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The Unconventional Love Life of Your
Dog
Suppose I told you that a dog
does not have a sex life? You— who are an
old observer of dogs on the prowl—would probably suggest that I must
be slightly off the beam. And yet, that is exactly what I am going to
tell you.
We really cannot consider the sex life of the dog in the same sense
that we consider the sex life of human beings. In the strictest meaning
of the term, it must be said that a dog does not have a sex life at
all. The very least that a sex life seems to imply are a freedom of
choice of sexual partner; a certain regularity of sexual routine; and a
conscious direction, anticipation, and planning of future sexual
activity. While it may be said that a stray or free-roving dog does
have relative freedom of choice and also a blatantly immodest
regularity in this regard, the likelihood of conscious direction,
anticipation, and planning of future sexual activity is rather remote.
House pets or breeding animals are even deprived of the freedom of
choice or of any consistent regularity, for these animals are
permitted to engage in sexual activity only at the whim and fancy of
the individual owner. Therefore, while it may be said that a dog does
not have a sex life, properly-so-called, it certainly cannot be denied
that a dog engages in sexual activities. It is the purpose of this
chapter to consider some uncommonly discussed aspects of the sexual
behavior of the dog from the standpoint of the random observations and
casual reading of an ordinary veterinary practitioner.
It must also be
added that, while I do not intend to offend the sensibilities of dog
lovers, some observations on
the cat will also have to be included whenever specific parallel data
on the dog cannot be given. This has to be done because the cat has
sometimes been more amenable to certain kinds of experimentation on
sexual behavior. None the less, both dog and cat can teach us something
about the sexual behavior of one another. We have no alternative but to
take our basic information wherever it happens to be available.
An animal activity is said to be instinctive when the activity is
performed perfectly, from the very first time that it is done, without
any previous learning. All activities that require learning before
they can be performed well cannot be said to be instinctive.
Thus a
beaver builds a dam by instinct; ants build their hills by instinct;
homing pigeons return home by instinct, and so on. But man learns to
drive a car, to fly a plane, to play the piano. He emphatically does
not perform these activities instinctively. In addition, there are some
activities that are only partly instinctive since some learning is
required to bring them to full fruition. Sexual activity in the dog is
one of these.
Sexual activity in the dog is partially instinctive and partially
learned. It is instinctive to the extent that it is an unlearned,
fundamental, biological impulse. It is not instinctive insofar as some
learning is required to render that impulse functionally adequate. In
primitive animals that are far below the evolutionary status of the
dog, sexual activity is purely instinctive in nature. Upon reaching
puberty, these lower animals carry out their sexual functions to utter
perfection without any learning whatsoever. The sexual impulse in
these lower animals is perfectly and completely inherited. In dogs, on
the other hand, the sexual impulse is only imperfectly inherited, and
a certain amount of learning is required in order that those sexual
activities necessary to the propagation of the species be adequately
carried out. This seems to be more evident in the male than in the
female.
In its prepuberal life—that is, in the period before sexual
maturity—the female dog never exhibits any of its adult sexual
patterns, but when it attains puberty it carries out its sexual
functions, from the very beginning, with an admirable competence. The
male, on the other hand, exhibits an abundance of its adult sexual
patterns in its prepuberal existence. It mounts its companions in
typical, male mating fashion, indulges in pubic thrusts and convulsive
pubic movements, and seems to make every effort to learn to prepare
itself to become a male adult. None the less, upon reaching puberty,
it ordinarily carries out its sexual functions with an extreme
awkwardness and seems to require at least a modest amount of sexual
experience before it can become an effective partner in the sexual act.
These observations suggest that sexual activity is more of an
instinctive manifestation in the female than it is in the male; that
is, that learning is required in the male to support its instinctive
sexual impulses, whereas it does not appear to be required (at least
not to such a degree) in the female. This conclusion is further
supported by experimental evidence in studies on the brain of the dog.
The portion of the brain that is concerned with higher intellectual
functions, such as learning, memory, imagination and the like, is
called the cerebral cortex. If this portion of the brain is removed,
these intellectual functions cease to exist. Now when it is removed
from the dog, the female continues to engage in its normal sexual
activities while the male exhibits no sexual interest whatsoever. The
implication is that learning is essential to the sexual behavior of the
male dog and not to the female.
