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Bonnie & Smurph

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Bonnie & Smurph

Bonnie and Smurph was born out of a love for my 2 beautiful dogs! Join me on this adventure!

23/06/2023

How do you feel when someone you don't know well stands too close to you? When they invade your personal space? It's uncomfortable, isn't it? How would you feel if they tried to touch or hug you? Really uncomfortable....

But do we always consider how dogs feel about being touched by strangers? Rusty is a beautiful and unusual looking dog. He attracts a lot of attention from people. They stop in the street to talk to him. They want to pet him. They even pull over in cars to get a better look. But Rusty doesn't want to be touched by anyone other than his family. Strangers reaching down to him worries him and he responds the only way he knows how which is to try to create the space he needs to feel safe.

It isn't our right to touch dogs we don't know. They aren't public property and we have no more right to touch them than we do to touch their human owners. And we shouldn't have an expectation that we can.

If you want to interact with a strange dog first ask yourself honestly whether it's for the dog's benefit or for yours. Then ask their owner and don't be offended if the answer is no. Then ask the dog* and don't be offended if the answer is no. And if you're an owner who's been asked by a stranger if they can interact with your dog ask yourself what's in it for your dog and if the answer is nothing just say no.

We have the right to consent, or not, to touch. Our dogs have the same right and we need to start respecting that.

* 𝘪𝘯𝘷𝘪𝘵𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘥𝘰𝘨 𝘪𝘯𝘵𝘰 𝘺𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘴𝘱𝘢𝘤𝘦, 𝘪𝘯𝘴𝘵𝘦𝘢𝘥 𝘰𝘧 𝘮𝘰𝘷𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘪𝘯𝘵𝘰 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘪𝘳𝘴. 𝘐𝘧 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘺 𝘤𝘩𝘰𝘰𝘴𝘦 𝘯𝘰𝘵 𝘵𝘰 𝘢𝘱𝘱𝘳𝘰𝘢𝘤𝘩 𝘰𝘳 𝘮𝘰𝘷𝘦 𝘢𝘸𝘢𝘺, 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘢𝘯𝘴𝘸𝘦𝘳'𝘴 𝘯𝘰

29/05/2023

The idea of dogs as “pack animals” is a long standing myth that is unfortunately still with us now.

Groups of dogs, usually in small numbers or just pairs, form loose associations with one another, there is no “alpha”, and there are not clear dominant-subordinate hierarchies an d structures between them.

This makes sense, since dogs are primarily scavengers and scavenging can be done individually. They rarely hunt for sustenance and it’s even more rare that they do so in groups.

It’s important to understand this because this myth of dogs being pack animals often leads to harmful actions towards dogs, especially if we also assume we as humans are somehow part of our dogs’ “pack” when they know we’re not dogs. These harmful actions include:

- Making dogs go on stressful and unnatural large group “pack walks” where dogs are wearing aversive equipment and have no way of moving away.

- Making dogs “heel” or walk behind us and obey us while not being able to engage in any natural behaviours to put them in a so-called “pack drive” or a “follower state” which just isn’t a thing.

- Thinking we need to exert “dominance” or be the “alpha” by using punishment and aversive corrections.

- Labels like “alpha” and “dominant” leads us to think that certain natural behaviours our dogs do is an act of “defiance” or trying to be the “alpha”, and this results in the use of aversive methods and intimidation to “put them in their place”.

There was never a power struggle between us and dogs when dogs first became dogs and there also isn’t a power struggle between dogs. We don’t have to project the unfortunate hierarchical structures between humans onto dogs.

Instead of holding onto the idea that dogs are “pack animals” and thinking of ourselves as part of their “pack”, we can look at our relationship with dogs as one that is collaborative, built on friendship and care, and with no hierarchy.

Like with any of our close loved ones, we can love our dogs for who they are, learn from each other, help them to be happy and have their needs met, and help them be safe and feel safe! This makes us all free and empowered in this amazing relationship between fellow sentient beings.

Resources:
- Boitani, L., & Ciucci, P. (1995). Comparative social ecology of feral dogs and wolves. Ethology Ecology & Evolution, 7(1), 49–72. doi:10.1080/08927014.1995.9522969
- Marshall-Pescini, S., Cafazzo, S., Virányi, Z., & Range, F. (2017). Integrating social ecology in explanations of wolf–dog behavioral differences. Current Opinion in Behavioral Sciences, 16, 80–86. doi:10.1016/j.cobeha.2017.05.002
- Larson, G., & Burger, J. (2013). A population genetics view of animal domestication. Trends in Genetics, 29(4), 197–205. doi:10.1016/j.tig.2013.01.003

ID: The background image shows two dogs, a white dog with pointy ears and a black dog with floppy ears, lying down on the ground next to each other. The text says “Dogs are not pack animals and ‘pack drive’ is not a thing.”

26/04/2023

Welcome to Bonnie and Smurph.
This was born out of a passion for my dogs, Bonnie and Murphy and I wanted to provide a one stop shop for all your pampered pooch needs!
I’m new, so bear with me as I add new products and services, but I welcome you on my journey and I hope you enjoy it as much as I will!

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