Donna Chandler, nationally renowned Canine Trainer and Behavior Specialist, reveals her secrets right into your home for the most complete and convenient dog obedience course you will ever need. If you recall in the last issue, we talked with her about how her Good Dog! ONE-der Class® can be your #1 go-to resource to help you and your puppy or new dog acquire a happy and enjoyable relationship that will last a lifetime!
Life is too short to not enjoy each other’s company—and way too hectic to commit to 6 or more weeks of on-site training classes. In the past, Donna has brought her groundbreaking course to anyone interested on any web-connected device, but now, she in the middle of creating a new book that compliments the complete class! The following is a random chapter in her new book that’s coming, which will be over 70 chapters long. Prepare to be amazed and enlightened as you absorb Donna’s knowledge and insight into canine behavior.
Written by: Donna Chandler
The wolf, also known as Canis Lupus, the gray wolf, the timber wolf, the western wolf, and other subspecies, is a canine native to the wilderness and remote areas of North America and Eurasia. It is the largest surviving member of its family with the females weighing in at 80-85 lbs. and males at 95-100 lbs. It is the only species of Canis to have a range encompassing both the Old and New Worlds, and originated in Eurasia during the Pleistocene era (a period 11,700 years ago), colonizing North America on at least three separate occasions during the Rancholabrean (named after the famed Rancho La Brea fossil site in Los Angles, California).
The gray wolf is one of the most well researched animals and is one of the best known, with probably more books written about it than any other wildlife species. In doing the research for this chapter, I asked many people; “What comes to your mind first when I mention the word ‘wolf’?” Over ninety percent of people said, “The Three Little Pigs” or “Little Red Riding Hood” or “the Werewolf.” Never did I hear that the wolf is where all dogs come from, but that is the reality. Wolves are known as Canis Lupus which is where the name Canine originated for the domestic dog.
All dogs come from the gray wolf
All dogs come from the lineage of the gray wolf estimated to have begun approximately 55,000 years ago. Dogs were the first domesticated animal in the world. Many biologist and molecular geneticists have determined that all dogs come from the gray wolf and only have 0.2% difference in their DNA. This finding is a very small difference as the closest relative to the wolf is thought to be the coyote, who differs from the wolf by four percent, making dogs twenty times more closely related to the wolf. Genetics clearly show the link between the gray wolf and the current modern dogs. Thousands of years of crossbreeding has made it difficult to place any one breed of dog as being more wolflike in behavior than another, and it is difficult to imagine that a Chihuahua is genetically the same as an Alaskan Malamute.
Scientists from Cornell University, UCLA, and the National Institutes of Health did a collaborative study and gathered DNA on nearly 1,000 dogs that included 85 breeds for analysis. The findings showed that the four dogs closest to their wolf ancestors are the Shiba Inu, Chow Chow, Akita and the Alaskan Malamute. Of course, many other studies that have been done since and have varied results using more breeds of dogs. So much crossbreeding in our history of the domestic dog has made it difficult to determine a direct link going from one breed to another and to determine which specific breed is directly linked to a wolf. The earlier association of dogs with humans may have allowed dogs to have a profound influence on the course of early human history and the development of civilization. Many studies with historical timing, geographic locations, and ecological conditions that led to the domestication of dogs are frequently not agreed upon by researchers from different parts of the world.
Wolves have been portrayed as an enemy to humans with bone-chilling howls throughout history. Many people consider them the “bad guy” or villain in all of nature. This could be because they have been known to attack livestock, humans, and domestic pets. Wolves used to be all over the United States but their numbers have dwindled due to recreational hunting, killings by livestock owners protecting their flocks/herds, and the loss of their natural habitat. Wolves struggle to survive in the United States today. In 2017, I did a wolf expedition in Yellowstone National Park with a biologist. The biologist shared with me that wolves were once the top predator in America’s worldfamous Yellowstone National Park. The wolf population was eradicated in the 1920s, leaving the wilderness wolf-free for seven decades. Yellowstone’s ego system greatly deteriorated. In 1995, however, wolves were reintroduced to Yellowstone; this gave the biologists a unique opportunity to study what happens when a top predator returns to an ecosystem. They were brought in to manage the rising elk population, which had been overgrazing much of the park, but their effect went far beyond that. The biologists have now confirmed how the returning of the wolf dramatically changed the park’s rivers, forests, and the landscape, bringing the ecosystem back to normalcy.
With wolves and dogs sharing much of the same genetics, wolves can be bred to dogs and produce viable offspring, which can then produce future offspring. Wolf-dogs are a unique breed and frequently do not survive in a domestic home. They can be destructive, frequently have severe separation anxiety from their human, and have been known to be aggressive. There are several “wolf-dog rescues” around our country as it is almost impossible to get a wolf pack to accept a wolf-dog. Many breeds of dogs can share a majority of wolf-like genetic attributes such as physical attributes, social interactions, territorial instincts, denning instincts, and forms of communications. Similarities include that dogs and wolves are both carnivores, although dogs can be omnivores as well because of genetic changes in dogs that allow them to better process starches. Many dogs love to eat vegetables like carrots, green beans, and many forms of greens and fruits. Dogs and wolves have similar life expectancies; seven to eighteen years for the dog and approximately seven years for the wolf in the wild or fifteen years for a wolf in captivity. Wolves have larger brains, bigger feet, longer muzzles, longer legs and wider skulls. Dogs tend to have a wider variety of traits because of crossbreeding and domestication which includes short to long hair, many coat colors, brachycephalic to normal head, and varied ear carriages.