This fact also helps to explain why
male dogs commonly show greater discrimination in the choice of a
sexual partner than a female at the highest point of heat, and also why
males are more apt to be sexually disturbed than females by sudden
changes in the immediate area where the sexual activity takes place.
The role of the female in sex being essentially passive, when she is
in heat she is simply ready for the acceptance of the male. But the
role of the male is essentially active and he must always be ready for
the female who comes in heat. The male must achieve and maintain an
erection. This fact,
along with the cerebral connection of the male with sex, makes it
logical that the male requires the more favorable situation for
achieving sexual completion and that it can be readily disturbed by
unfavorable circumstances. It is apparent, therefore, that while the
sexual impulse has an instinctive basis, a certain amount of learning
is required to render that impulse functionally adequate.
The question may be rightfully raised at this point why a higher animal
should inherit an instinct less perfectly than a lower one. Since there
are certain functions that are essential to life, should not a higher
animal inherit the predispositions to these functions even more
perfectly than a lower one? Why should the opposite be the case? The
reason for this apparent inconsistency is that it is one of the ways
in which the progressive mental evolution of animal species from lower
to higher forms was rendered possible. Whereas lower animals inherit
their instincts to absolute perfection so that life's activities can
be adequately carried out without any form of learning, these instincts
become increasingly less perfectly inherited the higher the animal
progresses in its evolutionary development.
The logic of the process
is simply this: if the instincts necessary to survival were always
perfectly inherited, there would be no need for further mental
development. All of life's problems could be satisfactorily met on an
instinctive level. Where instincts were only imperfectly inherited, the
animal world was stimulated to exercise its mental capacities in order
to cope with the problems of life. In this way, the less perfectly
inherited were the instincts, the greater was the necessity and the
possibility of further mental development. There are, of course,
additional factors in the stimulation of evolutionary mental
development, but the way just described was very likely of very
considerable importance.
However imperfectly these instincts were inherited, they still
persisted. They were apparently necessary for the continued survival
of the species. And since they were imperfectly inherited, they had to
be supplemented by learning in order to
bring them to full fruition. If this did not occur, the species was
doomed unless some drastic and favorable change in the inheritance
pattern took place. Sexual behavior in the dog exemplifies rather
typically how learning supplements an imperfectly inherited sexual
impulse.
In the interpretation of animal sexual activity, we have no way of
probing into the conscious or subconscious mind of the animal to
determine whether its behavior is subjectively sexual. We can only
watch the way the animal behaves, and where that behavior involves the
sexual organs in a sexual way, we have to consider that that activity
is sexual behavior.
Prepuberal
Sexual Behavior
Sexual behavior in dogs seems to start
at a considerable age before
puberty. Puppies of either sex, as young as three months of age and
sometimes younger, have been noted to mount each other in male
copulative fashion and to engage in suggestive sexual movements. Both
male and female puppies exhibit the male pattern of adult sexual
behavior. It is significant that the female pattern of adult behavior
is never exhibited by the female prior to puberty. The reason for this
phenomenon has been attributed to the fact that male sex hormones
appear in both males and females very early in the puppyhood stage,
while female sex hormones do not appear until puberty. But this
hormonal explanation is inadequate. While it can, to a certain extent,
explain the male pattern of the female puppy, it cannot apply to the
male because castrated puppies will behave in a similar manner.
It is
generally considered that this activity in prepuberal dogs assumes the
nature of play. But why should play in puppies often exhibit this
frankly sexual form? The problem of animal play is one that has
intrigued many astute
investigators. During the last century, Herbert Spencer promulgated the
"Surplus Energy Theory of Play," which stated that play was a
manifestation of sheer exuberance and a
way of dissipating excess energy. The theory broke down because it was
well known that animals continued to play long after their exuberance
was gone. The exhausted dog will still lope to retrieve a stick that is
thrown. The panting cat will still take a final swipe at its catnip
toy.
Animals seem to play, not to dissipate excess energy, but simply
for the sake of play. Later, an "Instinctive Theory" was postulated,
which stated that play was simply instinctive. But this theory also
broke down because it could not adequately explain the special forms
of activities that were manifested in play. It could not explain sexual
play or fighting play or hunting play. The theory currently generally
accepted is the so-called "Biological Theory of Play," which states
that play is the necessary prelude of prepuberal animals to prepare
them to meet the problems of life. Animals do not play because they
are young and frolicsome, but rather have a period of youth in order
to play. In this period they learn to hunt, fight, protect themselves,
and so on. The higher the mental development of the animal, generally
speaking, the longer will be its prepuberal period because it simply
needs more time to learn the many things that are necessary in order to
cope with the problems of life. From this point of view, the frankly
sexual play of dogs would seem to be nothing more than a youthful
preparation for later requirements in life.
