Classify By Dog

[chris_gerrib]

Rumor has it that various supporters of the High Plains Moocher, Cliven Bundy, are standing guard duty on public roads in Nevada. Perhaps needless to say, if true I have a problem with that - after all, only failed states have warlords posting private troops on public roads.

Be that as it may, I got to thinking that law enforcement may be waiting these "militia" out. If you've never stood guard duty, you have no idea how boring it is. Maintaining alertness, especially if nothing ever happens, is hard. Reacting the fifth or sixth time a bush rustles is hard. But that rustling might not be the wind - it might be a commando or, for our primitive ancestors, a tiger looking for late-night takeout.

Then I got to thinking about dogs. We humans make fun of dogs. Every time they see a squirrel they react. Every time somebody comes to the door they bark, even when we don't want them to. But to our primitive ancestors, that was an asset. Dogs don't get bored on guard duty. They do what you want a guard to do - react every time.

During the naval portions of the Falklands War, the Royal Navy was very concerned about Argentinian submarine attacks. IIRC, Argentina had a couple of fairly modern and quiet subs. So, during the war, any time the Brits heard something on their sonar, they shot a torpedo at it. If it was a sub, the sub would take evasive maneuvers. If it was a whale farting, the whale would ignore the torpedo (and the torpedo would do the same).

The Royal Navy called this practice "classify by ordinance." I suspect our primitive ancestors did something similar with dogs. Hear something rustling in the bushes? Let the (already alerted) dogs out. If they came back with squirrel on their breath, no problem. If something larger was afoot, well, you'd know pretty quickly. In short, they "classified by dog."

Comments

[daveon.livejournal.com]

I had assumed that the local Law Enforcement types were thinking, it's May, this is Nevada. Good luck standing there in July.

I do not mock dogs, I envy my dogs. They are both standing, well, lying guard, near me, ever alert and apparently snoring, waiting for the moment to spring to action.

[chris-gerrib.livejournal.com]

although if somebody tries to sneak up on you, your dogs will react. (Even if "somebody" = squirrel)

[daveon.livejournal.com]

Your Mileage Might Vary, but yes, they do tend to react to things.