Un-Natural Selection for FAIL... and WIN

Understanding mutation is basic to understanding evolution and dogs.

The concentration of mutation is what "selective breeding" is all about, but in the case of dog breeders it is UN-natural selection rather than natural selection.

Dog breeders are generally selecting for FAIL -- the thing that is rare in nature because it is maladaptive in natural dogs (i.e. it causes them to die or fail to thrive).

The good news for dogs (as well as horses, chickens, cows and other domesticated breeds) is that most mutations are very minor -- an odd coat color, an odd-shaped head, a particular behavior trait -- which are not fatal in the sheltering wake of free food and shelter provided by humans.

Return the dog, chicken, horse, or cow to the wild, however, and devolution quickly occurs as unsuccessful mutations are culled out in the absence of human protection and food subsidy.

Of course one of the mutations that has made dogs different from wolves is a small mutation in temperament -- brains capable of more trust and less aggression. 

If we look around the world today, we find primitive and not-so-primitive people routinely bringing wild-caught baby animals into their huts and tents -- monkeys, parrots, tapirs, pigs, cheetahs, hawks, fox, badger, and coyote.  

Some wild animals, if caught young enough and trained the right way, settle into an uneasy life of captive bondage, but most do not.  Wolves are a species that teeters on the cusp.  Out of 1,000 wolves caught as pups, perhaps one is calm enough that, if trained in a primitive manner, it can survive into adulthood as a kind of semi-feral camp wolf living among primitive people without chain leash or iron cage. 

Without vaccines or medicine, of course, life for this tame wolf will be short, and finding a mate with a similarly relaxed outlook on life is not too likely. 

In all probability, it was only after scores of thousands of years that a small line of "tame wolves" was created and became large enough, and useful enough, to be a self-sustaining feature among some primitive camp people. 

This was the first dog.

The genes that control fear and aggression are not single-function bits of code.  Like all genes, they control quite a few other things as well.  In this instance they appear to control morphology -- coat color, ear shape, facial shape, and tail carriage, as we see in the Russian Fox experiment, below.




And so we are on our way. With new expressions of coat color, ear shape, and tail carriage we now start breeding for external appearance.

Over time, the natural scenting and prey drives of dogs are also harnessed and refined to chase rabbits, point bird, scent badger, and chase deer. While some dogs are bred for a kind of phlegmatic biddability (think retrievers and lap spaniels), others are bred for a little more rev in the engine (think working terriers and butcher's dogs).

Over all this time, the human population of the world is growing. It took two million years for the population of the world to hit one billion (1830) but only 100 years to add the next billion (1930). By 1960, just 30 years later, we had added our third billion. Subsequent billion-mark human population thresholds were crossed in 1975 (4 billion), 1987 (5 billion) and 1999 (6 billion). The world's population will click past 7 billion this year.

As a consequence of human population growth, the world has less space for wolves. Humans have roaded, channeled, plowed, fenced, logged, and restocked the world with those domesticated versions of wildlife that it finds useful. The wolf is from another time. It is wild and untamed. It is not useful and so, like a weed in a corn field, it is cut out even as its domesticated version -- the dog -- is brought in to sit next to us by the fire. Un-natural selection for FAIL in the natural world of the past has proven to be selection for WIN in the tamed, roaded and track-homed world of today.
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Wolf Experts on Dominance and Submission

Mark Johnson, DVM, is Executive Director of Global Wildlife Resources, Inc. and the senior wildlife veterinarian for the Yellowstone Wolf Recovery Project.

Over on his Feral Dog blog he asks, "Is Dominance Always Bad?

And, of course the answer is NO. He writes:

I am seeing a lot of blogs about how how horrible dominance is and how there is no need for dominance when working with domestic dogs. They say the use of dominance is now considered ineffective and, worse, it is unethical and inhumane. Those critical of using any forms of dominance are describing what wolves and feral dogs do and do not do and I am seeing so many incorrect statements.

I work with wild and captive wolves, and have handled over 2,000 feral dogs. I was also the Project Veterinarian for the 1995-96 Yellowstone Wolf Reintroduction program and had the privilege of working with Dr. Dave Mech, one of the founders of wolf research, when we captured wolves in Canada and brought them into the US. Many people condemning dominance are referring to Dave’s comments.