Masturbation
Masturbation rarely if ever occurs in
the normal prepuberal or adult
female. Of course the female can be stimulated to lick its genitalia
where local irritations of the external genitals occur, but this
cannot be properly considered a sexual activity. In the male, on the
other hand, masturbation occurs rather early in the puppy. It is
performed by licking the penis or by rubbing against soft objects that
can be conveniently grasped in a sexual embrace. It is rather common in
puppies of about
five or six months of age, and often continues throughout the adult
life. Reliable scientific information regarding masturbation in the
dog is notably lacking, though even the most casual observation will
reveal its undeniable presence. It is common in males just prior to and
upon the completion of copulation. Some dogs, especially those that are
bored, left alone a great deal, or those that upon maturity have
little opportunity for sexual intercourse, may develop the masturbation
habit. Of course masturbation can be encouraged by any pathological
factor that will stimulate the excessive flow of sex hormones.
According to my observations, the masturbation habit in the dog is not
ordinarily accompanied by outward physical symptoms that are
detrimental to the health of the animal. To my knowledge,
psychological effects of masturbation in dogs have not been
critically examined, though clinical observation seems to indicate
that these effects are not especially significant. It is very
unlikely, however, that the male masturbating dog conjures up any
exciting mental image of the female while engaged in this activity.
What is most likely is that masturbation, in this instance, is a purely
stimulus-response manifestation. The maturbatory act may be stimulated,
for example, simply by licking some penis discharge.
This, in turn, may
stimulate the animal sexually and the act is carried through to its
completion. The important point is that masturbation in the dog is
apparently not consciously directed to sexual self-stimulation. The
stimulus that initiates it is only incidental and not necessarily
sexual. For the act to be considered genuinely masturbatory, both
stimulus and response must be sexual. Where the stimulus is not
exclusively sexual—as is the case with the dog—the most that can be
said is that we are dealing with a mere masturbatory activity rather
than a truly masturbatory act. Nor is masturbation in this sense
"abnormal" in the dog. If a dog is properly stimulated it will
"masturbate." Thus masturbation is a normal activity in dogs.
Heat Period
The heat period of females was discussed
on the page, "Pregnancy and
Breeding." However, it will be well to add the less well-known fact
that the onset of heat is related somehow to the lengthening of the
day. Under experimental conditions, the period when the dog is not in
heat can be substantially shortened by subjecting it to abnormal
exposures of artificial daylight. Just what specific reaction is
involved here is not known, but it is very likely that this fact
accounts for the variability of heat periods in dogs in different parts
of the world.
Another fact of interest in this connection is that if a cat in heat is
not bred, it will remain in heat for several days. If it is bred
successfully, it will often lose its responsiveness in about twelve
hours.
Copulation
The act of copulation in cats lasts
about five to ten seconds. With
dogs, on the other hand, the duration is much longer because genital
"locking" occurs. This genital "locking" is quite normal in dogs and
after ejaculation the animals will separate without assistance in
anywhere from a few minutes to a few hours, with the average time being
about twenty minutes.
It may be amusing to note that the longest matings in mammals occur in
the mink and sable. These animals do not lock but, once entrance into
the female is achieved, it is maintained for very long periods.
Several ejaculations seem to take place and there are rest periods in
between. From the moment of original insertion until withdrawal, the
sable has been timed to copulate for as long as eight hours.
In regard to the frequency of copulation, some male cats may copulate
nine or ten times in an hour. Others may copulate four or five times
before their sexual responses are subdued. In these instances, each
copulation includes an ejaculation.
Male dogs, on the other hand, rarely copulate more than once an hour
providing copulation is complete and sexual locking occurs. This
situation has a logical physiological basis. The cat, after all, must
undergo intercourse as a stimulus for the expulsion of the ovum. The
female dog expels its ovum naturally without the necessity of any
additional stimulation. Thus it is not surprising that the cat
copulates more actively than the dog.
