Suppose I told you that a dog does not have a sex lif? You- who are an old observer of dogs on the prowl-would probably suggest that I must be slightly off the beam. And yet, that is exactly what I am going to tell you.
We really cannot consider the sex life of the dog in the same sense that we consider the sex life of human beings. In the strictest meaning of the term, it must be said that a dog does not have a sex life at all. The very least that a sex life seems to imply are a freedom of choice of sexual partner; a certain regularity of sexual routine; and a conscious direction, anticipation, and planning of future sexual activity. While it may be said that a stray or free-roving dog does have relative freedom of choice and also a blatantly immodest regularity in this regard, the likelihood of conscious direction, anticipation, and planning of future sexual activity is rather remote. House pets or breeding animals are even deprived of the freedom of choice or of any consistent regularity, for these animals are permitted to engage in sexual activity only at the whim and fancy of the individual owner. Therefore, while it may be said that a dog does not have a sex life, properly-so-called, it certainly cannot be denied that a dog engages in sexual activities. It is the purpose of this chapter to consider some uncommonly discussed aspects of the sexual behavior of the dog from the standpoint of the random observations and casual reading of an ordinary veterinary practitioner. It must also be added that, while I do not intend to offend the sensibilities of dog lovers, some observations on the cat will also have to be included whenever specific parallel data on the dog cannot be given. This has to be done because the cat has sometimes been more amenable to certain kinds of experimentation on sexual behavior. None the less, both dog and cat can teach us something about the sexual behavior of one another. We have no alternative but to take our basic information wherever it happens to be available.
An animal activity is said to be instinctive when the activity is performed perfectly, from the very first time that it is done, without any previous learning. All activities that require learning before they can be performed well cannot be said to be instinctive. Thus a beaver builds a dam by instinct; ants build their hills by instinct; homing pigeons return home by instinct, and so on. But man learns to drive a car, to fly a plane, to play the piano. He emphatically does not perform these activities instinctively. In addition, there are some activities that are only partly instinctive since some learning is required to bring them to full fruition. Sexual activity in the dog is one of these.
Sexual activity in the dog is partially instinctive and partially learned. It is instinctive to the extent that it is an unlearned, fundamental, biological impulse. It is not instinctive insofar as some learning is required to render that impulse functionally adequate. In primitive animals that are far below the evolutionary status of the dog, sexual activity is purely instinctive in nature. Upon reaching puberty, these lower animals carry out their sexual functions to utter perfection without any learning whatsoever. The sexual impulse in these lower animals is perfectly and completely inherited. In dogs, on the other hand, the sexual impulse is only imperfectly inherited, and a certain amount of learning is required in order that those sexual activities necessary to the propagation of the species be adequately carried out. This seems to be more evident in the male than in the female.
In its prepuberal life-that is, in the period before sexual maturity-the female dog never exhibits any of its adult sexual patterns, but when it attains puberty it carries out its sexual functions, from the very beginning, with an admirable competence. The male, on the other hand, exhibits an abundance of its adult sexual patterns in its prepuberal existence. It mounts its companions in typical, male mating fashion, indulges in pubic thrusts and convulsive pubic movements, and seems to make every effort to learn to prepare itself to become a male adult. None the less, upon reaching puberty, it ordinarily carries out its sexual functions with an extreme awkwardness and seems to require at least a modest amount of sexual experience before it can become an effective partner in the sexual act.
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