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Dogs have learned to show their affection for humans just by looking at them.
Works published in the American journal Science show a rise in oxytocin (the hormone associated with love, trust, attachment, pleasure, and social connection) in the brains of dogs and their owners when they look into each other’s eyes. However, this is not the case when the dog is replaced by a wolf, even one that is raised by humans. This confirms that the dog did not inherit this trait but developed it during domestication.
This kind of hormonal response also occurs between a mother and child. This explains why, when a woman looks into a puppy’s eyes, she experiences the irresistible urge to take care of him. Dog owners often use the term “my baby” to refer to their dogs, and that finds its full meaning here. If your dog looks at you, it’s not just because he wants a treat but because he loves you.
A Unique Personality
A dog’s personality reflects the way he perceives and reacts to the environment. It mainly develops during the initial months of a dog’s life; nevertheless, it can evolve throughout his life, depending on his experiences. Personality helps explain a dog’s behavior. It depends on the dog’s character traits.
CHARACTER TRAITS
Character traits result from both genes (innate) and environmental factors (acquired). According to some researchers, a dog has five primary character traits, all of which together form his personality.
A COMPLEX FORMULA
A dog’s personality is like a pizza: the dough is the genes, and the toppings, the oven, the cooking time, and the temperature comprise the environmental factors. All pizzas have a common, similar base, yet each one is different.
Personality is the result of a subtle mixture of genes and environmental factors.
Genetic Influence
At birth, a puppy has 39 pairs of chromosomes and approximately 20,000 genes; half of them are inherited from his father and half from his mother. Some of these genes affect brain development, particularly the ability of neurons to interconnect. The impact of these genes on the dog’s personality is undeniable; however, if a dog, even one born with an excellent learning capacity, lives in an environment with limited stimuli, he cannot achieve much.
Environmental Influence
A dog’s brain is not completely developed at birth. It is made up of a set of poorly organized neurons. Stimuli from the environment cause the brain to organize itself into a network of functional neurons. The more numerous and positive the stimuli are, the more numerous and stable the connections (synapses) between neurons will be.
This cerebral plasticity allows the puppy to escape genetic determinism, as many personality traits are only expressed in the presence of certain environmental factors. Thus, two dogs with the same genotype may, depending on their individual histories, have two different personalities.
Training is essential for the puppy to stabilize neural connections among the set of possible connections provided by their genetic makeup.
Genes are nothing more than a promise whose fulfillment depends on the environment.
The Brain-Development Timeline of a Puppy
When a dog becomes an adult, learning deficits are difficult, if not impossible, to overcome.
At birth, a puppy is like a rough diamond whose eventual quality depends on his environment, and his owner is somewhat like a jeweler, helping the puppy fulfill his potential.
VARYING ENVIRONMENTAL FACTORS
Maternal Relationship
In his mother’s womb, a puppy feels his mother’s stress through hormones (e.g., cortisol, adrenaline). These hormones affect the brain’s development and maturation and increase the puppy’s sensitivity to subsequent environmental stimuli.
After the mother gives birth, an invisible bond is created between her and the puppies. The mother becomes a secure base from which the puppies can go out and explore the world. A calm, well-socialized mother will encourage her puppies to explore and give them self-confidence. Conversely, an anxious, poorly socialized mother will limit her puppies’ exploration and increase their fear of the outside world.
An adult dog’s emotional Stability is largely influenced by the maternal environment in which the puppy lived.
The saying “like mother, like puppy” holds true; therefore, it is important to meet the mother before adopting a puppy. A well-socialized mother, who is cared for properly by her breeder, has every chance of having well-adjusted puppies.
It is through contact with their mother that puppies learn to live in society with their fellow dogs, other animals, and humans. The recommended age for letting puppies go to their new homes is eight weeks, and you can even request that your puppy stay a few more weeks with his mother and siblings to further his initial training, especially if the environment in which they live is similar to your puppy’s future environment.
Feeding
The brain’s development and proper function requires a supply of various nutrients, such as docosahexaenoic acid (DHA: omega-3 fatty acid), an essential component of neuronal membranes. Increasing the mother’s DHA intake during gestation and lactation improves her puppies’ learning ability. In contrast, DHA deficiency affects the functioning of a puppy’s brain, resulting in a decrease in learning ability (e.g., attention and memory disorders) and a disruption in exploratory behavior.
During gestation, puppies ingest amniotic fluid in which
