Altruism or patriarchy?

03 August 2011

One thing that fascinates me is the behaviour of our dogs. They adopted us in 2010 as their masters – just turned up at our house wanting attention. They turned out to have been owned by a man who had died.

Our male dog just sits back and gets groomed by the two female dogs. He, however, doesn't seem to reciprocate the favour. Our male dog is called BYLO  which is short for Bite Your Leg Off  – it was a joke that just stuck.

Recently, in July 2011, he was very excited about going for a morning walk. He ran into a corner on a metal frame and tore his back open. Amber, the female dog in the photo attends to his wound every day by licking it. Again, I doubt that BYLO would reciprocate for Amber. Is what we are seeing altruism or patriarchy: is it kindness without expectation of return or a subservience of the females? Then maybe its just a dog's life for some!