Survival of the Friendliest
I recently returned from a lovely vacation in California. During a Santa Barbara wine tasting, I heard wine descriptors such as bright, acidic, mineral, oak, floral, earthy, black pepper, and so on. This reminded me of the way some folks describe dogs of unknown lineage. “His ears say hound and his bark is all Beagle.” “She’s scruffy and scrappy like a wire-haired Terrier.” “His deep chest and incredible speed makes me think there’s Sighthound in there.” “She has a curly tail and pulls like she’s running the Iditarod, so she must have some Husky somewhere.” “He has a medium coat and is ball obsessed, must have some Retriever.” “This dog has a long nose, short legs, and loves to dig. I probably have a Dachshund mix.” “This black and white dog chases anything that moves. Makes me think she has some Border Collie?”
It’s fun to play a forensic detective when it comes to our dog’s DNA. Good looks aren’t the only thing dogs get from DNA. Where does a dog’s personality come from? After all, as Jules Winnfield (Samuel L Jackson’s character in Pulp Fiction) says, “Personality goes a long way.”
A dog’s personality or temperament is influenced by things people can and cannot control.
Let’s first talk about personality influences not directly associated with people. DNA, the health/stress of the dam (mother) while pregnant, the dam’s interaction with her litter, and puppy littermate interaction greatly contribute towards the dog’s personality. People can directly influence personality via early life environment, socialization, plus good and bad experiences (especially at critical developmental stages).
Now, think back to your heart dog when you were a kid. What was that dog like? What made him or her so special? Did you even work with a trainer? Probably not (I know we never did when I was growing up). Now think about your current canine companion. How are they the same? How are they different?
Has anyone noticed that the unflappable easy going dogs are becoming harder and harder to find? Are they going extinct? Are we experiencing survival of the fittest at the cost of survival of the friendliest?
My colleagues and I are currently seeing an increase in dogs with serious behavior challenges. Having a dog with serious behavior issues doesn’t inherently make them “bad dogs”, but it does have a huge impact on lifestyles. Clients with these dogs make their dogs’ lives small to decrease the amount of stress their dogs experience on a daily basis. In turn, the clients have made their own lives small. They’ve skipped vacations and important events because they couldn’t find pet sitters. They’ve stopped inviting people into their homes.
These adopters rise to the challenge and make it work. Their dedication to their well-loved dogs is unmatched. They often find improvement with new routines, management, medication, and behavior modification. However, many behavior challenges, including aggression, are always lingering in the background. Professional help doesn’t always cure behavior challenges like aggression. The goal is improvement, not a cure. All dogs always have the ability to aggress. There is always risk involved.
People who have lived with challenging dogs rarely intentionally adopt dogs with serious behavior issues again. So how can we promote survival of the unflappable friendliest dogs?
We stop vilifying all breeders. We start by supporting ethical breeders who breed dogs for physical health and temperament. These breeders typically breed once or twice a year and have socialization and enrichment programs for their puppies.
We stop pediatric spay and neutering. If the puppy grows up to be a social butterfly, we need that dog in the gene pool! If the puppy grows up to be a punk, remove reproductive organs so that dog doesn’t pee in the gene pool.
We need to do better by our dogs and fellow dog-lovers. We need to bring unflappable friendly dogs back from near extinction. This means that we need to challenge our own thinking and start paving a path to support the survival of the friendliest dogs.