Embracing the Wild in Your Dog by Bryan Bailey
Some time ago, dogs became as interwoven in the American culture as baseball, apple pie and the Fourth of July. In fact, in most households, the dogs have even trumped evolution itself and jumped straight to being four legged humans where they are adorned with human names, designer outfits and fed diets that would confound even the best nutritionist. In most cases, we’ve granted them our human intelligence and our sacred human emotions as well. They are no longer dogs to us, they’re family! Yet, for all that man has done to carve the wolf from the wild to create a surrogate human, today’s dog is still a wolf at heart and the accompanying instincts borne from such ancestry defines how the dog approaches its world.
The ontogeny of anthropomorphism, where we attach our human traits to our pets, is the most damaging and paralytic problem associated with dog ownership today. Believing in a fairy tale world where dogs possess the same moral consciousness and a sense of altruism as attributed to humans has led to a drastic increase in leash laws, dogs being outlawed in a rising number of city and national parks, some breeds being banned in several states, an alarming escalation of aggression to humans, a rising cost in homeowner and business insurance, and a record number of clinically maladaptive dogs.
This book is not a training book. It does not cover obedience topics such as heel, sit,
down, stay, and come. Instead, it’s about righting the ship of American dog ownership
by changing our perception of our dogs. It is about the author growing up in the Alaskan
wild under the tutelage and guardianship of a Special Forces survival instructor who
introduced him to the ways of wolves and the similarities they shared with dogs. It is
about the wisdom and splendor of nature and the many life lessons she provides.
Mostly, it about developing a deep understanding of the authors of your dog’s behavior;
nature and the wolf. In doing so, you will truly learn who and what your dog really is and
the whys and hows of its behavior. You will learn the tools that nature gave them to
survive and coexist in both the mountains and in our homes. You will learn how
activating and deactivating natural impulses and mechanisms in your dog will lead to
the harmonious existence and the control you always dreamed of. Most of all, you will
come to embrace the wild in your dog and the grace and the peace that is breathed into
its acceptance.”
About the Author:
Bryan Bailey – Raised in Fairbanks, Alaska, Bryan Bailey grew to appreciate the wildness of the land and its abundant wildlife. In particular, he developed a fondness for the gray
wolves that roamed the vast mountain ranges and forests near his home. Under
the guidance of a Special Forces Survival Instructor, he spent years studying the
social interactions of wolves in their packs and discovered that, beyond obvious
physical similarities, there were also behavioral similarities between the wolves
and the sled dogs that were his family’s pets.
Today, with over thirty years of education and experience studying wolves and
other predators, Bryan has become a Master at understanding how nature has
influenced the inner workings of the canine mind. Taking his cue from nature,
Bryan utilizes her lesson plan to shape the behaviors in our dogs that are
necessary for them to conform to our human existence. By doing this, and
accepting the dog for the domestic wolf that it is, Bryan produces a dog that
responds to his owner’s commands with not only steadfast reliability, but with the
spirit and vitality of the wolf.
Bryan is currently busy writing his second book, “The Hammer – Understanding
Canine Aggression.” He hopes the book will educate readers about the most
dominant tool in the wolf and dog’s bag of survival equipment – Aggression (The
Hammer). This tool has allowed for ingestion, digestion, reproduction and
survival by wolves for thousands of years in a very hostile and competitive world
and it was passed to our dogs. Its use by our dogs is often misinterpreted and
misunderstood and this has led to an increase in avoidable attacks to dog
owners and their children.
Bryan and his wife, Kira, live on the banks of the Mississippi River in Memphis,
TN, with their children, dogs and cats. Together they own ProTrain Memphis and
Taming the Wild.