A safety mechanism of a social dogs neurological set up is to induce autistic-like deep trance states to protect themselves from the systemic catastrophe. Repetitive rocking in small humans and monkey babies who are left to themselves, head weaving in elephants, flank sucking in Doberman dogs, shadow chasing and tail chasing in collie dogs, crib chewing in horses, pacing endlessly in a ritualistic way in caged cats are just amongst the many, many examples of this.
In pet dogs, spaniels and crosses thereof are highly pre-disposed to enter these trance states in moments of stress and there are many variations on the theme. Self mutilation and ritualised howling/vocal expressions also lead to the security of a deep trance state where the dog may rest inside when external environmental conditions have become unbearable – these external conditions being systemically, a short fall of energy of the correct kind to re-balance the stressed and hungry system.
It is my supposition that the individual dogs choice of which route into trance they will take is a mixture of genetic pre-disposition and chance; I have seen many dogs who have developed a chance behaviour into these rituals and the behaviours themselves,which may be quite bizarre to an unsuspecting onlooker, are, indeed, secondary to the trance state they are designed to induce.
