Page 126 - THE SLOUGHI REVIEW - ISSUE 13

T H E S L O U G H I R E V I E W 1 2 6

The fact that a guard dog defends the herd against wolves is therefore not a question of
the relationship between wolf and dog, but of my family to your family. It would be no
different with wolf packs: two competing families would also fight each other and defend
their respective territory. The “territory”, however, is not necessarily a statically fixed
area of land, but it is related to the current location of the family that can be defended,
and the size is variable. If a guard dog were strongly territorial in a static sense, no
migration with the herds would be possible, its area (Latin: territorium) would be bound

to very specific basic areas.

The term for this behaviour as “territorial behaviour” is therefore not clear from the
understanding. We understand territorial behaviour as a static space that is defended by
the dog. However, this space is dynamic in nomadic or transhumant people, not bound to

a specific place, but changes during migrations with the family. Therefore, the family,
which consists of humans and animals, is the actual space that is defended. It is the dog's
reaction to an intruder in its habitat, in its social space.

The dog's habitat is connected to its family. Where the family is, the dog is at home. This
is in direct contrast to a cat. A cat is completely tied to the house where the human being
lives, someone can come to feed it, it doesn't matter who, the main thing is that the

territory remains intact.

For dogs the habitat or social space is the resource it needs to get enough food, resting
places and reproduction opportunities. Scientifically, it is also called “home range” rather
than territory, i.e. the action space in which the living being regularly stays. In 1943,
William Henry Burt described the home range as the area that is visited in connection

with the regular activities of an animal. He included foraging, mating and rearing young
among these activities [74].

In contrast to a territory, which is spatially statically bound to a certain area, the action
area is not spatially bound to a certain area in the first place. Therefore, the term
“territorial” as a place-bound defence of a habitat is not correct for guard dogs. The
guard dog defends the habitat of the family.