dog park experience
Been taking Tomoe to a nearby dog park recently. She does well. Mostly the dogs and owners are all decent folk.
But. Last week. This guy was talking about his Husky and how when he sees him digging under the fence, he runs out of the house and flips the dog over on his back and gets in his face and yells at him! Woohoo!
There is a lady who gave him a bit of a lecture on that - that's discredited, based on outdated understanding of wolf pack hierarchy, etc. That was interesting to listen to because I think the guy is a classic case of why people still do crap like that to their dogs: it honestly makes the most sense to a lot of people. I don't think this guy is bad to the core, it is just clear to me that he is of the type of person for whom the language of dominance / submission is the easiest to understand.
So you wanna know the really sad part? I watch this guy's dog run around and CONSTANTLY try to alpha-roll the other dogs! Its so obviously "his thing." He sees a new dog come in, he walks up and tests the situation to see if he can roll the dog over. Any dog that stands up a bit, he doesn't bother.
There is a lady who has a miniature-sized dog that she brings over to the big side all the time, and that dog can hold his own - the husky put his jaws on the little guy's hindquarters and tried to roll him over. That dog turned around and gave him hell!! He was yapping at him, running around the husky, nipping all over him. The husky ran away.
But yesterday a couple brought a dig that looked kinda like a basset hound - floppy ears, short legs - who seemed young and new to the park, kind of a sissy dog. He was nervously attracting all the other dogs over, and they were sniffing at him. But he kept his butt planted firmly on the ground ("nooo! don't sniff me there!!") and refused to roll over. Most of the other dogs were like "okay okay what's going on what's going on" but the husky HAD to roll this guy over and show him who was PACK LEEDER. So he grabbed onto the guy with his jaws and wreslted him over. The dog screamed, and owners broke them up, then the husky kept chasing after the little guy and repeating the behavior.
It is pretty sad - obviously a VERY smart dog, has learned that there is a rigid dominance hierarchy in life and one must bully the weak to assure one's position in the pack.
But. Last week. This guy was talking about his Husky and how when he sees him digging under the fence, he runs out of the house and flips the dog over on his back and gets in his face and yells at him! Woohoo!
There is a lady who gave him a bit of a lecture on that - that's discredited, based on outdated understanding of wolf pack hierarchy, etc. That was interesting to listen to because I think the guy is a classic case of why people still do crap like that to their dogs: it honestly makes the most sense to a lot of people. I don't think this guy is bad to the core, it is just clear to me that he is of the type of person for whom the language of dominance / submission is the easiest to understand.
So you wanna know the really sad part? I watch this guy's dog run around and CONSTANTLY try to alpha-roll the other dogs! Its so obviously "his thing." He sees a new dog come in, he walks up and tests the situation to see if he can roll the dog over. Any dog that stands up a bit, he doesn't bother.
There is a lady who has a miniature-sized dog that she brings over to the big side all the time, and that dog can hold his own - the husky put his jaws on the little guy's hindquarters and tried to roll him over. That dog turned around and gave him hell!! He was yapping at him, running around the husky, nipping all over him. The husky ran away.
But yesterday a couple brought a dig that looked kinda like a basset hound - floppy ears, short legs - who seemed young and new to the park, kind of a sissy dog. He was nervously attracting all the other dogs over, and they were sniffing at him. But he kept his butt planted firmly on the ground ("nooo! don't sniff me there!!") and refused to roll over. Most of the other dogs were like "okay okay what's going on what's going on" but the husky HAD to roll this guy over and show him who was PACK LEEDER. So he grabbed onto the guy with his jaws and wreslted him over. The dog screamed, and owners broke them up, then the husky kept chasing after the little guy and repeating the behavior.
It is pretty sad - obviously a VERY smart dog, has learned that there is a rigid dominance hierarchy in life and one must bully the weak to assure one's position in the pack.
Comments
That said, I wonder if some dogs instinctively do this (rather than learn it)? Years ago, when I had a female AA, she did it to other dogs all the time, and I'd certainly never alpha rolled her. She approached dogs in a friendly, if excited, manner, then when the other dog let down its guard, she put her paws around its neck, flipped it, and grabbed its throat. She never hurt another dog, but of course after not too many times seeing her do that, I stopped letting her be around other dogs.
Anyway, I'm sure this dog did learn this from the idiot owner, but I also think some dogs try this kind of extremely rude behavior on their own.