Elements of analysis in ethology
1.Socialization of the dog
Ethology understands the concept of socialization as a period and a process.
“The period of socialization is the time in which the animal has a higher sensitivity and during certain facts or events which affect more intense in their behaviour during adulthood, that occurred before or after this stage.” (Bateson, 1979).
The socialization begins in the dog more or less, at 3 weeks old when his neurosensibles and motor skills are developed enough to interact with the environment.
The socialization period ends, depending on the breed and individual differences, when the dog is 3 to 3 ½ months old. (Freedman, King and Elliot, 1961).
During the puppy socialization, the dog develops its vision of the world around him, recording everything that at that time is seen as positive and normal. In this way, the dog will form a reference system by which you can compare and evaluate new situations that are presented later in life. To build a good system of referrals, the puppy has to live the experiences.
The processes that occur here are called habituation and socialization.
Habituation is the process where the puppy trusts the surroundings (environment). Habituation leads to everyday situations, such as noise of the cars, the movement of the curtains in the wind, or the noisy vacuum cleaners do not receive the attention of the dog.
Socialization is the process where the dog learns to know its own species and other species to learn how to deal with them.
On the social game with members of the kennel, the puppy learns to understand and use signs of congenital communication. Interactions with adult members of the group teach the puppy as appeasing the most powerful and aggressive individuals. Another important process that begins with socialization, but that does not end at 3 months old, is learning bite inhibition. Contrary to popular belief, the bite of self-consciousness is not congenital, but is learned during the social game.
However, our dogs not only have to know and learn to deal with their own species but also with other species, especially with men.
Studies of the 60s have shown that those dogs who meet up to 3 months and had not had contact with humans remained shy in front man as wild animals (Freedman, King and Elliot, 1961). Scott and Fuller (1965), in addition to this, found that those dogs that were in cages during the socialization period were much more retracted against unknown persons than those in the controlled animal groups that grew up in a family home.
The best time to deliver the puppy to its owner is between the 8th and the 9th week of birth.
In addition, the owner must complete the teaching of self-consciousness of biting. The careful treatment with human skin by the dog must work before it can reach produce severe injuries to their teeth for lack of learning in this regard.
2.Body expression
"The body expression, ie facial expressions and posture, are part of the canine communication system" (Feddersen-Petersen und Ohl, 1995, Simpson, 1997).
Communication is the transmission of messages. This requires an issuer, the signal transmitting and receiving information. Communication within a group of dogs is designed to minimize the fighting and promote cooperation. The communicative skills are learned during socialization and then be trained and improved through regular contact with peers of the same species.
Dogs communicate through olfactory stimuli, acoustic, visual and tactile. This exhibition will be limited to the explanation of visual communication. Fox (1987) considered the visual cues as the most important in the communication dog-dog or dog-man. These are used for communication over a short or medium distance and can vary so quickly and adapt to any situation that may be required.
Dogs use body posture, gestures and mime to express their status, their mood and motivation. Importantly, each signal by itself is irrelevant and only gets its true meaning depending on the context in which it is displayed. For example, the movement of the tail first and only means new excitement you can see its true meaning if it when the dog is playing, feels fear or aggression.
In the constant search for the body characteristic traits, the selection made by the man has changed dramatically the appearance of existing dogs, originally very similar to his ancestor the wolf, making difficult in many cases a clear communication.
The correct interpretation of the dog expressions gives men the opportunity to appreciate the moods and intentions of the dog, and neutralize conflicts ith specific canine responses. On the contrary, the man can help the dog to understand the instructions and human moods and avoid problems applying canine bodily expressions.
Regarding the intra-species communication, the owner should be instructed on the need for daily contact with other dogs of its kind, in this way, the dog can understand the terms of canine communication and avoid serious conflicts and disputes later.
3.Dominance relationships between dogs and Human-dog
"Like their ancestors the wolves, dogs have a social hierarchy based on dominance and subordination. The engine of development of social systems is the instinct of animals to live as long as possible, in order to transmit as many genes to future generations. The greater the number of offspring will be the biggest success of the individual, ie the higher your individual fitness" (Goodenough, McGuirre and Wallace, 2001).
Dogs can achieve this goal, in the best way living in a family structured hierarchically in unions.
The advantages of the pack are common hunting prey larger than themselves, cooperation in the rearing of cubs and defense group and the territory against intruders or enemies.
The disadvantage of group life is competition for limited resources such as food, resting places for couples or reproduction. Abrantes (1997) describes the problem that has to fix an animal's life in society, as follows: How can I impose my will to the best of it without killing or wounding of my other colleagues that I needed for my own survival and my successors?.
To achieve this, evolution has favored the system of relations of dominance in many species. The social hierarchy or dominance hierarchy describes the network of relationships within a pack and the fact that each member has a rank within the group. It means that dominance is not a feature of the nature of an animal, but concerns or the relationship between two individuals of the group (dual relationship), or the status of an individual within the group.
Hundnanny
Hundpsykolog och hundbeteende expert
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