Though the upper limit of the responsiveness of the female dog has not
been subjected to scientific tests, we can be pretty sure that it
exceeds that of the male. When female cats are kept in heat
artificially with hormone injections, they copulate continuously and
exhaust one male after another.
Another interesting fact is that a pregnant cat will sometimes permit
an active male to have intercourse with her. But this behavior is
irregular and unpredictable.
Sexual Foreplay
The essential difference between human
sexual foreplay and that of the
dog is that, unlike the animal, sexual foreplay in the human is
consciously directed toward sexual stimulation. A male dog may lick
the external sexual organs of a female in heat because it is attracted
by the female discharge and its odor, but it does not perform this
activity because it feels that it will excite the female. It acts,
rather, as if it is merely investigating the area. But the fact is that
its behavior does excite the female and excites the male too. In this
manner a lusty male can stimulate a sluggish female in heat and
achieve a mating. In the same way, a female in heat may sniff at or
lick the male organs and may thus excite a sluggish male to become
more aggressive in his mating responses. A female may also mount a male
in the male copulative fashion and this activity often seems to
stimulate the male.
When a male cat is about to have intercourse with a female, the torn
first grasps the loose skin of the female's neck in his
teeth. This action seems to have three results: it produces an erection
in the male; then the female lowers her fore quarters and gets into the
mating position; lastly, by maintaining the grip after it has mounted,
the male can more readily get into the proper position so that genital
insertion can result. A male cat will rarely succeed in completing the
copulatory act unless it grasps the female in this way.
Some dogs may be sexually stimulated merely by being placed in a
situation where they had previously experienced intercourse. This is
especially true if a breeding crate is used. There can be little doubt
that sexual stimulation here is a conditioned response.
Sexual Liaisons
Mateships, as exemplified by human marriage, are considered to be
lasting sexual unions. Liaisons are temporary or casual relationships.
The best that can be said of the dog is that it is an occasional party
to what may be very liberally interpreted as a sexual liaison. This is
more the result of circumstances than of preference. One occasionally
hears of a male and female brought up in the same household who seem to
develop a genuine affection and exclusive sexual preference for each
other. But this is the exception rather than the rule. All that can be
said for sure is that dogs show a certain amount of discrimination in
the choice of sexual partners, and males do so to a greater extent than
females.
Sexual Dreams
Not only does every indication point to
the fact that dogs dream, but
there is further evidence that they also have sexual dreams. Pelvic
thrusts with nocturnal emissions have been observed in both male and
female dogs and cats. Just how much "imagination" goes into these
dreams poses an interesting and challenging psychological problem.
Effect of
Spaying and Castration on Sexuality
Spaying promptly and permanently
abolishes all sexual behavior in
female dogs. These animals possess no attraction for males of their
species and never display sexually receptive behavior. The male dog
that is castrated before puberty never develops the normal degree of
sexual aggressiveness. However, these males do show a certain amount
of sexual activity. They may exhibit abortive attempts to mount others
and may display a few weak pelvic thrusts. Prepuberally
castrated dogs develop nothing more intense than the normal, prepuberal
sexual behavior.
The male, castrated in adulthood, however, often shows very little
decline in sexual aggressiveness. Laboratory experiments on adult
castrated male cats have demonstrated that there is no decline in
sexual aggressiveness in these animals over the period of several years
during which they were observed. Some of them seemed to suffer a
reduction in the ability to copulate, but none were unable to do so.
These observations indicate that sexual activity in female cats is much
more dependent on hormones than it is in males.
Sexual
Inversion and Homosexuality
From the standpoint of endocrinology (the study of hormones and the
glands that produce them), no individual is ever totally male or
totally female. By definition, a male individual is one in which the
male hormones predominate, and a female is one in which the female
hormones predominate. It is logical to presume, therefore, that, if
some disease process should disrupt this hormonal predominance in
either sex, corresponding changes in sexual behavior should occur.
Limited though it is, the evidence on hand seems to bear out this
contention.
While sexual inversion is rare in male dogs, cases of dogs with cancers
of the testicle have been reported in which the affected male seems to
undergo a variable degree of feminization, manifesting itself in
seeking to be copulated by other males, being indifferent to females in
heat, and even becoming an object of sexual desire for normal males.
