How understanding the evolution of your dog could help you manage undesirable behaviours and increase their happiness.
For more than 12,000 years we have seen dogs as a human protector, guardian, hunter, companion, and valued friend, evolving from the grey wolf into over 400 distinguishable breeds and now considered the most popular domesticated pet, alongside cats.
Human intervention has created a variety of dog breeds and with it comes various ear types, fur lengths, body shapes and characteristics, but putting these physical differences aside, ultimately all dogs will retain an innate evolutionary hunting instinct to survive.
This is otherwise understood as Predatory Motor Patterns (PMP).
What do we mean by Predatory Motor Patterns?
Before domestication, dogs relied on superior hunting skills to source food and to ultimately survive. This hunting technique followed several steps, from sourcing their prey to the end outcome of a meal, and can be defined in basic terms as the following:
Scent/track (orient) > eye/stalk> chase> grab bite> shake/kill bite> dissect> eat.
Dogs were selectively bred to assist humans in a huge variety of jobs and what we did as a result was to accentuate or capture behaviours within the Predatory Motor Pattern to aid in our tasks.
For example, gundogs such as spaniels or labradors, were intentionally bred to carry and retrieve game, with emphasised ‘Scent/track’ through to ‘Grab Bite’ desire but decreased ‘Kill Bite’ to ‘Eat’ motivation.
And collies, with their incentive to herd livestock, were bred with a given emphasis to the ‘Chase’ stage but no drive to ‘Kill Bite’, ensuring sheep are not seen as food.
Why should we be aware of PMP’s?
Ultimately, we love our canine companions, and we want them to be happy! By considering the inclusion of activities which are tailored to their breed need and predatory requirements, we are helping our pet to feel content, meaning a happy owner too.
Supressing these instinctive behaviours will not only potentially cause additional stress to your dog and affect their overall happiness, but you may find they will seek alternative ways to satisfy their need, and usually in behaviours we as humans find undesirable AKA going ‘self-employed’!
A border collie as a family companion, for example, may begin to show herding (eye, stalk and chase) behaviours if not given an outlet, and many owners would agree a collie charging and nipping the heels of their children, or chasing car wheels would not be a desirable, safe, or enjoyable situation.
Instead, by providing this dog with motivating activities which can alleviate their innate needs, you may find this lessens their drive to self-seek an outlet, lowers frustration levels and improves their relationship and interest in you as an owner.
How to incorporate activities to satisfy your dog’s PMP drivers!
So, what can you do to help your dog? This can very much depend on the breed characteristics of your companion but below gives some great examples of activities for each stage of the PMP:
Important points to take away!
It is essential to remember:
- Not all dogs will proceed through every PMP stage- dogs have been selectively bred for purpose so it is important to think about your dog breed (s) to help determine their best outlets e.g. a collie x greyhound will likely require both a herding ‘eye/stalk’ outlet (collie) and ‘chase’, ‘grab’ & ‘shake/kill’ outlet (greyhound).
- If you don’t know your dogs’ breeds, just go with what they like! What are they driven to enjoy, and what games are fun to them?
- These activities are not to be considered a solution for behavioural issues alone. Whilst they can be a satisfying and enriching addition for your canine friend, it is advised that you seek professional support from a qualified canine behaviourist should you require advice or support. Our behaviour team at CAS are always here for you and your dog’s needs – email behaviour@gawa.org.uk if you would like our help with any aspect of your dog’s behaviour.
