Dog instincts

Today I was reminded in a major way of the power of instincts in dogs. Dillon swam for the first time, previously he’s been paddling and splashing but never in too deep to not touch the floor. As Barley went to fetch the rubber float from the river his puppy curiosity and labrador instinct couldn’t be fought against anymore and he dived (well slid / moaned a bit) into the river after her. Instantly he was swimming like a fish and with effortless ease. It was a great illustration of the power of nature in dogs. Their breeding and instincts are there from birth, Dillon had never been ‘taught’ to swim and just knew how.

A great deal of literature you can read about any animals plays down the nature in favor of the nurture. How you bring up and animal can literally change the nature, but if you understand that nature and work with it then you will find everything much easier. Dillion is possibly one of the most easy dogs to see this nature in. From the day he came it has been obvious that his breeding and genetics are gun dog labradors. The first time he had a lead he promptly put it in his mouth and wandered around with it. A ball was on first pick up to be brought back and then dropped by your feet. With every one of these natural instinctive behaviors it brings home to me the importance of encouraging and allowing these behaviors.

I like to see each dog as a new learning experience and Dillon really is proving to be the bringer home of the instinctive nature understanding for me. I have always believed in nature and nurture and understood both play a part. With Dillon it would still be very easy to either let these natural behaviors get out of control and become an issue without direction, or to ruin by wrong nurture. I do think though that every dog has these instincts and it’s either through confusion as they have different conflicting instincts in their genes (mixed breeds) or these instincts aren’t channeled and nurture is done wrong; when there are issues. By tailoring your training to use your breed of dog’s instincts then you can find it a far easier experience and satisfy your dog in many aspects.

This leads to another point that understanding your dog breed is very important. By knowing what instincts your breed has then your and their life will be easier. With dogs the instincts and breed instincts are quite distinctive. All have ‘doggy’ instincts and each breed usually was created for a purpose such as herding, ratting, retrieving and so on. Even so called ‘lap dogs’ all had a reason for their breed if you investigate. The dog instincts are a powerful thing and a joy to watch in a puppy when it just works.