The History of the Trust Based Relationship
The trust based relationship
Something occurred to me the other day whilst reading something about the history of my breed, the Tibetan Mastiff. It’s an ancient breed, potentially as old 58,000 years when DNA records show they diverged from Wolves, and 42,000 years since other domestic (Mastiff type) breeds were created from them. That is old.
What really struck me was how the Tibetan Mastiff is known to have been used by our ancestors in the Tibetan plateau; there were two distinct lines of work; guarding of livestock and possessions / property, and guarding of holy sites such as temples. The livestock guardians were nomadic with their humans, whereas the temple guardians stayed in one place for life. Today Tibetan Mastiff’s are known as perimeter guardians who can do livestock guarding. In both cases, but more so the temple guardians, the dogs were chained up (crated?) during the day, and set free at night to ward off predators and people with ill intentions.
The Tibetan Mastiff is an incredibly independent breed of dog, they are highly intelligent and entirely capable of using their own smarts to achieve their goals. No human instructions are needed. This begs the question: How did our ancient ancestors set their dogs free at night, and then collect them and chain them up for the day time, if the dogs weren’t willing participants? Short answer, they didn’t, which leaves the dogs as willing participants. Think about that. What made potentially the most independent breed of dog in existence a willing participant in being kept captive in chains by their humans during the day? Were they lured with food? Water? I doubt it. No chance a free animal comes back a second time under that breach of trust unless it’s on deaths door with starvation or dehydration. There were no leashes involved, no e-collars, no prongs, the dogs were free. But they came back every day (I’m assuming every day, it’s entirely plausible the dogs would go free for more than one day at a time) Why?
Relationship. The Tibetan’s revered their dogs in what us Westerner’s would call a religious or superstitious manner, whatever, the label isn’t important, the fact is that the struggle for survival forged the bond between human and Tibetan Mastiff. I’ll explain: The struggle for survival in an extremely harsh inhospitable environment brought man and dog together into a mutually beneficial arrangement. The recognition of the debt owed to the dogs for their own survival led to the Tibetan’s treating the dogs as more than family, forming unbreakable bonds with their dogs – these bonds were not just a matter of personal pride or a statement on a man’s worthiness, but of survival. Man had to trust his dogs to do their job, the alternative was essentially the end of his family bloodline in the jaws of thieves, wolves, bears, or snow leopards.
Of what character is a man that cannot earn the trust of his dog? Our ancestors earned trust enough to set their Tibetan Mastiff’s free to roam and had them come back and be willingly chained up. Does your dog trust you that much? Do you trust your dog? In those prehistoric times, if you couldn’t or didn’t bond with your dog(s), your fellow tribesmen would likely regard you in a very dim light, i.e. if your dog doesn’t trust you that much, there’s nothing wrong with your dog………your dog isn’t broken, the relationship you have with your dog is.