When I lived on a commune, they wouldn’t allow more than nine dogs, even with specific owners, for fear that they would ‘pack up’ and disregard human control, kill the livestock, disregard their human training…
What is the minimum number of dogs it takes to form a pack, and how long does it take? Does the addition of humans in the equation matter at all?
A bit of google brings up quite a bit of ‘how dogs form packs’, but not how long or how many.
Anyone have that info?
Thanks!
I lived a few years ago where there were a lot of stray dogs. My neighbors dog was the leader of the pack. I looked out the window and a new stray was walking down the street. The dogs circled it like a pack of hyenas and were about to kill it. I ran out and broke it up. A couple days later an elderly woman was walking down the street and they circled her. The pack leader liked me a lot ,so when I went out and tried to break them up ,he broke character and came to me wagging his tail. I shudder to think what would have happened. These dogs packed up in a weeks time. Their ancient instincts came back quickly.
What I have been told is that dogs need a reason to pack up. As long as they’re all cared for, well fed, etc. they consider themselves lesser members of the human pack and won’t cause problems at any number. But if - like strays - they aren’t cared for, they have to start competing and hunting for food, and will very quickly see you as competition and establish their own pecking order in a pack.
It seemed a reasonable explanation and the source is experienced working with dogs, but I don’t have any verification of that.
The issue on the commune was that while we were working, the dogs often couldn’t come along, so they would spend days with other dogs while all the owners worked, giving them the opportunity to fall back to the doggish ways. There was quite a bit of canine politics happening, but obviously, we only saw what we saw when we were around…