Fight – Flight – Ignore
Written by Pam on December 18, 2014
After getting an email from one of our KokoBo families regarding a situation they had recently, I wanted to share my response with all my KokoBo families so they can learn -a little about why labs Fight or Flight or simply exhibit a type of Ignore-response. The labs response to a potential threating situation can be life altering. So I want you to know what to expect should a similar situation happen … in your back yard!
I want to talk about our Labradors instincts and drives – both are very much different even though many of us think of the terminology as the same. By having a little information on our Labradors instincts and drives, you can start to understand the reasoning behind why our labs do-what-they-do! When I talk about the Labrador’s drives, I think of the strong, compelling action that our labs do to perform some type of action either desirable or non-desirable. Either reaction good or bad is always in an attempt to please us. The Labradors instincts, on the other hand, are natural abilities that the Labrador is born with – without being taught. These instincts can be that of suckling at birth to be able to survive and in the later years, the ability to hunt and retrieve – also the innate ability to survive.
In this blog, I will talk about the ‘drives’ our Labradors exhibit and there are many but for this blog my concentration with be of the defense drive or that of the Fight – Flight or what I call the Ignore-behavior or Ignore-response. This drive is very important for any wild animal and what the animal expresses when they feel they are faced with a threating situation. Because our Labradors are tame, well fed and are a constant source of pack or family interaction, most Labradors will tend to flee or exhibit the flight response as they are not wired for fighting – some may even ignore the unpleasant situation by just barking or just carrying on with whatever he/she is doing. Although there are some Labradors that place the love of family first no matter what and will exhibit the Fight (if need be) reaction. This is the situation of Bosco and Mocha.
The situation was that of a pack of coyotes were trying to intimate two young Labradors – one of which was our HGT’s KokoBo from Koko’s litter. Mocha was around 9 months when the situation happened and her companion Bosco took matters into his own ‘paws’. Bosco stood his ground and protected the younger Labrador sending a very clear message to the coyotes that their attempt at intimidation was a failed attempt – leaving the two labs safe, the coyotes on the run and the family amazed and delighted to see the strength in the defense drive that a Labrador has in protecting his family :*) The love of a lab :*) Hat’s Off To Bosco!
Picture of Bosco + Mocha
