pack up

you will find many people smarter than me that study dog behaviors and they share their meticulously researched, well documented scientific papers with the rest of us so we can understand dog behavior better.

for someone like me, dog behavior is more singular...more viseral. i live with each dog individually and i live with them communally. and because my relationships with each one and with the group is so personal and so inter-connected, i connect with them on a different level...i am an active part of the I, the you and the we.

we had a pack up here yesterday and it involved my personal family which is hugely upsetting to me.
i have a great deal of pride in how well my own dogs have blended into such a close knit family.
i forgot that even the closest of families sometimes have conflict that can turn ugly.

so apparently the dogs were all out in the yard when suddenly something happened and luna became the target.

pepper, june, and daisy turned on her and packed up on her in fury.
pack behavior is nothing more than mob mentality..the group feeds on negative stimulation and explodes into rage.
i think it is a biological time bomb that has caused enormous pain to others within the human race.

it really is not surprising that luna was the victim here...she is a bit annoying, she can be a bit bitchy, she is a bit of a prima donna who flies around to her own tune.
pack ups happen here so infrequently..i have had 3 in my entire 20 yr dog communal career. and this i think is because i am quite sensitive to what is happening within the group and what is happening to each individually.

here is what i think is the problem...
pepper is starting to assert her dominence..and luna's free spirit come and go, do whatever she wants annoys her no end.
june as a matter of low hierarchy survival, and lack of confidence, goes with the current group flow...
and daisy is currently stressed to the max, confused to where she belongs when past and present suddenly mixed while trying to absorb an entirely new culture and find the place where she fits.

daisy's angst is probably the catalyst that caused the family dynamics to blow.

luna has no punctures so they weren't all that serious in freaking her out. she is sore. i think her knee was hurt when those three big dogs landed on her. but she suffered a deeper harm...she has lost trust, in them and in herself and in the family she thought she was safe with.
and they have lost my trust in them now too.

dogs are dogs and i am human. and sometimes our ethics are in conflict.
but fair or not..they will live by my rules and once trust is broken, i am slow to forgive.

it will take some time for me to be able to look at those three with love again and not just see three fucking assholes.