The dog question really is...

WaltBasil

Do our dogs really love us? Or is it just Stockholm Syndrome?

webmost

Look in those eyes. Are they lying?

raisindot

I read an interesting web site on dog training recently that made a lot of sense. Essentially, every dog years to belong to a pack, even if that pack consists only of he/she and the owner. Any dog in a home will assume that s/he is the alpha/pack leaders unless the owner (or other family members) train it to see that he she is not the pack leader. Once that dog understands its place as a "beta" pack member, it gives its loyalty to the pack leader, i.e., the owner, especially when that owner is the primary source of food. Any dog that exhibits undesired behavior--i.e., jumping on beds or furniture, running wild, doing things that cause the owner to coddle them--now considers itself the pack leader.

So that love and affection a dog vies you may really be emotionally based (rather than purely instinctual), but behind that affection that dog is saying, "You're the pack leader, therefore I respect you, I worship you, I'll do whatever you say until you stop exhibiting pack leader behavior, or stop feeding me, and that's when I'll take over and kill you in your sleep."

jd50ae

WaltBasil:

Do our dogs really love us? Or is it just Stockholm Syndrome?

Walt Walt Walt........sigh. I have 3 dogs (Blue, Little Guy and Sophie) that won't even take their favorite treat until I have pet them. One dog (Sorsha) went through a bay window because someone outside was giving my wife a hard time, it ended real quick.

The3Stogies

Dog spelled backwards is God, enough said

raisindot

The3Stogies:

Dog spelled backwards is God, enough said

I don't believe in Dog. Does that make me an adogstic? Or an acanist?