Within the dog fraternity, I think a lot of people are put off when people mention wolf
and wolf interaction with dog and wolf training, believing there to be no link whatsoever back
to their wild cousins.
And to a certain degree, I would agree with that.
However, I think the wolf over the years, like its reputation, has been misrepresented
by people that use wolf techniques.
Often mistaking or using a heavy level of force or violence even towards the dog, thinking
this to be the world of the wolf, a very unforgiving education for the young pups that seem to
be almost thrown around by the adults.
This isn't the true account of the wolf.
The wolf's education is balanced, trustworthy, remarkably in sync with the animal's development
and they understand fully exactly what's needed for the adult, for the young, and only selected
adults are used for that purpose.
The actual philosophy behind our teaching, our training, is always going to be wolves,
dogs, people.
However, there are certain things like the opening up a line of communication that can
definitely be used from the wolves, the way they talk to each other, the balance and the
trust that they show younger in experienced members, and the patience that's always displayed
to teach the right thing at the right time.
All of this can help us considerably when it comes to teaching and training our dogs
and helping us to understand their psychology.
The dog side of things is a very difficult world for me.
The true experience I've found at the dog is somewhere between its wild cousins and
somewhere between humanisation.
Almost the animal struggles with one or the other, not enough wild or too much, not enough
human side or too much.
So we have to try and strike the right balance between the two, giving each animal as an individual
identity the necessary percentage of wild and domestic that it needs to require to be
safe within our world.
The other side, the most important thing is us, the human, understanding where we came
from and the close connection that we have to the wolf and their philosophy and psychology
of how to live, how to raise our young, how to survive alongside nature's creatures.
So as humans we need to understand and empathise with all three elements of that, both the
wolf side, the wild side, the instinctive side of our dog, the actual domestic side
of the dog and its needs and wants both from a dog point of view and then we have to inject
what we need from the animal as a human.
Only when we've taught and understood all three sides of this equation can we then truly
understand and hope to have a balanced animal that can take its rightful place alongside
us within our world.
So like the malign reputation of the wolf itself that's taken an unfair turn over the
years, I think we have to look beyond the myth and what people's perception of the wolf
is and then give this type of training a chance because once we realise that the wolf is a
gentle, balanced animal, family orientated and puts family above all else, we will understand
and get the true information that we need to be able to help their domestic cousins.
Thank you.
Thank you.
