Monkey/Dog Thunderdome

From The Descent of Man: "Monkeys will also, according to Brehm, defend their master when attacked by any one, as well as gods to whom the are attached, from the attacks of other dogs or the monkeys to hich they are attached" (450).

I want us to consider the implications of this statement. In this section, Darwin speaks of the transfer of innate maternal affection from the female of one species to an offspring of another.  In this case, he speaks of the female rhesus monkeys, described by Brehm, who raise puppies and treat them as their own. these female monkeys will not only attack any dog that attacks their puppy, but any monkey, as well as any monkey attached to any dog. What Brehm here describes then is a monkey/dog Thunderdome, in which two monkey/dog teams enter . . .

. . . back to the point. I picture Brehm's farm, an idyllic place in which orphaned border collie puppies are placed in the foster care of female rhesus monkeys. Or perhaps boxers are reared by baboons.  After each team acquires an appropriate amount of mutual affection, the training begins. Cut from the farm to a composite of the training montages from Rocky IV and Save the Last Dance. we see a baboon pulling a sled through the snow, then a border collie learnin' to strut, then a rhesus chopping wood, then a boxer teachin' that baboon the running man.