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mcotton

MH
Posts:87

10/31/2008 3:06 PM
Very interesting topic. Thanks Cj ----- Original Message ----- From: "Cj" To: Sent: Saturday, November 01, 2008 7:55 AM Subject: Re: [working-gundog] Wise dogs and wise humans > We have evidence that man and dog have been together for perhaps 35,000 > years and in that time there has been some evidence of coevolution. We > have dogs that almost seem to instinctively understand human emotional > states and human body language but even more interesting is the behavior > of humans that seems to instinctively adapt to dog body language. It is > almost automatic for humans to encourage a dog to approach by squatting > down and holding out the hands. This behavior is naturally a releaser > for the approach of an uncertain dog. Why does spreading out the arms > encourage a dog to come to a human? We have many unlearned responses > and behaviors that trigger innate behaviors in the domestic dog that > seem to be automatic body language interactions understood by the dog. > I can easily understand how a body language sensitive social animal such > as the dog can learn to respond to humans but how do humans > instinctively know so much about dog behavior? Why do dogs "grin" at > humans and yet never display this signal to other dogs? Why does the > heart rate and blood pressure of both dog and human fall when they are > in physical contact? What is the reciprocal calming effect that both > man and dog experience when a man strokes a dog's back? Dogs have been > selectively adapted to man but it also seems that man is selectively > adapted to dogs. > > After examining my own emotional responses to dogs I find that I respond > to them in ways that don't occur to me when I encounter a wolf, fox or > coyote. Part of this difference is learned but part of it is innate. > As far as I can tell humans can easily learn to read a dog but it is a > far more difficult task to learn to read a wolf or coyote. > > When it comes to sniffing, that is scent investigation by a dog, dogs > selectively determine what parts of another dog or person are sniffed. > These body areas are different for mature dogs and puppies and they are > equally different for adult humans and children. Why does a dog > instantly recognize a juvenile human and sniff different body areas than > it does with an adult human? With children dogs sniff the face and head > but with adults they sniff the same body areas that they do with other > mature dogs, a social distinction made by no other animal species. We > are interesting paired species. > Cj

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