Many of us are aware of the change in behaviour of others and ourselves since the Covid lockdown restrictions began. It appears that lockdowns have had a deleterious effect on our social wellbeing.
Under the stringent control of others, we feel oppressed and yearn for the relative freedom our human nature expects. Of course freedom cannot be absolute in a society, but the question is one of degree.
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An interesting parallel to this has been very apparent in my work as an animal behaviourist. We humans who aim to live in neat and scrupulously clean houses with untouchable chattels choose a species that has natural behaviours that are at odds with this environment.
A consequence can be discord and conflict, usually arising from a failure of the designer of authoritarian restrictions to recognise the needs inherent in the species he seeks to mould to his rigid pattern.
“My dog isn’t normal, not at all like so-and-so’s dog.”
But what is “normal”, and what is essential to physical and psychological health? Should our dogs be subjected to an Orwellian conditioning programme that seeks to alter their respective inherent nature and churn out trouble-free automatons?
Dogs are born with innate natures and imbedded genetic programming, be it to herd, hunt, scavenge, chew, scratch or howl. Yet many are straight-jacketed into the equivalent of a permanent toxic lockdown regimen which is conveniently termed “obedience” in typical Doublespeak.
Control that attempts to totally suppress natural behaviour, without giving alternative options to express these needs will result in a being attempting to self-regulate to an unreasonable and harmful degree quite alien to its nature. Who hasn’t seen poor zoo animals pacing up and down, desperately attempting to release the stresses of a cruelly unnatural existence?
It is surely the wish and duty of an empathetic animal-lover to recognise and respect that the basic relative freedoms we know are essential to their wellbeing are not denied the animals we choose to take into our care. It’s no more than we wish for ourselves.
Susan Henderson© Accredited Animal Behaviourist ABCSA
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