08/18/2025
The same thing very much applies to village dogs. They have developed over centuries to be independent from humans - they live with us, not for us. You can’t change who a dog is genetically. Like LGD breeds need these traits to do the job they were bred to do, village dogs need their independent thinking, hyper vigilance and weariness of novelty to actually survive. It is natural selection at work. Then the very traits that kept them alive on the street turns into ‘problem behaviors’ in our modern world.
Always remember that LGD’s (livestock guardian breeds), Herding breeds and many working breeds have been genetically fine tuned by humans over centuries to do a specific job. Village dogs have been genetically formed by nature. What is often deemed ‘behavior problems’ in our modern world is actually genetic traits.
See each individual dog for who they are, but understand their genetics to truly help them live their best lives.
When the "problem" is rooted in instinct and mismatched environment how is constant intentional physical punishment as feedback fair?
Lets take livestock guardian breeds as an example. Im not an expert on these wonderful dogs. I have had the pleasure of working with a few and each has been described and presented as non motivated by food, toys or praise rewards, and have little interest in taking direction from a human.
Yes, each dog is an individual, but these breeds were literally created to function without human direction. Their “reward system” is not toys or treats or human praise, but the satisfaction of doing the job they were bred for: calmly watching, independently deciding, and protecting, its beautiful to watch.
When we transplant them into an urban environment, full of noise, traffic, strangers, fences instead of open land, we are asking some of them to go against every fiber of their genetic blueprint. And when they “fail” (from a human’s perspective), punishing them is acceptable?
We dont think this could add stress and frustration, and still fail at changing their internal motivation?
Worse, it can erode trust with a dog whose relationship with humans is already meant to be more equal partner not obedient servant.
The real problem isn’t the dog. It’s the mismatch between environment, breed, and human expectations.
You can’t punish away independence, suspicion of strangers, or a low food/play drive, those aren’t “behaviours,” they’re identity traits.
You can punish a dog enough to shut them up, you just leave all those emotions bubbling away with a fear of expressing them, how sad.
So, no: punishment doesn’t make sense here. What does make sense is:
Education for owners about what dogs are and aren’t.
Management strategies and finding suitable outlets to meet breed triats.
Respect for their nature, understanding them for who they are.
Careful rehoming, because some of these dogs simply won’t thrive in a city, no matter how much work you put in, (the same for some street dogs, home is a prision)
It’s heartbreaking to see people blame the dog for not bending to an environment they were never designed for.
I want to be clear some will adapt, some wont, each dog varies, but.......
Just like left-handers weren’t “wrong", some breeds/types of dogs when placed in urban environments cant cope, they’re in the wrong context and intentional physical punishment to make them " fit" just doesnt sit well with me.
