Dog and his mastery proposing to human
Topic: DOG AND HIS MASTERY PROPOSING TO HUMAN
Speaker: Dr Piero Di Marco
A second meeting about the Relationship and Emotions between Dog and Human, a new school of behaviour, was held on Thursday 28 September.
In this second webinar, Dr Di Marco wanted to highlight, in the relationship with our four-legs friends, one of their peculiar characteristics: their mastery in showing us the right way in our lives through the special friendship and friendly love that binds us.
Doc Di Marco offered us a reflection on the millennial origins that bind this special relationship. Friendship was born more than 33,000 years ago when the wolf and man met, beginning a journey together of mutual friendship and collaboration. A pathway where the 2 species were on an equal footing and free of mutual constraints and their relationship moved in a mutual help while maintaining their specific identities. They spent time together, during the night they slept in front of a fire that illuminated and reassured their rest in this dimension of an equal relationship. The evolution of the relationship took a further step in Asia forward 15,000 years ago when, from the domestication of the grey wolf, man joined the dog, making him a true companion in hunting and in all those activities they could perform together.
Doc Di Marco emphasizes to the origins that bind us to them and how 15.000 years later the evolution of the relationship has led the dog to today to have a kind of submission and us to a conditioning of responsibility towards him.We think only of the use of the collar and leash; certainly necessary in various situations of daily life but they indicate an unequal relationship.
Resuming the concept of friendship and friendship love, the relationship between us and our dog should always be on an equal footing because dogs arrive to teach us the true meaning of friendship, while we often enter into a conditioning of responsability towards them, sometimes projecting our own discomforts onto them. Doc Di Marco introduced a new topic to reflect on: personality bond. The affective bond between dog and human can not only generate an empathic exchange but is also a support of that bond that brings to meet the two personalities in their affinities and differences. Dog expresses all his mastery also through this type of bond, making us understand reasons why he is with us and showing us, in his own way, those personal and relational paths that can be good for us.
It has been scientifically proven that dog-human interactions lower blood pressure and heart rate and even reduce the level of the stress hormone cortisol. Further studies have shown that, in the affective relationship between dog and human, the same areas related to feeling are activated in the brain. Activation of some of these areas is more pronounced when there is an affective exchange with affectionate attitudes and words. All this makes us realise the magic and importance of the relationship we can establish with them, a relationship that if it is well expressed and free of conditioning leads to a true emotional and affective symbiosis.
In the second part of his talk, Dr Di Marco opened an extraordinary comparison on 2 of many stories we have received. The 2 people involved describe some details of their relationship with their dog. First story is by Manuela, a young girl who shares her life with Senna, her beautiful Cavalier King. Reading the tale of Manuela and Senna, Dr Di Marco brought out some very interesting aspects precisely about the personality bond that was created: Senna during important moments of their relationship somatised some of Manuela’s physical discomforts in order to bring out a situation that had to be resolved. In his own way Senna traced a way for both of them to unblock negative emotions in order to open up to a healthier and happier relationship.
In the second story, protagonists are Valeria and Marc, a German shepherd. Dr Di Marco wanted to emphasise a very beautiful description that Valeria gives of Marc: ‘German in rules and Mediterranean in feelings’. Here we see the 2 sides, one of the heart and one of the mind with which Marc, in perfect balance, relates with Valeria. Between them there is an extremely balanced equilibrium. Valeria trusts him when Marc relates to children and the elderly, and Marc trusts Valeria to allow him to express himself in some useful and defensive activities that Marc loves. Valeria has followed Marc in the expression of his loving feelings to the point of adopting a little dog he had lost his mind about. Marc, in his own way, also takes care of Valeria’s mother, who is not in good health, and does so with some reassuring and joyful attitudes, thus alleviating a difficult and painful situation. There was a beautiful demonstration of mutual trust when Marc was taken to the vet for a health problem and at the time of parting they looked at each other and although both frightened and scared they trusted each other knowing that one was there for the other.
Meeting was full of emotions and discoveries. Dr Di Marco, with his characteristic sensitivity and experience, was able to take us into the extraordinary dimension of love between us and them, through the observation of attitudes, behaviour and situations that can only be experienced with our animals.
Speaker’s profile
Doctor Piero Di Marco is a veterinary who has been practising for more than 35 years in his clinic in Catania, Italy. In addition to carrying out the ordinary activity of veterinary medicine, Doc Piero di Marco deals with the relationship between us and our dogs. His approach is absolutely unique because it starts from a deep observation of the relationship between us and our dogs, that special friendship that has much to teach us. Doc Di Marco uses all his knowledge about bioethics of behaviour so as to correctly understand the relational dynamics that are established and makes use of methods related to homeopathy and natural therapies. Indeed, through this reading he understands the causes of our dog’s malaise or physical problem in order to approach the illness or discomfort with homeopathy and phytotherapy. Doctor Di Marco’s approach is to treat our dog through a careful observation of the relationship between us and our dog, through his behaviour and reactions. And not only to cure or prevent the evolution of a disease but also to prevent disease in the absence of pathology through the relationship between us and our dog.