This is the closest approximation to true homosexuality in dogs, that
is, to a state in which the sexual drive seems to be clearly directed
toward achieving sexual satisfaction with a member of the same sex. One
French author believes that these testicular tumors elaborate female
hormones or other substances analogous to them that undergo alterations
by metabolic processes and terminate in feminization. Still more
rarely,
feminization is said to come about as a consequence of certain
pituitary, adrenal, or thyroid tumors, though specific instances of
this casual relationship in dogs have never been brought to my
attention.
I am not aware of specific medical cases of the masculinization of
female dogs. The cases most often mentioned among animals are those of
cows, in which these animals assume a remarkable abundance of the
physical and mental attributes of the male. The condition is considered
to be caused by various tumors of the ovary or of the adrenal,
pituitary, thyroid, or thymus glands, or it may be a manifestation of
an excess of male hormones due to a simple functional variation of
these several glands. There is no reason why similar cases should not
occur in dogs.
As mentioned earlier, normal female dogs exhibit certain distinctly
masculine traits in that they often attempt to mount either male or
female in the male fashion. Where this occurs before puberty, it has
been suggested that it is very likely attributable to the temporary
preponderance of male hormone. In mature females, this behavior occurs
most commonly during the heat period and seems to be one of the ways
in which an aggressive female arouses an unresponsive male to sexual
activity.
Male cats, in the absence of a female in heat, will often seek to
copulate with each other. However, if a female in heat should come upon
the scene, both males will immediately copulate with the female. These
activities are normal for mature male cats. So it would seem that male
cats are normally bisexual—that is, that they will readily copulate
with either male or female, depending upon which is available at the
time that the male happens to be aroused.
In regard to homosexuality among otherwise normal dogs or cats, the
most that can be said is that while these animals unquestionably engage
in homosexual behavior, it cannot be considered true homosexuality
because there is no evidence that it is consciously directed to the
exclusive attainment of sexual satisfaction in the sense of
homosexuality among human
beings. A male dog may lick the genitals of another male because of the
curiosity aroused by the appearance and smell of an abundant penis
discharge. This act may sexually stimulate the dog acted upon, but the
act itself seems to be in the nature of an investigation rather than a
deliberately sexual move. Male dogs may mount each other in play or
even after having been stimulated in the normal fashion by a female.
Actual intromission with subsequent orgasm is possible, though most
often very unlikely. Females will occasionally lick each other's
genitalia, but more as a grooming procedure or out of curiosity than as
a sexual approach. The fact that the female acted upon may be
stimulated by this procedure is secondary. While the act itself may be
classified as a homosexual activity, it does not appear to be
homosexually motivated.
The least that may be said, however, is that while true homosexuality
does not exist in apparently healthy dogs, some homosexual tendencies
exist in all normal dogs, more commonly in the male than in the female.
While homosexuality in man may often be attributed to psychological
maladjustments, this relationship has not been established in the dog.
The explanation of homosexual manifestations in the healthy dog is
encompassed within the sphere of its normal activities.
Satyriasis,
Nymphomania, Frigidity
Excessive desire for sexual activity in
the male is called satyriasis.
Excessive desire for sexual activity in the female is called
nymphomania. Lack of or subdued sexual desire in either sex is called
frigidity. These conditions are more common in the dog than is
ordinarily imagined. While the causes of these abnormalities in the
human are often psychological in character, there is little likelihood
of such a causal relation in the dog, though the involvement of these
factors is not impossible. These conditions are most often due to
obvious hormonal derangements that are routinely amenable to the
pedestrian
hormonal and surgical procedures of every veterinarian. It is well to
be reminded, however, that, because male sexuality is less affected by
hormones than the female, hormonal or surgical approaches will be much
less certainly successful against satyriasis than against nymphomania.
The frigid animal may be stimulated with appropriate hormones, but
attention should also be paid to proper feeding and to cutting down on
possibly excessive breeding, which may also be related to frigidity.
Conclusion
We may conclude this section by
reminding the reader that, since
experimental data regarding these unconventional aspects of the sexual
behavior of the dog are notably lacking, it was unavoidable that
interpretations of these activities often had to be fragmentary or
conjectural. None the less, it seemed a good idea to summarize briefly
the present state of our knowledge in this fascinating field. The least
that it may accomplish is that it may stimulate more careful
observation of the dog's sexual behavior.
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