07-30-2014, 12:27 PM
That is not really an accurate depiction of the nature of dogs. I've been working with dogs closely for 8 years as my full time job and I was born into a household with 3 large dogs and a father who rehabilitates dogs. People have this idea that wild dogs are just out there struggling to get by and killing each other. Yes maybe this can be true with domesticated dogs that have gone feral in the city, but dogs are pack animals by nature and have a strong sense of family. I have found that they take care of each other and often times other animals better than humans do in so called "civilized life". In fact in places where there are feral children there have been several cases of children who survived their earliest years because dogs were bringing them food. You can even see situations where dogs have adopted cats into their pack or baby deer. Now on the other hand dogs do have a definite hierarchy and if another pack member gets out of order. They may get physical in order to dominate but dogs aren't out there just murdering each other for food. They share food with each other as a way of defining the hierarchy in the pack but they don't kill over food very often. Dogs are very compassionate and forgiving. They have a natural and effortless appreciation for life that humans struggle to maintain. It is so easy for humans to see another humans life as being of lesser value and we project this perspective onto other animals but it is actually a quality of modern life that separates humanity from nature.