animals have in common is the emotion of fear. It is after all the emotion that’s most important to survival. And what about the emotions that some say that dogs display? Dogs have been known to whine and carry on hysterically when left alone. When their owner returns, they show joy by circling around and around, tail wagging happily and jumping up to plant a sloppy kiss on his cheek. One dog will show jealousy when you are petting another dog by pushing his body between the two of you so he’ll get all your attention. What about the dog that has been abused and beat up? Is it fear that we see in his big sorrowful brown eyes when someone raises a hand or voice around him? Is it fear when his body involuntarily begins to quiver and shake? Then there’s the issue of forgiveness. If the dog is shown the least bit of kindness from a new person, his great big heart will shower the new person with an abundance of affection forgetting it was a person who caused him so much pain to begin with. And what about grief? Do you think a dog can feel this emotion? Is it grief he feels when his owner has died and he no longer feels the comfort of his hand stroking his neck? Is it grief a mother dog feels when her litter of puppies dies at two weeks old from a virus? She searches unsuccessfully to find them and she physically becomes sick? Emotions or instinct?
Scientists like to avoid this subject pertaining to dogs and emotions. After all, emotions are contributed to the human being and isn’t this what sets the human apart from the dog?
To say that the dog could experience emotions that were only considered a human feeling would change everything we were taught to believe. Aren’t we “way up here” and they’re way down there?” Aren’t we at the top of the hierarchy of the animal kingdom?
One thing is for certain, anyone who owns a dog knows that man could never love completely, totally and unselfishly as a dog does. The dog is incapable of holding grudges. There’s purity to his love. He loves blindly. It is rare for a human to love with so much abandonment and forgiveness as a dog. The author Jeffrey Moussaieff Masson wrote in his book “Dogs Never Lie about Love” that “dogs are love.” So the question shouldn’t be whether dogs love, but rather how they can love with such a complete and enormous surrender of self.
The love humans feel for one another can turn to hate and distrust when the first blush of affection subsides. Sometimes loving someone doesn’t survive through a growing friendship when one is truly known. When the true person is revealed, is when the emotions felt for another is tested. For a person to love someone who has done them wrong is very difficult. The dog loves a person no matter if his true colors show deceit, weaknesses or unkindness. This is probably the biggest reason we call our dogs our best friends, because we know when it comes to love, our canine friends are the teachers and we become the students. Their love for us is constant. It doesn’t change. It always remains the same.
This is why man loves his dog so much. The dog loves him no matter what the scale shows his weight to be, no matter how old he is, no matter what mood or disposition he’s in – tired, weak, strong, indifferent or foul of temperament. Many a person carries on a conversation with their dog. The dog seems to sense when he is sad, or glad. They respond to his every mood. They listen to him when no one else cares to. Man never fears being judged the fool. His dog thinks he’s wonderful just the way he is. The dog then has an amazing capacity for an unlimited amount of love towards his master which comes naturally to him. This is perhaps why the man and his dogs love and affection lasts a lifetime. This is the kind of love that humans hope to have with each other, but sadly most only experience in the movies.
As science looks more in to the study of dogs and emotions, there are uncomfortable issues that we face about our domesticated friends. We are forced to face as a society what part we play in the treatment of these animals that are born with the capability to soften even the most hardened heart. For if indeed, our dogs have emotional feelings similar to mans, what does this say about how man treats these creatures? After all, not all dogs are domesticated and pampered. Some live their lives in cages, while others are used for experimentation. Some are bred every season; some from their first season to their last and then when they are all used up, they’re destroyed.
A few years ago, I heard someone say that love is a verb; an action. Anyone can say I love you. It’s simple enough. It’s just words. But to show someone we love them is a whole other story. It is in our actions that we show who we are. The dog can’t talk and say those three little words (I love you), but boy oh boy he’s got the market cornered on how to show you that he loves you. His body speaks volumes for a creature that can’t verbalize his feelings. He can however, whine and cry as he tries to express to you his excitement in seeing you walk into a room. Isn’t this the stuff that the great romance writers write about in their novels pertaining to a man and a woman’s love for one another?
So then what can be concluded about this most unselfish of animals known as the domesticated dog? If he can feel emotions like man who experiences love, grief, loss, jealousy, fear, and joy, should he be any less recognized and respected? Because man has superior intellect it should stand to reason that we would treat the dog who shares a similar emotional make-up to us with dignity and care. For the loving heart of a dog is ours for the taking to do with as little as we want or as much as we like. Treat it with care. Man has to do very little to be treated like a king in the dog’s eyes. What did we ever do to deserve such devotion and unlimited love and affection? How did we ever reach the highest level of love in this wonderful creature’s heart? Many times we don’t deserve it, but it is what it is and how did we get so darn lucky anyway?
So at the end of each day when I’m counting my blessings, my dogs are high up on my list of those that I am thankful for having in my life!
My rating: the love of a dog – no special requirements needed: (4), the love of a person: (1 – 4) depending on different circumstances!
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