Three Primal Drives That Shape Your Dog’s Personality

Bathed, well fed and snoozing peacefully on your couch, it’s hard to imagine your dog as an efficient and deadly predator. But beneath that well groomed exterior lies a trio of primal drives that shape almost every aspect of your modern dog’s behavior.

chocolate labrador puppy looking at the camera

Today I’m going to explore those primal instincts and some of the canine superpowers that go hand in hand with them!

1 The Carnivore on Your Couch: Learning to Love Your Dog’s Inner Predator

The drive to catch and kill other animals still lurks beneath the surface of even the most idle canine couch potato.

Dogs of all breeds have some well recognized behaviors in common. The way that your dog pauses momentarily, staring intently, one paw lifted, before breaking into a gallop. The all-out assault on their fluffy toy duck. Or the prick of an ear at the sound of a squeaky ball. These are all part and parcel of your dog’s primal purpose as an apex predator.

Even the most pampered lapdog still knows the ancient sequence that drives wolves to stalk, chase, grab, and shake. It’s simply been softened and redirected, onto that $15 squeaky plushie you bought from Amazon.

There’s a reason that dog toys often have squeakers too. That tiny squeak isn’t just noise, it’s a powerful trigger for many dogs and can disturb deep predatory instincts that most of us would rather not think about.

It’s one reason why even the nicest dog should never be left unsupervised with a baby. High-pitched sounds mimic the cries of wounded prey, sparking the deep, instinctive urge to catch and shake until the “prey” goes still.

Redirecting predatory behavior

Redirecting these predatory instincts onto squeaky toys is a great idea. It does not cause aggression or make dogs badly behaved, On the contrary it actually makes them better housemates.

That’s because play isn’t just for fun. It benefits your dog’s physical and mental health. Studies show that chasing, tugging, and mock-fighting let dogs express their hunting instincts safely, reducing stress and strengthening their bond with us.

It’s important to note that when those instincts don’t have a healthy outlet, they have a habit of finding one anyway: through ruined slippers, and overturned trash cans.

If you find your dog just gets too overexcited for this kind of play indoors, a calming outlet can be found through scent work and tracking games. You’ll find some more ideas in this article: Read more… Games To Play With Your Dog

And don’t forget to teach your dog to fetch. Retrieving is another great way to let your dog express their inner predator safely. Read more… 7 Awesome Reasons To Play Fetch

2 The Master Of Observation – Dogs Are The Ultimate Team Players

If you think your dog is watching you, it’s because they are! During the thousands of years that have passed since we domesticated those first wolves, dogs have evolved an extraordinary ability to recognize human emotions and gestures.

These abilities are all symptoms of your dog’s underlying drive to belong to and participate in team events. And to form deep bonds with their family members.

Wait until your dog is looking at your face and try giving a really big smile for a few seconds, then look sad, and back to smile again. Many dogs will respond to those smiles with a quickening of their tail and a relaxed happier body posture. And science supports what we all know in our hearts. Dogs understand us.

Your team player

Researchers have found that dogs can distinguish a smile from a scowl, responding differently to emotions like happiness and anger in human faces. This ability is pretty much essential between members of a successful hunting team. And is dependent on excellent powers of observation.

Dogs, like their wolf ancestors, are great team players, and it’s pretty humbling to know that this allegiance between canine family members has been extended to include us!

Bridging the gap between two species

It isn’t just visual cues that dogs use to understand us. The sound of your voice carries meaning for them too.

Brain imaging studies show that dogs process tone much like we do, lighting up similar areas when they hear warmth or tension.

We take for granted this ability to recognise emotion through body language and vocalisations. But it’s actually very unusual for this kind of communication to work so well between two very different species.

Patterns and routines

Dogs are great at observing and remembering our patterns of behavior and routines too. Those ears prick up as you reach for your coat or car keys. They know that a walk will follow after breakfast. They know that the clunk of the refrigerator door means nothing when it isn’t meal time, and everything, when it is.

They know that switching off the TV means a last stroll before bed. They even know it before you pick up the remote by that little sigh you give or the way you shift in your seat. This ability to observe and predict behavior is another useful attribute in a predator. After all, in times gone by, knowing where and when your dinner is likely to turn up could be the difference between life and death!

