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During a presentation last weekend, the question of which pup to choose from a litter was asked and as always it was thought that the smartest, boldest and most confident pup, in any litter, is the one that charges up to you and appears genuinely delighted to meet you. This, like so many beliefs regarding dogs, along with their thinking, needs and what they can actually do, is yet another myth and once you think logically about this and listen to nature you see how mistaken this is.
For any species to survive, combined with the knowledge of what to eat and where to find the food, there has to be a real understanding of what represent a danger to the individual and the whole group. The team member that takes big risks rushes in and wanders off on their own, runs a real risk of being injured or killed, which is something that is often seen. 'Fools rush in where angels fear to tread'
As always the wolves of Yellowstone National Park provided me with the perfect proof of this, when last Autumn (Fall) I was in the Lamar Valley watching the 'Lamar Canyon' pack, along with the regular research team members, when we heard a howl coming from a ridge and we searched through our scopes to find the individual giving this call.
The pack that includes the wonderful grey alpha female, known as '06 with her partner, his brother and the other three pups were located on the south side of the valley and much further to the west. We quickly spotted a young lone wolf, who certainly was howling for all that she was worth and watched as this youngster moved further away from the safety of the family became concerned as she went out of sight.
I then asked Rick, who has been with the wolves every day since they were reintroduced in 1995 and knows the individuals, which one this was. He told me that this was a female pup and this was the third day running that she had wandered off in this way and that her caring mother and entire pack had come to collect her on both previous occasions.
With scopes trained on the main pack we watched amazed as the mother listened to her baby's call and then turned in the opposite direction and set off with determination, effectively abandoning the pup. She was moving at such speed that we had to move our position to keep up with the pack and about twenty minutes later, having travelled about 2 miles we saw the wayward pup catch up with and re-join the pack, only to be glared at by her mother.
Rick was not surprised that the alpha female had made this decision, as he had certainly seen this happen before and on a few occasions it had resulted in the pup being killed by another predator. Of course, the parent wanted to protect the baby but could not risk the rest of her family if they had been caught out whilst in the territory of other wolves. '06, (the mother) had retrieved her daughter twice but now the youngster had to learn that her actions were the result of very poor judgement and the best way to correct any mistake is to clearly show a negative consequence of actions, which is the way that 'Amichien� Bonding' works.
This form of education results in the more intelligent individual learning and staying alive and those that are not as smart will probably perish. We know this as 'survival of the fittest'.
So if, when choosing a puppy, you are looking for the more intelligent personality then look to the one that stays back a little, takes its time to work out whether you are friend or foe before making contact with you. This is something that, without knowing it, I did aged 13 when I chose my Shane from a litter of three. His two siblings were scrabbling at the gate to get to my Dad and me but Shane simply sat there looking at us. Of course, in those days it was good fortune that I picked correctly and how lucky I was to have such an intelligent Border Collie but as I have written in other books, although I now know how many problems we created for him due to following the world of tradition dog training.
I am so very grateful and happy that at least I retained an open mind and was able to, not only learn the truth but also to share it with others.
Jan Fennell
21 June 2011
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