3 ms·

:) Some breeds have different drives. Virtually none of them have innate drives to attack or harm humans, but for some, they can definitely enter what I will

:) Some breeds have different drives. Virtually none of them have innate drives to attack or harm humans, but for some, they can definitely enter what I will call almost akin to a fugue state where they revert to much more primal instincts. For example the greyhounds are like this if you wake them from sleep. My first greyhound slept on my bed precisely once -- when I kicked her in my sleep in the middle of the night I got woken up by a dog clamped on my leg, fortunately through a comforter so there was no real damage. Within seconds she was incredibly apologetic. But, it's a known thing with that breed. Dogs absolutely want to please their owners. Most of the training I've done as a dog owner is around communication to let my dog know A) what I want and B) that they did it right. For the vast majority of dog owners, if they are just careful with selection, it's not a huge amount of work to train yourself and your dog.

saghm 3y ago
Yeah, I think the larger point is like you said, the main exception to just doing what they can to please humans is "primal" instincts, which aren't something that can be changed with some basic training. It's _far_ easier for people to just be taught how not to trigger those, which very often tends to be following some simple rules. One of my cats gets very feisty when she's playful, and she often will bite my hand somewhat hard once she gets into the "chase" mode (which sometimes can happen from her just noticing my hands move a lot when I type or something). She's extraordinarily sweet otherwise though, to the point where I can literally pick her up and hand her to people the first time she meets them, and she happily purrs and will continue to seek out their attention after they put her down, and I've continued learning in the few years since I adopted her how to avoid triggering her instincts like that (and to make sure to give her ample play time where she can direct her aggression towards toys instead of my hands). I think a lot of people would just see a cat who bites sometimes and assume she's unfriendly or mean, but she's so sweet the vast majority of the time that I know her temporary "reversion" to her primal instincts doesn't indicate any actual malice.

saghm 3y ago

Yeah, I think the larger point is like you said, the main exception to just doing what they can to please humans is "primal" instincts, which aren't something that can be changed with some basic training. It's _far_ easier for people to just be taught how not to trigger those, which very often tends to be following some simple rules. One of my cats gets very feisty when she's playful, and she often will bite my hand somewhat hard once she gets into the "chase" mode (which sometimes can happen from her just noticing my hands move a lot when I type or something). She's extraordinarily sweet otherwise though, to the point where I can literally pick her up and hand her to people the first time she meets them, and she happily purrs and will continue to seek out their attention after they put her down, and I've continued learning in the few years since I adopted her how to avoid triggering her instincts like that (and to make sure to give her ample play time where she can direct her aggression towards toys instead of my hands). I think a lot of people would just see a cat who bites sometimes and assume she's unfriendly or mean, but she's so sweet the vast majority of the time that I know her temporary "reversion" to her primal instincts doesn't indicate any actual malice.