Now don't be offended by my response. Since the first canine domestication we started teaching our dogs to be helpless. How? Well it's really quite simple.
The first time primitive man tossed a bone to a wolf the process began.
It took thousands of years, but we did it. When we started feeding our pets
they no longer had to feed themselves. They began to lean on us for food and
shelter. Eventually we took dogs out of the wild and put them on our couches. They no longer had to hunt for food, they no longer had to defend themselves or
seek shelter. And they pretty much forgot how.
I once heard (I don’t remember where) of an experiment done with dogs,
wolves and fences. Food was put inside at the point of a V shaped fence.
A dog
was put on the opposite side. The dog waited for a human to bring the food. When
a wolf was put in the same position, he went around the fence to acquire the
food. Was the wolf any smarter than the dog? NO! The dog had simply learned
that if he waited, the human would deliver the food. Now dogs are true hunters. It’s programmed into their genetics. Dogs and wolves share about 98% of their DNA. Yet domestic dogs don’t hunt the same way wolves do.
My brother lives on a mountain top in Tennessee. He took in a stray dog which was skin and bones. Now there is plenty of game on that mountain top, yet this genetically programed canine hunter almost starved to death. (She has fattened up considerably since she adopted my brother.)
My greyhound Gopher is in a canine nose work class. (A video of his most
recent hunt inspired me to write this article.) When a treat was put in the
bottom of a large box, (to teach problem solving), Gopher would not retrieve it
no matter how much I tried to encourage and assist him. However, when the
instructor had me move away from the box, Gopher immediately consumed the treat.
Was Gopher incapable? No, he had simply learned that when his human was around
she would automatically give him what he wanted. Is this learned helplessness?
Maybe, but it is yet to be determined who learned to be helpless; Gopher or me?
When Gopher adopted me, the very first week he proudly brought a live rabbit
from the back yard in to show me. The next week he did it again. Was he showing
off or was he waiting for me to dress and cook the rabbit for him? Either way,
it was a clear demonstration that Greyhounds, mine in particular, can and will
hunt. He certainly didn’t need me to feed him. However, since that time he has
not once provided his own dinner. Did he learn to depend on me for food, or
have the rabbits quickly learned to stay out of my yard?This leads me back to the beginning of this article. “Since the first canine domestication we started teaching our dogs to be helpless….. When we started feeding our pets they no longer had to feed themselves.” However, as we fed them, they also helped us do it. They hunted with us and pointed out where to find the food. Did you know that we learned what plants and herbs were safe to eat by watching animals? If the animals stayed away from a particular water source, we knew it was unsafe to drink. And how many stories have we heard of lost toddlers who survived in the wilderness because the family dog snuggled up and kept them warm.
So who learned helplessness from whom? I’d say neither; we just learned to depend on each other; for food, warmth, shelter, companionship and love. And oh so much more!