Dogs and wolves are both pack animals. Dogs assimilate humans into their pack which gave them the ability to become domestic. Dogs and wolves show similar displays when greeting, which include being friendly or showing aggression. However, wolves are usually very shy with other animal species and humans. Both dogs and wolves have a prey drive, which is why they chase moving vehicles, cats, children, and livestock. Dogs and wolves must be taught to hunt for food, which is why feral dogs rarely survive in the wild. If you see a feral dog living in your neighborhood, you know that the dog has a food source somewhere. Both dogs and wolves can be territorial of their home/surroundings, but wolves are most likely to kill another wolf or animal species if an intruder enters their home area or hunting grounds. Dogs and wolves both howl but only dogs add yips to their howling.
Amazing, isn’t it?
Some differences in wolves and dogs include that wolves mature when they are two to three years of age and do not become sexually active until then. Dogs mature at approximately eighteen months to two years of age and can become sexually active at six to eight months. Female dogs can go into estrus twice a year while female wolves come into estrus once a year, usually in the fall. Male wolves are sexually active all year long, like the domestic dog. However, in a wolf pack the alpha male and alpha female are usually the only ones to mate while the rest of the pack are discouraged from mating, as that would be too many mouths to feed. The alpha male and alpha female wolf mate in the fall and dogs typically mate in the fall and the spring. Mating in the fall for wolves allows wolf pups to have the summer to grow and begin to travel with the pack when they start eating meat and not nursing before winter begins. Both wolves and dogs give birth 63 days after mating. Unlike dogs, wolves have pack members that become the “aunts and uncles” to the pups. These aunts and uncles help raise the wolf pups by babysitting when the pack is out hunting, socializing the pups, and disciplining the pups. Wolves have only one mate throughout their life whereas dogs can have many mates, including their mother or siblings. Wolves have eyes that vary in shades of yellow while dogs have either brown or blue eyes. Wolves have splayed feet (which can act as snow shoes and climbing rugged landscape) where dogs have oval shaped and more compacted feet. Wolves are somewhat trainable (they are more habitual in daily behavior) and are not willing to socialize with newcomers. Dogs hold onto their “neoteny” (juvenile wolf characteristics) and are more open to socializing with humans, other animal species, and other dogs.
In today’s society, there are approximately 1 billion dogs on earth, with the human population spending approximately 44 billion dollars annually on them. Many families have multiple dogs, frequently of different breeds and sizes.
If you have watched the “Good Dog! One-der Class”, you know which human behaviors influence the dog to becoming aggressive. These behaviors are a game to the human and a power play to the dog. After more than 30 years of practicing canine behavior, I can say that 90% of dogs that experience these behaviors become possessiveaggressive and develop bully behaviors.
Howling is a form of communication
Denning Instinct and Free Elevation on Furniture: Wolves love their den. New pups rarely venture far from their den unless they are with an adult member of the pack. When the wolf pups are approximately four to eight weeks of age they no longer eliminate in their den. Outside of a wolf’s den there is something of elevation, a rock, a stump, or the side of the mountain. Only the alpha male and female are allowed up there. This elevation is a place of power and authority, and no pack member ever gets up on this place of elevation. Dogs are definitely like the wolf in this regard. They love their den and if you don’t give them one, they will make a den somewhere in the house, typically on an elevated place, like furniture.
Allowing a dog to make his own den of choosing is risky and can create possessive-aggression and bully behaviors because the majority of dogs will choose a den that is elevated. Think about when you see a person carrying around a toy breed dog and you reach to pet it and it snarls and growls. If the owner put the dog on the ground, a high percentage of these dogs would not be aggressive. The same goes for when you have tried to move a dog off the couch and the dog gets aggressive. Dog beds become the dog’s den outside of their crate den. When you are done using the crate den, the dog still has a den with his dog bed.
Tug-of-War: Tug-of war is played in a wolf pack only when the alpha male and female instigate the play. If a pack member instigates the tug-of-war then they are disciplined by the alpha male and female. Playing tug-of-war with 90% of dogs leads to possessive aggression and bully behaviors that manifest about the middle of the juvenile period (around 12-15 months of age). This behavior is a game to the human and a power play to the dog.
Chasing Games: Chasing games are when the dog gets something that does not belong to him/her and wants the human to chase after them to get it away. Items frequently coveted by the dog are socks, paper and articles of clothing. Never chase the dog. This is where the indoor leash comes in and the behavior modification training prevents aggression. Again, this is a behavior that correlates from the wolf to the domestic dog as the alpha male and female are the only member of the wolf pack that is chased.
Eye Level with the dog: I addressed in the “Denning Instinct and Free Furniture Elevation” section how this behavior encourages possessive aggression in dogs, but it can do a lot more. Why are children bitten in the face? They are at eye level with the dog; it is very threatening to be at eye level with any dog, regardless of the human’s age. Wolves stare their prey down, and this is an aggressive behavior, just like owners holding a toy breed and letting someone pet the dog. Do all dogs become aggressive? No, but a high percentage do.
Domestic dogs and wolves are similar in many ways.
Donna Chandler, Author, Canine Trainer, Behavior Specialist, Service Dogs (PTSD, Diabetic, Seizure & School Dogs) [email protected] CEs AAVSB/R.A.C.E. Office: 317-769-4649 Cell: 317-403-1125
Training with stimulation has become much more accepted today than it was in prior times. There are still holdouts that say “No way am I going to shock my dog. I love him and do not want to hurt him.”
However, a much larger percentage of dog owners and trainers recognize the huge advantage of incorporating the use of a low-level stimulation e-collar into their training program, IF THE E-COLLAR IS USED CORRECTLY!
When it comes to dog training, the well-worn phrase “Timing is everything” is especially true. If two dogs were DNA clones, had identical environmental exposures, and were trained by two separate owners who taught with the same training program, one of the dogs would most likely be better than the other. The reason would be based on th
Nationally recognized as one of today’s top professionals, George Hickox has owned and campaigned numerous field champions and Dog
of the Year.
