Free Will
I thoroughly enjoyed the book Merle's Door with the exception of one particular chapter. I don't want to focus on that chapter I want to talk about the author's writing about free will and dogs. The author, Ted Kerasote, wrote about the concepts of alpha and dominance in wolf packs and findings of more recent research regarding wolf pack behavior and free will.
Since there are more wolves and wolf packs living outside of captivity to study, new light has been shed on alpha and subordinate pack members. In my understanding, Mr. Kerasote's summary pointed to observations that an alpha pack leader was a leader and not a dictator. There are now documented examples in wolf packs where the direction is not agreed upon by the pack and most of the time the pack follows the alpha and sometimes a few wolves go off in another direction. Those that choose another option are not disciplined nor displaced. The pack maintains itself with all members intact. Leadership is not about power.
There were two other concepts that struck me when I was reading the book. One was a time when the author was very focused on shaping a particular behavior - heel with Merle - the dog. In the end he realized that his shaping of this behavior prevented Merle from being able to see or hear what Merle needed to see and hear to stay safe.
The other concept that stuck with me from the book was regarding a study with rats and then later zoo animals. They found that having space and stimulation that was independently accessible was more important than food in some studies. The space and ability to explore prevented boredom and depression in animals. In this book, the had author had to be away from home for hours at a time so he decided that adding a dog door to his dwelling would allow Merle to come and go as he wanted was important to Merle's well being.
So rather than try to explain the book anymore - I want to talk about my experiment with free will with Gromit and Chewie.
It was the reading of this book that truly put me over the edge from Norman Rockwell dog person to Heidi - dog freak. I became so interested in the behavior of Gromit while reading this book that I started to think about dog stuff constantly. I read the book on a trip and was so into that Kristin finally had to tell me she needed to talk about something other than dogs while we were away from home and the dogs. I couldn't help it - Gromit must be bored even if she was home all day - he couldn't make any decisions on his own except when to bark. I had to give him more choices and then maybe he would have more behaviors besides barking.
Not that I didn't try to entertain Gromit. I had him in two classes a week - agility and then one additional class either focused on obedience or tricks - anything to make him think. Plus, I bought every kind of puzzle toy I could find for a smart dog - I had balls with mazes inside of them, kongs, clickers....and I would make my own puzzles - I would play hide and seek and have the boys try to find me, I would hide their treats around the house so they could find them , but still he did have free will. What was I to do but put in a dog door?!
Now mind you my dog door opened to the fenced in dog yard, Merle's dog door opened up in to Upper Kelly Village in Wyoming - views of Yellowstone National Park, the Grand Tetons, and Jackson Hole - yeah could be that was a bit more interesting than our dog yard...Still I moved forward, I went about measuring Gromit to determine where in the big door the dog door should fit. Kristin bought me the dog door, but in her mind that was where her part in his project ended. Installation was my deal. Training the dogs to use the door, my deal. So I removed the big door from the hinges and placed it outside. I marked the dog door and traced the stencil provided in the dog door kit. I punched through the door and then took the skill saw and cut out the opening. Everything was going well. I put on the frame on the back of the door and then fit the other frame on the front side on. As I was doing this the back frame fell off. I turned the door over and tried again. I called to Kristin for some help on this on part. Err, um, she didn't exactly come running, but she did help me get it together and we simply tossed out the pieces we couldn't figure out. Kristin called it one of our divorce projects, but then again, I figured that I survived the buying the fixer upper, she could survive the damn dog door - and so we did - survive - and the door was rehung with the door of free will within it. Our new lives with Gromit were about to commence.
I went about training the Gromit and Chewie to use the dog door. It was quickly evident that there was one small issue - the door was a little too tall for Chewie - Gromit could walk right through it but Chewie had to jump to get through it. Eventually we got Chewie to go out the dog door. Coming into the house, Chewie preferred to have one of us lift the flaps so it was easier for him to get back into the house - it really is a dogs life Chewie! I spent about six months with Chewie sticking his nose under the two flaps and inhaling the smell of the kitchen - yep, I would think, this is the place where your dog food is, where our bacon gets fried, - really you want to come in here...but he would not be moved - he resisted. I talked with Chewie about this fact. Eventually after 6 months - summer past we got him through the dog door. he started to go out on his own. We would just lose him in the house and find him snoozing on the stairs outside the dog door.
About this time we decided to replace the door with something more weather hardy. The dog door did not survive and move into the new door. The experiment while somewhat successful did not continue, at least not yet. We'll see what happens in the future...but in any case, here is a link to a video of the dog door training - enjoy -
http://s75.photobucket.com/albums/i296/deanx032/?action=view¤t=dogs2.flv
Since there are more wolves and wolf packs living outside of captivity to study, new light has been shed on alpha and subordinate pack members. In my understanding, Mr. Kerasote's summary pointed to observations that an alpha pack leader was a leader and not a dictator. There are now documented examples in wolf packs where the direction is not agreed upon by the pack and most of the time the pack follows the alpha and sometimes a few wolves go off in another direction. Those that choose another option are not disciplined nor displaced. The pack maintains itself with all members intact. Leadership is not about power.
