Originally Posted by QuickSilver  Rudy's Mom, thanks for the recs, I will be sure to check them out!
The book I recommended has a very high limit on free page views on amazon, so I urge anyone who is interested to read an excerpt.
Again, she has an odd, but compelling take on how animals interact with the world. She believes in four primary drives, FEAR, RAGE, SEEKING, and PANIC. SEEKING encompasses curiosity, getting something you really want, and the anticipation of getting something you really want. One of her points is that dogs anticipate good things just like people do, and that just like for us, anticipation in itself is very enjoyable. So for instance, if you have a signal that a dog is going to get a treat, your dog will enjoy waiting for the treat, as well as the treat itself.
PANIC is social drive (again, a weird way to look at it, but it makes sense as she describes it).
Her concerns about dogs are that they are extremely social (PANIC) and they love to roam (SEEKING). She contends that a dog left by itself all day will have low quality of life, especially if they are never let off-leash. I'm not quoting her exactly, so I don't mean this as an attack on people who need to crate their dogs during the day. But she thinks that if you can't be with your dog most of the time, you should get another dog to keep it company.
She also has some very interesting ideas about wolf behavior that challenge conventional wisdom about how dogs see hierarchy. |