PACK MENTALITY
When I came home from work today I greeted the "top dog" (Sullivan) first,and was met met by a limping, bloodied, somewhat less than enthusiastic victor with a couple of nasty gashes over his eye and a mean rip on his shoulder.He was a much subdued version of his usual loud, boisterous self.
Then I greeted Theo "the loser", minimal superficial wounds,no limping and seemingly none the worse for wear...Sully was more interested in sleeping on the couch (unusual for him)...Theo was like he always is... and Irene is still queen of the roost.
there's something wrong with this picture.
Is the winner actually the loser? I look back and don't remember having dogs being such a class struggle...we have dogs,we love our dogs,they love each other and us, and we all get along swimmingly. Something's changed.
It got me to thinking...Have we somehow complicated the pack mentality by invading the realm of the dog and infecting it with our uniquely human form of petty bullshit?
Was who gets fed first,who gets greeted first,who gets the fancy collar not an issue for dogs before we made it an issue?
Before we domesticated them dogs fought over things like who gets to mate with who? and who gets the good parts of the kill? Dominance was born out of survival , not who gets greeted first at the end of the day.
Dogs didn't kill each other over a space on the bed or couch until we complicated thier lives.
I looked at Theo and Sully this afternoon and was reminded of Rodney King's plaintive cry "why can't we all just get along?"
As far as dogs are concerned,I think we fucked up the balance by imposing our petty bullshit on them...they were fine when they they were just dogs...and somehow,over the years,we have altered thier essence.
I love my dogs, and to promote harmony in the pack I have to redouble my efforts to be more like them...to be a working pack.
The pack mentality.
We could learn something from this...as a nation I mean,but that's another story.