Lapdogs from wolves?

Last Updated on June 12, 2023

A Lapdog: A phantom competence: an animal with less capacity than what it thinks of itself

The following post is not a work of science. It could well be called non-sense instead of non-science work.

Science and human history say that dogs are domesticated from wolves. However, we can’t easily accept the fact that wolves’ descendants are taking a nap in our laps. It is against our common sense. I bet even lapdogs like Poodle looking at themselves would have a hard time believing that their forefathers were wolves once.

Lapdogs are very small. As the name suggests, they are so small that they could fit in the lap of a person. This is what we wanted as humans. We thought to ourselves dogs are lovely, obedient, and caring, but it’s too big to be petted on a lap what if they come in extra small sizes.

So, we bred, bred, and bred until we are able to get the size down to cats, but we didn’t stop there. Now we got it down to smaller than even a cat. Now, it is smaller and cuter. So, it is perfect to keep them on our laps and pet them as long as we want without feeling their weight.

This is fine from the human standpoint. This is what we always wanted. Think about how should the dog feel? I think they think about themselves – “we are carnivores. we are from the canine family. It is in our blood to hunt”, but when the time comes to hunt and attack a prey, I wonder whether they can even make a kill, imagine Poodle attacking a rabbit. Because of their size, it is not a surprise if they are easily overpowered by the prey. This leaves them in confusion. They always feel like they have all the means, but when reality hits them in the face they realize their true worth.

Here, I try to see this from a different light, “Phantom Limb”. I think lapdogs’ situation is similar. I don’t know if there is a term called “Phantom Competence” for lapdogs but I am coining one after “Phantom Limb”.

Phantom limb, which is a feeling that the limb is still attached even though it has been amputated. This happens because the animal or human who has lost a limb is still under the perception that they have a limb. Consciously, they might have accepted the new reality. However, their unconscious habits have not and don’t change suddenly, so their behavior driven by the unconscious shows otherwise.

Now that we know what Phantom Limb is I think “lapdog’s feeling of competence and later realizing their incompetence” could be explained with a similar phenomenon – Phantom Limb, with only one difference is that this behavior of lapdogs is driven by DNA than the memory and habits in Phantom Limb.

One way I think they try to cope with this situation is that they think they have not grown up yet. They look at other dogs and they think they are still growing. They try to comfort themselves with this rationalization.