Canine Discipline is the single most challenging, hottest topic issue to even begin trying to have a conversation about. At the outset, let’s make it very clear, anyone who feels need to use abuse and/or extreme intimidation to “discipline” a canine is realistically most likely someone too stupid to even deserve the privilege of having a canine-paired existence. Animal abusers deserve one thing, execution by the very same tortures they applied to an animal, with extreme prejudice,– Full Stop. How’ya like me now?
“Watch the momma dog”, or in the real speak of the time and place it was, “Watch the bitch, how she does things.”. That’s been the single most advantageous piece of advice Papaw Axsom ever gave me relative to working with the dogs. Her pups are her entire world, even before, or at least next to, the human(s) in her sphere, her packmates, as it is; especially from the bitch’s perspective, her human is usually a/the co-parent – when she trusts enough. Pack mindedness and unquestionable loyalty/love isn’t “optional” in a dog’s mind, it is the core of their cognition, just like us. Evolutionary reality has hijacked our reward centers into conditions where companionship is a prerequisite for successful existence. We need each other, neurologically; there are parts of the human brain’s reward center that are ONLY activated by canine proximity. So, when we say the basic line of “Unless you’ve lived it, you cannot and will not “get it.””, not to be snide, simply because it is fundamentally, physiologically, empirically true.
Bitch dogs have their entire moment-to-moment reality focused and invested into her litters, even the humans take a second place, albeit partially/temporarily, to where her neurological focus is at. Just like human mothers, her reward center in blazing alight in love endorphins; she is 100% in the moment present and focused on the biological mission she’s on. That’s why a well-cared for Momma dog “seems” to be smiling and in her glory, because she is, biologically so. Likewise, whether one is actually allowed to breed or not, a female dog isn’t fully mentally developed into an adult brain until and after her first heat cycle, realistically not until the second can one safely assume all of the hormonal development and cycling have occurred and she is now a fully mature dog. Same goes for males, even more so in ways; spay/neuter too soon produced one/1 kind of ‘dog’, the perpetual puppy.
Premature sterilization is at the heart of a great many health and behavior issues, even if this is another hot topic button issue as well. The standard “cannot prove a negative” counterpoint is nothing more than a cheap copout of the under/uniformed, certainly not an intelligent argument to stand on. Anyway, moving on; it may sound like a really fun and good idea to preserve a “forever childhood” mode with our dogs, but the sad reality is, as is quite often the case, what humans may prefer is not in the best interest of the dogs. Shorter, natural lifespans don’t mean ‘disposable lives’ by default. For anyone who is wanting to experience getting all they can from a dog, and visa-versa, then the only way to do that is through intensive and intelligent engagement, a.k.a. training. We may not call it the same, but the rearing of human children is very much a process of taming an animal and shaping the cooperative behaviors necessary, baseline training for a functional existence, just as it is raising up a canine companion from puppyhood. They are both functionally the same process, applied for exactly the same reasons, and require the very same manners, modes, and practices; most importantly, the same types of things to be avoided and not included into both processes are also the same, don’t be cruel is a given with human children just as much as it is with a bitch towards her litter, any puppy even, and often other species, which is even more demonstrative of the whole neurological reward center activity. Cross-species adoption is a no-brainer to understand in light of knowing how, why, when the brain’s reward center operates. Homo-sapiens-sapiens’ keeping of other animals is very much that – cross-species adoption, livestock or pets, activates our own rewards centers like nothing else can or will. It is an inclination fundamental in our DNA; those whose lives are devoid of other animals and have been as matter of fear, culture and habit, really are “missing out” on something those who do are biologically inclined are literally shaped by. Anyway, I’ve digressed a bit, but it was an important detour, nonetheless. Even for those who do take on dogging in life, the experience of a litter of puppies in the house isn’t nearly so broad; adopting from a shelter, buying from a breeder, or most commonly, the “storefront-puppy-box” – and now online options too. My point is, not getting to see how momma dogs deal with, and discipline, their puppies isn’t experiential, common knowledge, although it used to be; just like (nearly) everyone used to ride and use horses, which is nearly as old as dogging.
