Every individual dog, like every individual human, is believed to have a worldview, the fundamental cognitive orientation encompassing point of view and sense of the world. The Germans, who coined the term, called it Weltanschauung, or “outlook,” and it is believed to be something that dogs develop by their twelfth week of life, and once it is formed, it is nearly impossible to change.

This worldview is largely shaped by genetics, the interaction with their mothers and their siblings. Dogs become confident or socially at ease or fearful and aggressive during this period, even the best trainers have trouble altering a dog’s Weltanschauung after several months.

People think dogs are a blank space when they come to them, but that is rarely true, they are most often pretty much formed in their outlook when they come to us. If a dog has easy access to food, she will be easy around kids and others when she eats. If she was pushed aside by her siblings, or ignored by her mother, or had to fight and scrap for every drop of milk, they she will almost certainly be protective of her food around dogs and people. That’s just one example of worldview, there are many.

This, of course, is why it’s so important to know as much as we can about dog when we bring it home, rather than simply leaving it up the fates to show us over time. This laziness and fixation on dogs as primarily a self-serving  moral object of choice harms a lot of dogs. More dogs suffer die after being returned to shelters than from any other cause of death.

When we choose the wrong dog, they pay, we don’t. They can’t return us.

We owe it to them to choose our dogs wisely and well and thoughtfully, not just because it makes us feel good about ourselves, or we saw a border collie in a movie.

I think about my dog’s worldview all the time, especially Fate and I took my new portrait lens outside to try and capture what I see is her view of the world. Welltlanschauung is not just about running, it is demeanor and temperament and intelligence as well, it is how the dog relates to the world.

I think this lens captured Fate’s view of the world when she is racing around the pasture, I think this must be what it seems like to her.