Dog Reflections

I have witnessed that pet dogs often reflect the characteristics of their owners.

A neighborhood where I lived is tightly constructed around a green upon which dogs and owners move about in high visibility. The percentage of dog owners to non-owners here is typical, as is the percentage of those who own only cats (or is it the other way around?), although no census taker would ever dare to attempt to quantify the latter. But cats are never an issue, because avoiding controversy goes to the very heart of that creature. Nor are they likely to take on any characteristics other than their own.

Not so dogs.  When you consider the wholesomeness of dogs, the guilelessness, loyalty, and cheerful obedience that is at the core of this animal, it seems strange that these pets are more often the center of controversy than are selfish, skittish, disobedient, untrainable, unleashable cats, but so it is.
A concern in our tight little neighborhood at the moment is the poo habits of some of the neighborhood dogs, of particular concern the neighbor who leaves the front door open to allow the dog to take itself out to poo at will where and when it pleases. To the regulated dog owner, who keeps the dog tight on the leash, then directs the placement of poo, bags it while still warm, and places it carefully in the proper receptacle, the unconcerned behavior of the freedom owner is a pure horror. Dogs reflect the feelings of their owners, and dogs on lead take exception to dogs cruising by unfettered and so animosity has a tendency to build, dog to dog, owner to owner.
 
I am convinced that the tendency to mirror the traits of the alpha dog is in the dogs' gene pool. The mimicry can be uncanny. One close neighbor was owned by cats (and children). These neighbors were warm, friendly people, and the entire family lived their lives happily and openly with a kind of barefoot exuberant freedom. When they wanted a dog to join the family they adopted one from a shelter. Within days, the dog had become indistinguishable from any other member of that family, trotting freely with head high, tail erect, ambling happily around the neighborhood, unleashable and irrepressible. I could have picked it out of a lineup as part of that family.

I provide this particular example because the dog was adopted as an adult, not raised within the family from puppyhood. What can explain the immediate, comprehensive manifestation of family traits by this dog?    

Dogs appear to approach strangers and strange environments in ways similar to their owners - timid dogs reflect timid owners, blustery dogs blustery owners, sneaky dogs sneaky owners, untrustworthy dogs untrustworthy owners, and so on. And dogs seem also to reflect the anxiety levels of their owners. One seldom sees a patient dog with an impatient owner, a calm dog with a restless owner, or a courageous dog with a fearful owner. The ultimate restless spirit is the dog whose owner is away from home days at a time, leaving the dog to its own devices. This canine, like its owner, is the dog about town, roaming the streets and exploring the scents of far reaching neighborhoods, streetwise, confident.

Taking this tendency to another level, I have observed that entire towns, like individual owners, may have characteristics that are illustrated by its citizen dogs. There are plenty of exceptions to the rule, of course, but the dog of choice in my town is the small dog. The human population in my town, like many American communities, is mixed, in this case divided generally between Caucasian and Hispanic families. A walk through the town reveals that some of these small dogs are a Chihuahua type, brown or black, generally off-lead, and others are a white or light colored dog, almost always on-lead. Thus the cultural composition of my town is evident to any observant stranger through its canine inhabitants.

Dogs and children have in common this tendency toward mimicry. Children, like dogs, tend to reflect the characteristic attitudes and behaviors of their parents. But dogs and children are guileless and will display these traits openly, while  parent/owners may conceal them beneath the surface. Thus dogs and children can be a window to the true nature of family culture and behavior.

It has occurred to me that these observations might be taken to yet another level, on a much larger scale, perhaps even to countries. It's not difficult to link certain dogs to certain nations. I automatically link the St. Bernard to Switzerland, for example, the English Bulldog with Great Britain, the Chihuahua to Mexico, and the Doberman Pinscher to Germany. And there are those breeds whose heritage is revealed by their breed name, such as the Russian Wolfhound, the Siberian Husky, the Rhodesian Ridgeback, the German Shepherd, and so on.

Can we use this insight on such a large scale? Might inference from predominant dog attitudes owned by certain nations lead to better understanding within the global community? Might the attitude and intent of nations be revealed by their dogs, despite a desire to conceal them? Could World War Two have been avoided by close observation of the attitudes of German dogs? Do the characteristics of the Russian Wolfhound offer insight into the true nature of the Russian people? What do the Bichon Frise or the Poodle suggest about France? In the wide spectrum of how nations treat their dogs all the way to the nations that eat their dogs, the nature of the master is revealed in his canine mirror, his dog, which, after all, desires nothing more than to please its master, enjoy a square meal, wag its tail, and live in peace.