Question:
Recently, my daughter called late at night, sobbing as she told me that she had brought her small Border collie to an emergency veterinary hospital. The collie was found lying in a field adjacent to her home, bloodied and unconscious. Her four German shepherds were running about, seemingly unaware of the small dog. (She has raised German shepherds and loves them dearly, as they do her.)The four shepherds include a young male, two young females and adult female named "B" -- my daughter's personal shepherd who acts as the alpha female and is quite bossy. The collie, an older female named Stinky, has challenged B several times, but my daughter has always intervened and blood was never drawn. My daughter had left her home that evening with all five dogs loose in the yard (a very large yard of several acres). The only dog with blood on its fur was B. The collie died at the vet's.I believe the dogs should have been reprimanded, perhaps while holding an item of Stinky's that had her smell on it. My daughter believe
D.S., Burke, Va May 01, 2005
Answer:
Your daughter addresses the one behavior of dogs that I find despicable (I can count many more for my own species), namely ganging up on a smaller dog.Both you and your daughter are half-right on this issue. It is important to discipline dogs as soon as possible after they have done something wrong, because they tend to live in the here and now and won't understand why they're being punished later on.This is not to imply that dogs have no conscience or moral sensibility. But sometimes they act impulsively and lose self-control. This is especially true in a pack situation, where a group of dogs gangs up on another dog, who becomes the group's prey or victim.I would have carried Stinky's remains home, called the four shepherds over, and made them feel my grief, pain and rage. They would most likely understand and mourn -- unless B is more human than dog in that, like a psychopath, she has no conscience and is thus incapable of remorse, or is simply lacking in instinct/impulse control -- another major problem i
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