Temperament Theory - Introduction

Border Collies are not only one of the most intelligent of dog breeds, they are also one of the most abused dog breeds. At first, it doesn't seem to make any sense that smart dogs are abused. If they're so smart, why don't they just figure out how to always please people, which would keep them out of physical harm? A dog interprets the world in far different ways than humans do. A dog processes the world mainly through the emotion part of the brain. Humans mainly process the world through messages that bounce back and forth between the emotion and reasoning parts of the brain. (This is a very simplistic way to explain complex brain processes. For detailed information about how our minds work, go to: How the Brain Works.) When we are interacting with the most intelligent of dog breeds, we have more of a tendency to forget that they are not funny-looking humans in fur suit disguises. We are more forgiving of "dog-like" behaviors in the less intelligent breeds, fierce-looking breeds, and biddable breeds than we are of the intelligent and facially-expressive breeds. We expect the intelligent and facially-expressive breeds to learn and behave like we do. Our frustrations when our "smart" dogs don't behave as we want them to can lead to physical abuse, neglect, improper drug therapies, abandonment, or even killing them because we don't know what else to do.

We've put together this website in an attempt to help people better understand their dogs.

Luckily, humans and dogs share a common trait of desiring social interaction. Both species actually want relationships and both will work at improving their relationships, given half a chance. We hope that this theory gives people and their dogs more than just half a chance for living a better life together.

Acknowledgements

A few years ago a woman came to one of my rescue get-togethers. She was thinking of adopting a rescue, so I invited her to the get-together so she could see how wonderful the adoption process can be.

Halfway through the day, she asked me what my training program was for my dogs. I gave a vague answer about using whatever worked for each dog. She said she asked because she knew which dogs had lived with me and which hadn't. I didn't believe her. There were all kinds of temperaments, purebred and mixes, types of homes, and timelines of when I'd worked with these dogs represented at the get-together. All the dogs at this event were friendly, healthy, and having a grand time in life. But she had me intrigued.

The dogs were lined up for a game, so I asked her to walk in front of them and point to "my" dogs. I couldn't believe it. She was right! I was very interested in finding out what she was seeing. Unfortunately, she couldn't describe what was different, just that there was a difference.

I can't remember the woman's name (her family surprised her with a BC pup a few days later), but I am grateful to her for giving me a puzzle. Her observations all those years ago led me towards this temperament typing theory.

Photo of a game line-up at the Slippery Rock Get-Together. Photo by Dee Hoffman. Site hosts are Rick and Kathy Grossman. Event held by BCRO, Inc.

Lisa Ochoa put me back to working full-time at this puzzle when she asked me to help with a seminar about BC behaviors. She also went through hours of brainstorming sessions with me while I was groping my way towards the glimmer of this idea.

Joël Levy and Dee Hoffman were awesome research assistants. They sifted through websites and textbooks until they found exactly what I needed to learn. Their work saved me at least a year's worth of research and reading. And Joël's questions , observations, and critiques forced me to probe and prove every fact before I could go on to the next step.

Patty Raymond, Davida Dzierla, Mike Spangler, and Barb Ceranko gave of their time and patience to listen to my first halting explanations of my theory. They listened, though, and then came back to me with questions and observations. They fine-tuned my thoughts.

Larry Maurer tolerated, in fairly good spirits, a chaotic household during the years I was involved in rescuing Border Collies and the months I spent on this theory.

The dogs. Border Collies amaze me. They have the ability to forgive, forget, and move on when we just give them the chance to be confident and secure in who they are.

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BORDER COLLIE BEHAVIORS: A TEMPERAMENT THEORY Introduction & Acknowledgements

Val Maurer

Introduction

Acknowledgements

BORDER COLLIE BEHAVIORS:
A TEMPERAMENT THEORY
Introduction & Acknowledgements