There were two other concepts that struck me when I was reading the book. One was a time when the author was very focused on shaping a particular behavior - heel with Merle - the dog. In the end he realized that his shaping of this behavior prevented Merle from being able to see or hear what Merle needed to see and hear to stay safe.
The other concept that stuck with me from the book was regarding a study with rats and then later zoo animals. They found that having space and stimulation that was independently accessible was more important than food in some studies. The space and ability to explore prevented boredom and depression in animals. In this book, the had author had to be away from home for hours at a time so he decided that adding a dog door to his dwelling would allow Merle to come and go as he wanted was important to Merle's well being.
So rather than try to explain the book anymore - I want to talk about my experiment with free will with Gromit and Chewie.
It was the reading of this book that truly put me over the edge from Norman Rockwell dog person to Heidi - dog freak. I became so interested in the behavior of Gromit while reading this book that I started to think about dog stuff constantly. I read the book on a trip and was so into that Kristin finally had to tell me she needed to talk about something other than dogs while we were away from home and the dogs. I couldn't help it - Gromit must be bored even if she was home all day - he couldn't make any decisions on his own except when to bark. I had to give him more choices and then maybe he would have more behaviors besides barking.
Not that I didn't try to entertain Gromit. I had him in two classes a week - agility and then one additional class either focused on obedience or tricks - anything to make him think. Plus, I bought every kind of puzzle toy I could find for a smart dog - I had balls with mazes inside of them, kongs, clickers....and I would make my own puzzles - I would play hide and seek and have the boys try to find me, I would hide their treats around the house so they could find them , but still he did have free will. What was I to do but put in a dog door?!
Now mind you my dog door opened to the fenced in dog yard, Merle's dog door opened up in to Upper Kelly Village in Wyoming - views of Yellowstone National Park, the Grand Tetons, and Jackson Hole - yeah could be that was a bit more interesting than our dog yard...Still I moved forward, I went about measuring Gromit to determine where in the big door the dog door should fit. Kristin bought me the dog door, but in her mind that was where her part in his project ended. Installation was my deal. Training the dogs to use the door, my deal. So I removed the big door from the hinges and placed it outside. I marked the dog door and traced the stencil provided in the dog door kit. I punched through the door and then took the skill saw and cut out the opening. Everything was going well. I put on the frame on the back of the door and then fit the other frame on the front side on. As I was doing this the back frame fell off. I turned the door over and tried again. I called to Kristin for some help on this on part. Err, um, she didn't exactly come running, but she did help me get it together and we simply tossed out the pieces we couldn't figure out. Kristin called it one of our divorce projects, but then again, I figured that I survived the buying the fixer upper, she could survive the damn dog door - and so we did - survive - and the door was rehung with the door of free will within it. Our new lives with Gromit were about to commence.
I went about training the Gromit and Chewie to use the dog door. It was quickly evident that there was one small issue - the door was a little too tall for Chewie - Gromit could walk right through it but Chewie had to jump to get through it. Eventually we got Chewie to go out the dog door. Coming into the house, Chewie preferred to have one of us lift the flaps so it was easier for him to get back into the house - it really is a dogs life Chewie! I spent about six months with Chewie sticking his nose under the two flaps and inhaling the smell of the kitchen - yep, I would think, this is the place where your dog food is, where our bacon gets fried, - really you want to come in here...but he would not be moved - he resisted. I talked with Chewie about this fact. Eventually after 6 months - summer past we got him through the dog door. he started to go out on his own. We would just lose him in the house and find him snoozing on the stairs outside the dog door.
About this time we decided to replace the door with something more weather hardy. The dog door did not survive and move into the new door. The experiment while somewhat successful did not continue, at least not yet. We'll see what happens in the future...but in any case, here is a link to a video of the dog door training - enjoy -
http://s75.photobucket.com/albums/i296/deanx032/?action=view¤t=dogs2.flv
Heidi,
ReplyDeleteThis is a GREAT blog! I have laughed aloud, smiled wide and been so intrigued all at once, not to mention the affirmation I received upon hearing you describe Chewie and Gromit in ways, the same exact ways actually, that I have.
For what it's worth, I'm a notorious 'tripper' myself. Usually, but not always, in haste I have kicked some tree roots extremely hard. Mostly this happened when I was walking Zoe. What's up with that?!
This entry specifically has me wanting to hear more about your thoughts as they relate to the points of the book that most captivated you. I have a feeling that your experience in light of what makes it interesting to you would be as equally if not more meaningful than the author of the book.
I'm sure we've talked about this before but it always bothered me when professors of mine and others would say definitively that dogs (and all other non-human creatures) didn't have souls. How can it be that something we can never prove about human beings (that we do possess souls) we can be so sure about with creatures we have no experience being? Anyway, I feel the same way about free will.
Please keep writing. Not only have you lightened my days...you've made me incredibly happy (if not a bit homesick) and provoked many thoughts in me that I wouldn't have otherwise had.
Love you, Paul
Thanks Paul! From one tripper to another - here's to the miracle of one foot getting in front of the other -
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