Imitating you

Perhaps the most surprising and compelling evidence of your dog’s drive to understand and even imitate you has been demonstrated through studies of overimitation.

Scientists use the term overimitation to describe the way that dogs copy our actions, even when those actions are irrelevant.

In humans we sometimes call this ‘mirroring’. If we are chatting over a drink for example and I lift my glass for a sip of wine, you are likely to do the same. And the closer people are, the more likely they are to mirror each other’s actions.

For many years it was thought that this ability could not be found in non-human species but recent studies have demonstrated it clearly in dogs using irrelevant actions such as touching a dot.

Just like your human companions mirroring their friends, your dog is much more likely to imitate your actions if you are their caregiver rather than a random visitor

3 Life With The Neighborhood Watch Captain

Some breeds of dog are famous for their drive to protect everyone and everything. They patrol their home and yard like they’re running a private security firm. While other dogs will happily welcome all comers, and invite them to tea.

But even the most sociable of pooches will usually let you know when visitors arrive. It may be with a few barks, or just a quick survey of the front porch to see who’s about. They still have that primal drive to inform the family that potential problems might be approaching.

Whether your dog loves or hates visitors, the chances are they will be able to detect the arrival of your mailman or your friends long before you do. And that’s all down to some extraordinary biology, and two particular superpowers.

Superpower 1 – Hearing

Dogs don’t just hear better than us, they can pinpoint the source of a sound with great accuracy. On average within 7.6 degrees, and some down to a razor-thin 1.3 degrees.

Not only can dogs pinpoint the source of a sound with a high degree of accuracy, they can judge whether a sound is stationary or moving, and the direction of the movement.

Their additional ability to hear much higher pitched sounds than our ears can detect is the icing on the cake!

Superpower 2 – Scenting

The power of a dog’s scenting ability is legendary. Just imagine being able to detect the scent of blood on an item of clothing that has been through a washing machine 5 times! Cadaver dogs and blood detection dogs are able to do this.

And while some dogs particularly excel at scenting, with up to 60 times more scent receptors than humans, all dogs have scenting superpowers!

Scenting is perhaps the canine superpower that has been put to use most widely, initially in their role as hunting companions, and now dogs are routinely used to detect minute traces of explosives, drugs,human blood and foot scent, and even signs of disease.

Dogs were given these superpowers for a very good reason, to ensure the survival of their family. So when your dog barks a little too loud or for a little too long, remember they are only trying to protect you. The key to moderation is teaching boundaries. Let your dog issue their report—a bark or two—then calmly reward quiet vigilance. For dogs more prone to bark at sounds, like my terrier, I have a pot of treats near me when expecting a delivery. And provide these for her as soon as she stops barking.

If you are having problems head over to our barking information for more help. Over time, most dogs learn that not every rustling leaf warrants a full neighborhood alert.

Final Thoughts

Living with a dog can bring great joy. But it isn’t always easy. There are challenges for us, living in such close contact with another species, and for our dogs too. And there are good reasons for this!

When I was small the scientific name for a dog was Canis Familiaris (literally Dog Domesticated) Confusingly I had a book that showed how different breeds of dog were descended from different species of wild dog. Including wolves, jackals and more.

We now know that this was incorrect.

Advances in genetics have revealed that all the different breeds of dog are descended from a single species that still roams parts of the world today: what you and I call the wolf, and that scientists know as Canis Lupus (literally Dog Wolf). In fact to all intents and purposes, modern dogs are wolves, and they have been reclassified to reflect that: Canis Lupus Familiaris

The Labrador Handbook by Pippa Mattinson

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In evolutionary terms a few thousand years is nothing. So it’s not surprising that the instincts that underpin your dog’s wolf ancestry still guide many of their behaviors.

When I was a child our Golden Retriever would break into long howls whenever I started to practice my clarinet. And more recently three of my dogs would set up an eerie howling session that could rival any Alaskan wolf pack, whenever they heard a police siren or ambulance.

Whether it’s howling to the moon, circling to flatten the imaginary grass before laying down, or burying bones in your back yard, these fleeting glimpses of a time long gone are powerful reminders of our dog’s ancestry and purpose.

Remembering where they came from, and how the bond between us was strengthened and deepened over the last thirty thousand years by our identical roles as supreme social predators, is a great way to honor your dog and rise to the challenge of helping them thrive in our crazy human world.