Dog Love

While scientists are still debating whether dogs and other animals have any emotions beyond anger and fear, I want to offer a personal anecdote.

A few years ago, I was walking with my two Standard Poodles, Zephyr and Raja, along a dirt road in the desert.  Because I am always concerned about the dogs finding rattlesnakes and being too inquisitive, I had them both on 25 foot expandable leashes.

Raja always plays the role of leader dog, the one who always has to be out in front when we walk. Curiously enough, this does not translate into the traditional dominance idea, because in everything else he always defers to Zephyr, who as an older, larger dog has never shown any aggression toward  Raja.

In fact, Zephyr is a very sweet dog who wouldn’t hurt a fly. He is my zoologist dog, interested in any animal that moves or flies.  Raja is not interested in animals or plants on walks. The only thing that he is interested in is being out in front of everyone.

The dirt road that we were walking along had a lot of curves and dips so that it was hard to see more than 100 feet ahead or behind us. I was in a semi-meditative state, enjoying the warmth of the day, the blue sky, and the wind on my face.

Suddenly from behind us came a Rottweiler mix, running as fast as he could. Without any barking or growling, he lunged at Zephyr and tried to bite him on the back of the neck. Zephyr, who had never been in an aggressive situation, stopped, looking stunned.

I yelled. Raja, who was out in front about 25 feet from Zephyr, turned and looked at us. Instantly, without any hesitation, he ran full-tilt at the 120 pound Rottweiler mix and slammed into him with his 40 pound body.  This knocked the Rottweiler back, giving me time to get between the dogs and the attacker. I had my hiking stick, which I poked at the attacker’s face.

Around that time a pickup truck came driving up, with a man inside calling for his dog. The dog broke off the attack and came up to the truck. It seems that the man was using the lazy way to walk his dog, letting the dog run ahead while he drove behind.

I yelled at the man to control his dog.  In addition, I had some choice words to say about people who let aggressive dogs run free, but I won’t repeat those words here.

As in my experience often happens in such situations, the man was telling me that his dog has never done this before, and he can’t understand why his dog would do that.

After making sure that the dog was safely locked up in the cab of the pickup, checking Zephyr (fortunately, he only had a scratch, thanks to Raja’s quick action), and taking the man’s name and phone number in case there was a problem with Zephyr,  I tried to explain to the man that there could have been serious consequences.  For one thing, in the desert of the Wild West, many people have guns, and someone could have shot his dog.

The man was unimpressed and left.

So why did Raja respond by attacking a dog who was much larger and much fiercer than he?  If I toe the scientific line, I could go into a huge explanation about stimulus and response, and that perhaps Raja was conditioned at some point in his life to respond to certain cues with aggression.  With this explanation, Raja mindlessly responded to the motion and size of the other dog.

However, I prefer another explanation. I think that Raja realized that his companion was in danger, and selflessly threw himself into the fray to help out a friend who he loved. Just like you and I might do in similar circumstances.

--Con Slobodchikoff

Comments

[Sttelllaardoise.wordpress.com]

Having been in a situation similar to yours, I have to agree that the second explanation just makes more sense. When I was a teenager, I had a golden retriever who adored me. I was a paper girl at the time and used to take my dog with me every day. My mother thought my dog was slowing me down too much and asked me to start leaving her at home.

A week or so later, I was walking on my route by myself, not really paying much attention to my surroundings when I was surprised by one of my customer's dogs charging out of their garage straight towards me. My customers had rescued this dog from an abusive situation and she could be rather unpredictable.

I tried calming her down and backing away but she kept running and never slowed. Suddenly a large blur of golden fur knocked into the side of the charging dog and the next thing I knew, my never-aggressive-to-anything Abigail had the angry dog pinned on her back. She stood over the dog, growling at her until the owners came running out to collect their dog and make sure I was unharmed.

That was the first and only time my golden ever so much as growled. She clearly could not have been conditioned to act in such an aggressive manner. She simply saw that her person was in danger and jumped into the fray to defend me. The only reason I can think of for her behavior is the love between us.

I had no idea she'd even been anywhere in the area but after talking with several customers about it I found out that ever since I'd started leaving my dog at home, she'd been sneaking along behind me on the route to simply be with me and thank God she did!

[L.W.]

I used to be a believer in the "traditional" way of thinking and I would have scoffed at a story like this, saying ooh the owners is just anthropomorphizing the dogs.

but I think your explanation is not just preferable because it sounds nicer, but because it rings true. I'm not sure it "proves" love, but I don't get the premise that we must "prove" that animals can feel love/affection, etc, in the first place. I mean, why do we automatically start from the stance that they surely do not love? Love in all its forms is what keeps marriages together, keeps groups loyal to each other, etc. ....Gosh, it's not like we know of any animals who work in groups or form long-lasting bonds.. *cough, cough*

Anyway, that's a rant for another day. I think you make another very good point. The dog in front, is not necessarily the leader. I've recently heard some study say that the theory that when you let your dog out of the house in front of you, you are giving him some sort of power or dominance over you.
complete BS!

Consider a pack of wolves. I bet that the leader does not always leave the cave ahead of everyone else. In fact, I bet that the dynamics in a pack of wolves is far more complex than we humans, thinking in a sort of military chain-of-command mindset, had previously thought. In an evolutionary context, it makes sense that each wolves particular abilities are allowed to shine through, and that the pack is not a strict, straight-down-hierarchy, but more like.. well, a group, a team..sure, there is some hierarchy, but it is more flexible and allows the individual best at, say, tracking, to do the tracking, and the one best at scouting to go up ahead of everyone else, and so forth.

[trinity]

I too prefer the second explanation. It was a smart move for Raja to protect his buddy and took the risk just like how humans would protect a friend. About the man..I guess he was embarrassed that his dog attacked yours that's why he acted that way.

[Kate]

I would prefer the second explanation. It is truly a clear display of affection and courage to save a friend in need.

[Randall Johnson]

Anyone who would seriously try to explain Raja's response in terms of stimulus-and-response conditioning could just as easily be accused of having been conditioned by his/her educational conditioning, i.e., scientific training. As explanations go, it's totally bankrupt. Besides, dogs have shown time and time again that they can size up and respond, appropriately and intentionally, to a wide range of situations.