This discussion of dominance relates to my work, not only because I work with wolves and feral dogs, but also because I am dedicated to teach animal control officers and disaster responders how to handle frightened dogs without creating a fight with the animal. That is why I write in this blog and website about the Energy of Conflict.

I would prefer to set aside the claims of wolf and feral dog behavior and explore more deeply the concept of “dominance”. But the statements about wolves and feral dogs have been so inherently wrong that I have to offer my viewpoint and then below I will explore what is driving these discussions which is our concept of “dominance.”

Dr. Johnson then goes on to note that

Over and over again there is a deeply seated concept of dominance that is really limiting our ability to objectively study what animal handlers are doing and is, at times, limiting our ability to create a harmonious relationship with the dogs. Many people want to rid themselves of dominance so much that scientific studies are being interpreted to support their beliefs (which is always the weakness of science) and people are coming up with new interpretations of what wolves have always been doing. Any mention of dominance is taboo in these circles.

.... Punishing a dog into submission is obviously an unhealthy relationship. Strictly giving a dog rewards addresses our warm fuzzy desires, but does not always build the healthiest relationship either. The middle ground can still be compassionate and loving.

.... But dominance does not have to be mean and is an integral part of the social hierarchy of many animals including dogs, wolves and horses. Listen carefully to Dave Mech’s video. He says wolves do not fight to get to the top of the pack, but they still get “there”. I agree. Wolves do not continuously fight to get to the top of the pack, there is no argument. Fighting is not in their best interests. But everyone who knows wolves knows there is posturing, tail position, facial expressions, and ear positioning to create that hierarchy without fighting. It is a healthy form of dominance. I once watched a pair of wolves in Yellowstone Park kill an elk calf and one wolf asked for permission from the other wolf before it could feed. It is a reflex for the wolf to define where it is in that hierarchy. But there does not have to be violence to create the hierarchy. It is not demeaning or punitive and they flourish in the pack knowing how they relate to their pack mates.

Needless to say, read the whole thing. Dr. Johnson goes on to talk about feral dogs too -- apparently feral dog packs exist (who knew!?)

Read also L. David Mech's comments to the post cited above -- he agrees with it!

Of particular interest to some readers of this blog will be Dr. Johnson's notes on the use of the Y pole which works, in large part, because dogs recognize dominance and readily submit to it.

It is the nature of canids to submit to this gentle restraint device when properly used. Proper use requires a combination of dominance with kind and calm movements. The dominance motivates the dog to submit. Kindness and compassion will make the animal feel safer and more will to do what you request. The Y pole will not work with physical force alone.

Again, read the whole thing.

There's No Such Thing As a Pack of Wild Dogs

There's no such thing as a pack of wild dogs.

I am assured of this by people who (apparently) have never been to Africa, Asia, Latin America, the Caribbean, or America's own rural South where packs of wild dogs are to be seen without too much trouble.

Never mind the pack of dogs that ripped apart a person just a few months back right here in the USA.

Never mind that the National Geographic has done a special on packs of feral dogs roaming Detroit and St. Louis.

And never mind the real carnage that packs of wild dogs do all over the world, and not just to livestock, but also to humans. The story below is very recent one from South Africa (warning, it is not for the faint of heart).

A newborn's body has been ripped to shreds by hungry dogs.

Yesterday, Gugulethu residents woke up to the gruesome sight of dogs fighting over the tiny body parts, which were strewn all over their neighbourhood.

The mangled baby girl was discovered just a few metres from the KTC Day Hospital in Tambo Square Informal Settlement yesterday morning.

Residents were too late to find the intestines and it is believed the dogs ate them before they were chased off.

The baby's arm and head, initially thought to be missing, were later found between shacks some distance away.

Of course, some people cannot be persuaded by statistics or newspaper story, so for them let's see what happens to wild dogs in Australia where they predate on livestock. Again, this video is not for the faint of heart.



So cleary, there's no such thing as wild dog packs anywhere in the world. Case made!
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