Is emotional well being observable in a dog? - Page 3

Another of a great dog not staring at the owner taking the pic. A self confidant dog doesn't 'need' to constantly stare at the owner.

again ..deception with another  low resolution photograph. Obviously the dog is again looking at something.
Unless shes sleeping ( or God forbid ill ) every time I come within 10 feet of my dog her eyes are on me...I can post 100 different pics to show that. My own belief is that this comes from a bond that we have. Further, I have been able to use this to develop a decent recall with my dog ( and with very little effort ).

Heres some more of that dog that you wanted Mithuna but I declined to send to you or any other dog because it didnt feel right, as in good for my dogs. What a dog he is.

Thats his mom Notty Monkey on the right.

 

Oh no mostly the whole litter ignoring me how tragic is that.... 

 

Team Civil, an amazing litter

 

 

Mithuna, stop making things that they are not. I would respect you more if you quit trying to stir the pot.
All I'm saying is dogs don't Need to stare at the owner whencpic is being taken. You were not on scene in either...anybody can see what you are trying to do. In the future, leave me out.

Joan I can understand if the dog is far away and doing something or snoozing ( as in the pic of my dog you posted). All im saying is that alertness to the owner's presence may be indicative of a bond and NOT necessarily a lack of self confidence. Again a bond is more likely to be a product of deliberate indoor living than wanton outdoor roaming ( which someone is trying to rationalize as an ideal lifestyle for a dog)

Im not stirring any pot.. im interested in  the dialectic and polemic of  the knowledge aspect.

emotional well being can be observed in a dog. I would think I would want more than a snap shot though. What would you think of Jack Nicholson if the only thing you knew about him was seeing a photo from the trailer of '' The Shining''. I would like to see a dog in life.'' Here's Johnny''

I like self-confident dogs, not always waiting for any sign from me, not able to live without me, but free to experience their own life, guided by me, but not totally addicted to me.
Although dogs and humans are living together for 1000s of years now, both species are still living in their own universe, and that´s okay. We are no dogs, and dogs are no humans.
Somewhere there is a intersection - the bigger the intersection, the better the bond, but dogs are still dogs, and they should be able to explore their world with their own sensities - that said, a healthy, self-confident dog won´t be focussed on its handler 24h/day. Why? Because it´s a dog, and its needs and wants are not always mine.

On the other hand a insecure dog may be focussed on the owner the whole day, because life for this animal may be stress, and the dog is looking for instructions of the handler to feel more safe.

Mithuna made a good point though - in case a puppy was raised with dogs instead of human contact first and foremost, a lot of dogs will be accustomed to "dog behavior" only, and it may be either a difficult way, or it will be even impossible to imprint this dog to human behavior later on.

Kennel versus house dog? Depends on the time and the effort you are willing to put into your dog. I grew up with kenneling dogs, and I switched to home raising later on, because the dogs simply want to be together with their pack, for them it´s more "normal", they feel better, and a house dog is able to read human body language way better, just out of daily routine.

Off topic, but all of my dogs have been guard dogs, but while sitting in a kennel they are not able to protect me...

Student - Nicholson is plain crazy... don´t tell me in reality he is not equivalent to his movie characters - this would really disappoint me - I almost own all of his movie DVD´s ...

This is what I tried to demonstrate with pics, but evidently he couldn't grasp the point.

"I like self-confident dogs, not always waiting for any sign from me, not able to live without me, but free to experience their own life, guided by me, but not totally addicted to me.
Although dogs and humans are living together for 1000s of years now, both species are still living in their own universe, and that´s okay. We are no dogs, and dogs are no humans.
Somewhere there is a intersection - the bigger the intersection, the better the bond, but dogs are still dogs, and they should be able to explore their world with their own sensities - that said, a healthy, self-confident dog won´t be focussed on its handler 24h/day. Why? Because it´s a dog, and its needs and wants are not always mine.

On the other hand a insecure dog may be focussed on the owner the whole day, because life for this animal may be stress, and the dog is looking for instructions of the handler to feel more safe."

"Is emotional well being observable in a dog?"

Absolutely, but not necessarily in a snap shot, as in the pic of your dog too tired to smile for the camera.