The Little Bear Dog Blog

I have a question: Is it possible to change who we are?

In school I was labelled ‘sensitive’ by my teachers in tones that suggested it was some sort of crippling social impairment. Duly labelled,  I tried and of course failed, to prove that I wasn’t.  With hindsight and a few years under my belt I understand now that what my well-intentioned teachers were probably trying to say was that as a child I lacked confidence, but in their pussy footing around the issue they had taken one of my fundamental character traits and made it feel like a defect.

As an adult, I’ve learned to see my sensitivity as an asset – it fuels my  creativity, my compassion and my intuitive side and I could no more ‘stop being sensitive’ than I could fly to the moon. It’s who I am. It’s how I was born.

So, what has this got to do with dogs I hear you say?  I’m getting there – I promise!

My point is this. In the nature vs. nurture argument I believe that they both play a part in how we, and our canine friends turn out but I think nature plays a far more important role than maybe we give her credit for.

I don’t believe we’re born as blank canvasses to be moulded and manipulated like clay dolls at the hands of our parents.  As I’ve said before, I believe dogs, just like people, have souls and as such have consciousness before, during and after their lifetimes. The scientists among you may not agree of course, but even without the spiritual dimension of belief, the unborn child or puppy is the product of its genetic make up and subject to the hormonal influences of its mother before birth – another point to nature over nurture.

Where can I stuff this vol-au-vaunt?

About six months ago I was introduced to a friend of a friend at a party. A fellow dog owner she effused about her new puppy and told me three times within the first five minutes how the trainer who ran their puppy classes had singled her out for special praise and considered her to be an exemplar of a ‘natural dog handler’.  I have no idea what a natural dog handler is but congratulated her none-the-less and said she must be very proud.

When she eventually asked about my dog,  I mentioned that LB had anxiety issues that we were working on. She frowned and said flatly “Well you know it’s always the owners fault don’t you?” She stared at me as if expecting what? A confession? A plea for help?

I resisted the temptation to shove the mushroom vol-au-vaunt I was holding up her nose and decided to ignore the comment, a momentary silence that she filled with more stories of her dog handling prowess (of 12 weeks standing) and advice on how batting him with a rolled up news paper would ‘sort him out’.

Irritating though she was, her comment stung.  Was it all my fault? Had I ruined my puppy to the point of no repair? The question has lurked in the back of my mind, being batted like the ball in a pinball machine between my intellectual side (‘Poppycock’) and the small worried little voice that was just born to worry and fret (‘It is all my fault!’)

Redemption (almost)

So it was with a sense of something approaching euphoria this week that I read that some dogs are to be really simplistic, born ‘sensitive’.

In James O’Heare’s brilliant book ‘Canine Neuropsychology’ (don’t be put off by the title, it’s an excellent and fairly easy read) he describes research by Lindsay(2000) which describes how dogs can be genetically predisposed to a emotional reactivity and biological stress. Defined as ‘sympathetically dominant’, these dogs are apparently more prone to develop behaviour problems. Pages 5-6. [http://www.jamesoheare.com/]

Now I’m not for a minute trying to wriggle off the hook of less than perfect puppy parenting.  I made lots of mistakes along the way but it’s comforting to know that it wasn’t necessarily ‘all my fault’.  Looking back, the signs were there from day one but I was too inexperienced to see them for what they were.  Interestingly, I found out today that his litter mate is apparently almost exactly the same temperament wise, even though she has been brought up in a very different home environment.

Someone told me the other day that we get the dogs that we’re meant to – I certainly think that’s true. I picked a Schnauzer partly because they were described as ‘confident little dogs’, but here he is, a sensitive little chap who lacks confidence and worries easily.

So, can we change who we are?  Can I teach LB not to be sensitive?  Of course not. He is who he is and I love him for it. My job now is to help give him the confidence he needs, not to change his sensitive little soul, but to find ways of making life just that little bit easier.