Comment to 'Courage = No Fear?'
  • When it comes to a protection dog, actually... Having fear or not is less important to me than is not reacting fearful. Some believe having fear is necessary to define courage. If one accepts this, well then to me having such "in spite of fear" courage or not is less important to me than displaying boldness to resist stress (in spite of recognizing fear or not recognizing fear). I see no need in personifying the trait anymore than necessary. Motive is important in training, but the expression of the desired behavior is more important. I desire the dog that is comfortable in conflict as long as the dog is NOT rank driven within the pack and is also stable minded. Not that anyone above is doing so...but if I think of a person that has no fear I can't help but think they lack some intelligence to some degree...but when it comes to dogs...I don't actually feel that way. Dogs are domesticated and during this domestication they have been severely modified to serve. As a result, self preservation isn't always a necessary component to breeding...and in fact in some gladiator breeds self preservation can cause a said individual to be culled. For this reason, I do not completely accept the idea that a no fear dog (should one exist...as in a "truly dead game dog") is necessarily "self limiting" in reality...as such a dog has been domesticated and is often SAVED by its owner simply because of its tremendous willingness to continue a given task at the expense of denying its own well being. Such a specimen has to some degree been selected to have a "hero" behavior IMO even if not natural. Therefore, I see no reason to suggest (intended or not) that a dog that acts as if it has no fear is not intelligent in conflict...as long as the said dog is easily trained to perform well at desired tasks. Actually...to some degree I prefer the "missiles armed full steam ahead, and if there shall be any regrets we will deal with those tomorrow...right now I need to deal with this" no fear type of dog. IMO, such a dog is a better tool/servant as it is more capable when more determination is needed. Take that dog and train it to control it when you don't want it to bite off more than it can actually chew (like the hypothetical unnecessary "bear" or "mountain lion" engagement in the "wilderness survival dog" topic).