Are dogs really faithful - the other side

Posted in General | By: KamalRaj J Kuppal | 27 May 2011 10:50 am

Hi DogSpot Members,

I, recently read one article in internet regarding dogs and cats and found some points are pretty intresting and informative. I just want to share the information to all dogspot members regarding dogs faithfulness and love below.

Dogs are pack animals and are subservient to a pack leader; in the domestic environment, you are the pack leader and your dog does what it is told. What appears to be faithfulness is often the submissive behaviour of an animal evolved to be social. Cats do not form hierarchical packs, but they do form colonies based around related cats. The females form the a loose hierarchy while the males are more solitary and often itinerant, visiting different females in different parts of their territory. Cats initially view you as individuals sharing the same space and their attachment to you depends on your behaviour towards them - a bullied cat leaves or retaliates, a bullied dog all too often comes back for more. Feline aloofness is the indifferent behaviour of an animal which does not live in strictly hierarchical communities and has not needed to develop canine-style social behaviour. For a detailed look at feline social structures see The Unsociable Cat.

SUBMISSIVE LOVE

In cruel experiments, fully conscious dogs have been vivisected by their scientist owners to see how "faithful" they remain. Despite the most appalling things being done to them, the dogs licked their owner's hand during the experiments. The most famous experiment was around a century ago and was designed to test a Spaniel's loyalty to its master. Despite the things done to it (including removing its eyes without anaesthetic), the dog continue to trust its master and to lick the hand that was torturing it. Because the owner is considered the pack leader, the dogs remained obedient and submissive in spite of the most appalling mistreatment. In fact the dogs remained "faithful" until they had effectively been tortured to death. Thankfully these experiments are no longer performed, but this side of a dog's character can be seen in the classical image of the mistreated pet dog who remains faithful to its abusive owner. Basically it doesn't know what else to do.

In wolf packs, there is often a pariah (outcast) who is bullied and tormented by more dominant animals. In spite of this, the pariah stays with the pack as it has a better chance of survival this way. When approaching more dominant dogs, the pariah grovels to show that it knows its place. It also accepts being bullied because it has less chance of surviving alone. Many dogs are undoubtedly attached to their owners, but their innate social behaviour, in particular their submissiveness to a pack leader (the owner) can often be mistaken for faithfulness.

Dogs have been kept as companions or utility animals for centuries. Modern pet dogs have been bred to retain puppy-like looks and behaviour (some guarding and fighting breeds have had aggressiveness deliberately bred into them). For example, barking is a puppy trait. Though nurtured, indulged and played with by the adults, puppies are low down in the pack ranking. The adults in the pack protect the puppies so your dog often sees itself as the puppy with you as a protector. However, adults will also discipline the puppies if they misbehave too much - hence a pet dog can be disciplined to modify its behaviour.

Animal trainers know that dogs react well to a reward system, being praised when they do the right thing. In the dog's eyes, this is acceptance and approval from other members of its pack; the alternative is pariahship.

Though dogs very obviously display affection, joy and altruistic behaviour towards their owners, when you talk about your dog being faithful to you, you must also consider "is it individual affection or is it canine submissiveness?" Much of what we consider to be faithfulness are behavioural traits arising from the dogs wild instincts.

Regards

Kamal

comments

This is a completely different view and it opens doors to lot of questions n queries. This article seem to prove its point in a way. But we as humans always long for love let it be other humans or animals. We expect dogs to accept us and love us in return because we choose to care for them. When our fellow dogs reciprocate in the way we expected thats when we feel attached to them. And I suppose this is what should matter. Irrespective of reason why dogs love us what should matter is that they do. Now a days its impossible to expect humans to reciprocate with luv when treated with luv. So even if dogs luv for the very reason they trust us to give luv in return then I suppose it is not a bad deal at all !!

By: Neil | 31 May 2011

Very true, dogs are pack animals and need a leader. And so do humans!

If you want a pet, get a fish or cat- but if you need a companion that would guard you with it's life get a dog :)
They guard you, your property they wait for you for hours, they often don't eat when the master is away. Its not just a submissive impulse that makes them love you; that's something us humans do at work to our bosses :P

PS is a mod going to delete these spammy links above?

By: Ravinder | 08 Jun 2011

i am agree with neil.
nice comment neil

By: prerak varde | 25 Jun 2011

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