So then, what are some ways the Momma dog model works? As “bad” as it may sound, the very real fact that life responds to harm and fear of harm is also a core, baseline neurological function, and everything that experiences it also exploits it, with scant exceptions the primatologists want to point at the bonobo as – fine, exception noted, (comparatively overall, bonobos aren’t a very successful species) moving on, dogs aren’t primates, but we are. Fear of Harm (f.o.h.) is most often the neurology being activated/developed/harnessed during the phase of puppy brains learning how to be teat-free; there’s some physiological maturations happening as well to foster the learning curve, this is when puppies/dogs become – more or less – lactose intolerant as well. When a momma dog (mo.d.) is driving a persistent pup off the teat, she will do a growling ‘bite’/grab/put-down that even the humans in proximity to a lesson will shrink/shoulder-slump reflexively too, and the pup is willing to testify under oath that “the bitch just tried to kill me!” – pun/double entendre intended. Even in fights, most dogs are actually just ‘bitch-slapping’ with their faces, rarely are teeth actually engaged. The higher the bite force, a likely correlation to be more-‘toothy’, but that’s just strike force mainly, and a small measure only; like I will always reiterate, the momma dog really doesn’t even have the neurological bandwidth on the norm to harm her own, no matter the pup’s sworn testimony. Momma will wallop a pup as many times as it takes, and they will sound progressively worse, and I’ve even seen them take one down by the throat and act as if she’s making a predatory kill. That’s just the language they speak in; learning dogs’ language is instrumental to any successful interactions with dogs. Having ones’ own blood-curdling growl, mean-ass big-dog bark, mastery of the fake/false sneeze, a play bow, every highly successful trainer, handler, groomer, keeper of canines will raise their hand if polled on having their own ‘dog-speak’. It’s too easy to fail and far too difficult to wholly succeed with any dog without vs with a shared ‘co-language. We expect them to learn and understand our oral speech communications, and our gestures, it is only fair that we doggers learn and use theirs as well; over time it evolves into a real language, and the more one understands it as such, harnesses and develops it, the more power it will have. “Think/Act as the Momma Dog Does.” It really can be that simple, but it does really stem from actually being around the process of a bitch raising her puppies, there really is no other way to have it at depth that real life. The upside for it, understanding the nuts and bolts of it allows for it to be applied and developed, no one fully learns and masters a new human language before starting to use it, it cannot be done; it is a shared developmental learning curve between canine and human, and realizing it as such greatly empowers mastery and embodiment of it, on both sides. Consitency is the instrumental element; with each new dog comes something like a distinct, unique, individual “dialect” and the more of those one collects, the broader their own ‘dog-speak’ becomes; after Chinese there is no more complex and widely diverse is humanity’s ‘dog-speak’ dialects, and allowing for the same in the equine contexts as well, good horsemanship and good “dogmanship” run on the same subsystems and routines. Neurologically and systemically, with vast troves of empirical scientific data, all of this is contemporary, mainstream knowledge in virtually any and all relevant fields it is applicable to. In the equestrian sphere are the terms and concepts of ‘breaking’ vs gentling; it took several, far too many, generations for this norm shift into the latter, and is even backed by legal statutes. At a very foundational level, there are some basic legal standards being made and enforced, enforcement being the key aspect in that whole process. It ain’t much, certainly a far cry from enough, but it is at least a base layer of gravel in the footers of the coming foundation. Even when governments fail repeatedly on these issues, the more important thing is that the growths are changing “on the ground” levels of the canine world and industry, we dog folk ain’t about to wait on doing what are the right things; the final and fundamental proofs lay in the dogs themselves, “You get out, that which you put in.” applies with dogs 100%
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