Whether Your Dog is a Modern Day Pet or a Primal Beast, His Instincts are Important to Understand
In order to comprehend your dog's behavior, you must first grasp his fundamental instincts, which you should be aware of if you wish to understand your dog. Some of them have been taught a lesson by the sheltered existence that contemporary pets have brought them to. Because they have been raised solely for companionship, the dog as a species seems to be passing through a critical phase in its development. This has never happened before in history.
The drive for survival is shared by all living things on the planet. Nothing in one's learned behavior pattern is robust enough to completely subdue this tremendous desire. In order to regulate it after it has been awakened, the only effective method of doing so is via restriction. The urge for procreation, often known as the mating instinct, goes hand in hand with this one. However, it differs for the same health reasons: hormonal balance, opportunity, and more infrequently, psychological inhibitions. It is often extremely powerful.
The need for friendship is a natural urge that exists in both dogs and humans. Many canine personality disorders are caused solely by the solitary confinement that is forced on them by their human caregivers. According to research, the crucial time during which a puppy develops his main connection to people is between the ages of three and ten weeks old. As long as he is exposed to enough pleasurable human interactions during this period, he will likely develop an attachment to humans. However, if he is forced to live with only other dogs and is denied human contact, he will develop an attachment to animals and will prefer animal contact over humans for the rest of his life.
Dogs, like humans, are susceptible to the effects of mob psychology. The phrase "pack instinct" is more appropriate since it generally brings out the worst in people because it brings out the worst in them. It is possible that just one more dog is required for this psychological phenomena to occur. The majority of dogs desire to please their owners. Nevertheless, once they become a part of a pack, their old instincts take over, and they forget about their previous owner completely. It is critical that you never allow your dog to run free in an area where he may get involved with criminal activity.
Dogs have always had an innate desire for a pack leader to protect them from harm. Providing for this need is the part that we play in our pet's life. Dogs with the greatest urge to protect their owners are the most trainable. They are the ones that follow you around as pups and never want to leave your side as adults. They are the ones who pay attention to you, study your facial expressions, and take pleasure in being in your company. They want the favor of their pack leader and are willing to perform for free what other canines are required to be bribed to do.
The majority of landowners, as well as animal pack leaders, offer safety, food, and shelter. However, you must also provide leadership, impose discipline, and ensure that their reputation and authority are maintained. Physical superiority is less significant than psychological superiority in terms of size and strength. Furthermore, the contemporary dog's emotional and physical reliance on his master is equal in importance to his physical dependence. If you live up to the picture of a leader that your dog has of you, he will love and respect you even more. Make yourself reliable and consistent so that he can put his confidence in you.
To avoid upsetting his sense of justice, you must be reasonable and fair in your dealings with him. Above all, do not believe that allowing your dog to have his way all of the time is an act of love. During their feral condition, dogs are driven by instinct to seek and accept leadership, as well as to adhere to a rigid social order. In fact, discipline and obedience are likely to come more naturally to them than luxury, which they have only known via their experiences as modern-day pets.
Territorial instinct has a significant impact on the behavior of dogs, just as it does on our own. It is associated with the survival instinct, and as a result, it is very strong and essential to his life. Dogs, even when they are as young as 2 or 3 weeks old, demonstrate their sense of territory by claiming a certain area of the nest, a bed, cushion, or chair as their own personal realm. As they get older, their domain expands, and they eventually transmit their territorial instinct to their owner's house, as well as their pack instinct to their human family.
Dogs recognize and obey man-made borders such as fences, walls, and gates, but they also create their own markers to designate their territories. They mark it with urine and return to it on a frequent basis, refreshing it as needed. Unlike domesticated cats, domesticated dogs are as respectful of their neighbors' territory as they are possessive of their own, and they seldom participate in territorial conflict. It is always true in the animal world that an invader is mentally inferior to an intruder who is in his or her own territorial area. The circumstances are such that a small terrier may easily chase away a Great Dane.
Dogs are most aggressive in their own territory, most subservient on another dog's territory, and most friendly on neutral ground, according to generalizations about behavior. If a new puppy and an older family dog are met on neutral ground before the newcomers are brought home, the older dog will have an easier time becoming friends with the younger pup. The strength and quality of the territorial instinct vary from one breed and individual to another, as well as between individuals. Nonetheless, there is a territorial instinct in all dogs, as there is in all humans. Surprisingly, incursions by innocent children, unthreatening inferior adults, and beautiful members of the opposing genital are tolerated, and in some cases, welcomed, by the two of them.
Dogs, on the other hand, have an innate devotion that is much greater than that of humans. Once a dog has accepted someone as his master, he will find it very difficult to shift his loyalty to someone else. He may not be swayed by better food, more comfort, compassion, and understanding, even if the owner is deserving of his loyalty in the first instance. For those who adopt a dog that has been happy in his former home and allow him plenty of opportunity to transmit his devotion to you, they will have a loyal companion who will never let them down in any situation.