A Tale of Two Packs

When I do an overnight in Austin, I usually stay with my friend Kim. She's got a big rambling house in south Austin and six dogs of her own.

The first time I showed up, I think I had three terriers with me (I've traveled to Austin with as many as four). Kim and I were on full alert as we introduced the two packs that first time. But to our surprise...nothing happened.

Sure, we are careful to feed them separately and pick up food bowls and other resources, but this is just basic multi-dog management anyway. Every single time I stay at her place, we marvel at how well the two packs get along.

It really shouldn't happen this way. My pack is a tight unit even though Mimi and Gracie have to be separated. The world of the smooth fox terriers is large (they travel, stay in hotels, go to tournaments, get dragged to exotic locales, etc.) but their energy and attention are focused on me first, then each other. I think the same is true for Kim's pack.

It is interesting to watch the two packs interact because there is very little direct interaction at all. A smooth fox will brush past a border collie in passing but neither one reacts. Two or three dogs might race to sniff the same spot in the back field, but there's apparently plenty of smell to go around. The two packs don't blob together and form one large pack. Instead, the two groups interleave, winding in and among each other yet still behaving as two packs.

Kim has a large field behind her house accessed by gates in her backyard. All of the dogs love racing around this field. There is a great frenzy of pushing and shoving among the dogs as we open the gates, and they are obviously excited, but everyone behaves.

Three smooth foxes and four of Kim's dogs moving into position at the gate.

My terriers are pretty reactive in nearly all other situations so I can't figure out why Kim and I have been so successful at putting them all together. Is it because all the dogs are so fabulously well trained? Can't say that for my dogs, no. My dogs may be on good behavior because Kim's place is obviously not their turf nor turf they can reasonably claim. But it is more than that. There just isn't any tension at all between the two groups. The dogs take a surprisingly pragmatic approach to the situation.

Aaand they're off!

I've been thinking about how this applies to us, the humans. Perhaps the lesson is that we too often focus on us versus them, on differences, instead of what brings us together: the joy in running across an open field in the morning sunshine, the pleasure in being together with friends.