Canine Theriotypes

The canine family in nature

The dog family is spread across every continent but Antarctica, from the high Arctic to the edges of the Sahara. Its members are built for travel. They walk on their toes, carry claws that do not retract, and can keep up a steady trot for hours. They live by the nose more than the eye, and they speak to one another constantly, through scent, posture, the set of ears and tail, and voice.

• Wolves roam forests, tundra, mountains and plains across the northern half of the world. A pack is a family: a breeding pair and their young of recent years. They travel great distances, hunt large hoofed animals together, fail at most of their hunts, and spend much of their lives walking, sleeping and raising pups.
• Domestic dogs descend from wolves of long ago and were the first animals people domesticated. They have been shaped into many forms for herding, guarding, hunting, hauling and company, and they are unusually attentive to human faces and gestures.
• Foxes, among them the red, gray, arctic and fennec foxes, mostly hunt alone. A fox listens for a mouse under grass or snow, then leaps high and pounces. Foxes bury spare food for later, and live as pairs or small families mainly while raising cubs. The gray fox can climb trees.
• Coyotes range over much of North and Central America, from desert to city park. They live as pairs, small family groups or alone, and their yips and howls at dusk are one of the continent's familiar sounds.
• Jackals of Africa and Asia usually live in bonded pairs that hold a territory together, with older young sometimes staying on to help raise the next litter. They hunt small animals, scavenge and eat fruit.
• Dholes, the rust-red wild dogs of Asian forests, live in clans that hunt together and keep in touch with whistling calls.
• Painted dogs, the wild dogs of Africa, have mottled coats, each one different, and large rounded ears. Their packs are tightly bound, and they share food with pups and with members that could not join the hunt.

Why canines are so often named

Wolves have always been the most common theriotype, and other canines follow close behind. Several reasons probably play a part. The community itself grew out of an online discussion group devoted to werewolf stories in the early 1990s, and its first members called themselves "weres." Dogs are the animals most people know most intimately. And canines are social and expressive, so their inner lives are easier to picture than those of many other animals.

None of this makes canine identities more or less real than any other. It does mean that a canine therian has plenty of company, and also that the wolf in particular is surrounded by stories that can crowd out the animal. The history of the community tells the early part of the tale.

What canine therians commonly describe

No two people report the same things, and none of the following is a test. These are patterns that canine therians often mention.

• Phantom features. A muzzle, ears that prick or flatten with mood, paws, and a tail: long and low for many wolf therians, a full brush for many foxes, as varied as the breeds for dogs. Some describe a ridge of hackles along the back when uneasy.
• Attention. Scent coming first, or wishing it could. Reading a room by who stands where and how. Following trails, real or figurative, with a patience that surprises others.
• Movement and instinct. A need for long walks at a steady pace, and restlessness without them. An urge to dig or to circle before lying down. Among fox therians, a listening stillness followed by a sudden quick movement.
• Landscapes and hours. Dusk and dawn above all. Forests, open hills and snow for many wolf therians; field edges and hedgerows for foxes; scrub and the margins of towns for some coyote therians.
• Social life. For wolves, dogs and wild dogs, a strong pull toward a close group and unease when it is scattered. For many dog therians, an attention that settles on a loved person's face and a wish for a task. For foxes, more often a contented solitude and a few close bonds.

Telling close relatives apart

Canines resemble one another, and confusion between them is common. The useful differences are usually social and practical, not dramatic.

The most frequent confusion is between wolf and dog. Wariness of strangers and a life centered on the family point toward the wolf. A first movement toward people, and a deep wish to please someone, point toward the dog. The essay The Animal That Stays describes one person's slow move from the first answer to the second. Some people find that no single species fits and that they are best described as a cladotherian, identifying with canines as a whole.

Myths that mislead

Few animals carry as much legend as the wolf, and much of it gets in the way of self-understanding.

The alpha

The picture of a pack ruled by a dominant "alpha" who fights his way to the top was drawn from early studies of unrelated wolves penned together in captivity. Those who went on to watch wild wolves found families. The so-called alphas are the parents, and they lead because they are the parents. A wolf therian who has tried to be domineering, believing it to be wolfish, may find the real animal a great relief. The essay Wolves Are Not Metaphors makes this case with feeling, and the page on the real wolf sets out the natural history.

The lone wolf and the moon

A wolf alone is usually a young animal between homes, looking for a mate and ground of its own. It is not a symbol of proud independence. Wolves howl to keep in touch and to mark their range, at any phase of the moon, and the moon as a trigger belongs to films of the 1930s and 1940s.

Werewolves, sly foxes and lesser dogs

The savage werewolf is a figure of legend, and its rage and hunger say nothing about any real canine or any therian; the essay Folklore Is Not Identity explores the difference. The sly fox of fable and the fox spirits of East Asia are rich stories, but a fox therian is a fox of the field, not a trickster. And a dog is not a tame and lesser wolf. It is its own animal, shaped by a long partnership with people, and a dog theriotype is as whole as any.

Respect for the real animals

Many canines have had a hard history with people. Wolves were driven out of much of their old range and have returned to some of it only recently. Dholes and painted dogs are now rare. Foxes, coyotes and jackals are still widely persecuted. Many canine therians find that learning about their theriotype leads naturally to caring about these circumstances.

Kinship does not make closeness safe. Never approach, feed or follow wild canines, and never go near a den. A wild animal that grows used to people is often the one that comes to harm. With domestic dogs, ordinary good sense applies: ask before greeting someone else's dog, and do not try to approach a strange dog on all fours or by imitating its signals, which it may read very differently than intended.

Finding your way slowly

A love of wolves, a fondness for dogs or a single dream of running through snow does not settle anything by itself. The page on theriotypes describes a slow, honest method: write down what you actually experience, study the real animals at length, and compare patiently. The essay Before You Name It was written by someone who spent a year sure she was a wolf before recognizing a lynx. The page on feline theriotypes may be worth reading alongside this one.