What dog-trainers can learn from our wolves

Diary entry, 25.06.2011, Susanne Wißhak

Pictures of the day (2 images)   

Obviously, Wolf Science Center is a scientific facility, but we don´t intend to lock ourselves up in the ivory tower of science. This is why we have our visitor-programs like guided tours, wolf-walks and howl-nights. Furthermore, we have partners, who deal with the behavior of the descendants of wolves – dogs – and their behavior in a very practical way. Erik Kersten is one of them. Two of our trainers are doing a dog-education and behavioral counseling course at his dog center “canis familiaris”, which he founded in 1996 together with his wife. Part of this course is a weekend at WSC, where the future dog-specialists observe the wolves and thereby learn about the ancestors of our dogs (canis lupus forma familiaris, by the way). One of the participants` tasks is for example, to observe the interactions between the pack-members and to find out the rank in the pack.
We can learn a lot about behavior and needs of dogs by studying wolves, but there are also differences. These parallels and differences are part of our studies here at WSC and our eleven wolves and eight dogs help us bringing light into the darkness of canine behavior.