Interesting Comparison Study With Wolves and Poodles

Image via Wikipedia

Interesting Comparison Study With Wolves and Poodles

Some instinctive social behaviors of the wolf may be left unexpressed in the dog simply because the opportunity never arises for them to be expressed in a new social setting. But even when dogs range freely in wild or semi-wild circumstances, they show distinct divergences from their wild ancestors. As part of his behavioral study of the wolf, Erik Zimen raised a pack of poodles and a pack of wolves under quite similar conditions. While the wolves ran free inside an enclosure, the poodles had free run of the rest of the property.

Zimen and his colleagues recorded 362 specific behaviors displayed by wolves, everything from yawning and stretching to howling and tail wagging. The poodles displayed 64 percent of those behaviors with little or no change. About 13 percent of wolf behaviors had vanished altogether, and 23 percent persisted but in markedly modified form. Zimen found that in performing many of these modified behaviors, the poodles lacked a seriousness of purpose; compared to the wolves, the poodles were more playful or simply inept. As Raymond Coppinger observed with his village dogs, Zimen's poodles were incapable of hunting large prey. The poodles readily chased things, but their choice of "prey" was indiscriminate - birds, leaves, bicyclists - and it was clearly a game, an end in itself, very much as with young wolves at play.

The most striking differences seen in the poodles was in their expressive behavior or rather, lack thereof. Wolves exhibit a rich array of facial expressions, ear movements, tail positions, and body postures. In poodles many of these expressions were greatly simplified, and many were absent altogether. The lip curling, snarling, and baring of teeth displayed routinely by wolves in defensive and aggressive situations was considerably muted and simplified in poodles. In part, this is simply because poodles are generally less fearful and less aggressive and tend not to mind invasions of personal space as much as wolves do: they just have less of an impulse to act annoyed. Starting as early as four weeks, wolf cubs begin to sleep
apart from one another more and more often. By the time the cubs are four to six months old, they are like adult wolves, and almost never make contact with another wolf when sleeping.

The poodles, however, continued to frequently lie together through the age of eight months or older, and even as full-grown adults did so about a third of the time, and even in hot weather when there was no conceivable reason for huddling to preserve body heat. Dogs are, in other words, simply more pacific and easygoing by nature.

Studies of poodle-wolf hybrids suggest that there may be more than one behavioral component to dogs' milder dispositions. When Zimen recrossed poodle-wolves ("puwos") together, these second-generation hybrids came in a mixed assortment of behavioral types. Some were timid about approaching humans but were very affectionate when they did; others were tame and not disposed to flee from novelties but were emotionally aloof. Zimen suggests that a reduction in the flight instinct and a greater capacity for socialization and bonding may be separately inherited traits, though both are necessary for wolves to become dogs.

Sending Your Dog Mixed Messages

Image via Wikipedia

Sending Your Dog Mixed Messages

Dog behavior problems are frequently the result of unclear communication. The owner may not even be aware that the messages he is sending to the dog are confusing. The owner of a well-trained Standard Poodle was unaware of her confusing messages during an epic long session of grooming. The Poodle tired and attempted to sit. The owner, wanting the dog to remain standing, yelled "Don't sit." The dog stood for a few seconds in a crouched position, and, confused about what the word "don't" meant, tried to sit again. Totally perplexed, he was trying very hard to comply with what he thought was his owner's request.

Good communication with your dog is comprised of clear, consistent, distinct messages. A dog cannot possibly respond correctly if the vocabulary or the rules change at whim from day to day. Another example of inconsistent, mixed messages is demonstrated by the owner who allows a behavior occasionally, punishes the dog for it at other times, and does not use distinct cues to inform the dog when the conduct is not acceptable.

A dog who is petted for jumping up when the owner arrives home from softball practice is going to be encouraged, to the owner's dismay and anger, to jump up when the owner comes home from a party all dressed up. Unfortunately, few dogs are able to distinguish between the owner's softball jump up clothes and the owner's party stay off clothes. Consequently, without any distinct warning, the dog may receive a swat for jumping up on the wrong clothes. The dog learns that jumping up will sometimes be rewarded by petting and other times, for no apparent reason, will elicit a smack.

The only lesson a dog may learn from inconsistent messages is that the rules are unstable. Clear and consistent communication requires that an owner teach a command for each desired and undesired behavior to inform the dog about acceptable behavior. For example, you can teach a jump up command that tells/the dog jumping up is acceptable, and another command such as, "off” that instructs him not to jump up. When messages are confusing, the dog can neither establish a pattern to earn the owner's approval, nor predict the owner's reactions. The dog who cannot establish a way to earn his owner's approval gives up trying to please. The dog who does not know how to predict his owner's reactions becomes fearful, mistrusting, and avoidant.