Dogs Decoded

I find it interesting that dogs may have developed a variety of distinguishable barks just to be able to communicate with humans. How did they discover how we interpret certain tonations and pass that along to their offspring? It’s quite curious for something so human to become instinctual in dogs as well. Certainly, this is  related to how they’ve managed to survive among us for so long. I also found the discovery of dogs looking to the left first in order read a person’s expression, just as human’s do, to be fascinating. I suppose dogs adapted this behavior in order to respond quickly to human actions. This documentary touched upon how naturally/historically,  wolves and humans could benefit from the other. Both species revolved around a  social hunter/gatherer system, and both chose to hunt during the day. With humans leaving behind what was left of their kill, wolves were free to wait their turn, picking at the remains of the carcass for food. With wolf packs centering around the human hunting system, they were both bound to begin working with each other, not seeing the other as a threat, but as a friend to keep them going. A companion that would increase their ability to survive. If more species had learned how to adapt as successfully as the wolves had done, what other creatures could have developed today?

Dogs, Dogs, Everywhere.

The in class movie for us was all about dogs and mankind’s hand in creating the variety of types we see today. Being a dog lover and raiser for the Seeing Eye in Morris Town, NJ I already knew quite a bit, but found it fascinating none the less.

Smokey. The third dog I raised and the first to pass. I’m now on dog six, a Golden Retriver named Kramer. Current tally is 2:Pass, 3:Career Change, 1:In Training

The film was mostly about breeding to make a dog have certain traits like smelling abilities, coats, height, shape, you name it. Two cases they mentioned were the breeding of two champion jumpers to make more and hopefully better ones.

Another was to create a dog specifically for finding explosives and their ingredients. In this case the Russian man made the dog from the ground up, so to speak, by starting with a jackal. After 20 years he got his dog, though he says he still isn’t satisfied. This particular case interested me more since one of my failed guild dogs went on to being a drug sniffer.

In another part of the film they talked about the behavior difference that has been now hard wired into those classified as dog as opposed to wolves. In the study several dog and a pack of human raised wolves were given two tests. The first was to study if they would listen to the human on where to go just by hand movements. The second was to see how they would try to get a piece of meat tied in a locked cage.

To me the outcomes were kind of obvious. Though both are pack oriented the dog will see a human as an intimate part of it, while the wolf – even if raised the way they were – never will. They are much more independent and don’t view us the same way. Those who raised them – considering that they still lived outside in an enclosure with other wolves as well – will most likely only see the “raiser” as a loving Uncle that comes by every now and again.

In summary dogs are fascinating. We have created dozens of different types to do different things from working, to hunting, to just being small. Animal Plant’s Dogs 101 talks about each breed specifically from where they came from to they type of people they are bast for. Everyone should have a dog.

The best of pets

The dog video we viewed last week was one my roommate had seen in another class and had shown to me last year.  I didn’t mind watching it again; it’s still very interesting the second time around.

I could relate to the participants in the dog barking experiment. Listeners could tell what kind of emotion a recorded dog was showing based on just their bark. I’ve lived with dogs all my life; my first dog was a year older than me.  I can defiantly understand my two current dogs; they are a west highland terrier and a Cairn terrier. They are both terriers, the Westie is the over bread relative of Cairns, one would think their barks would be very similar, Despite my two dogs being so similar in breed I can easily tell which one is barking based on sound alone, one generally barks assertively with excitement, the other barks with worry and anxiety regardless of the situation.

There was a comparison between dogs and babies during the video. When an owner and dog interact endorphins are release like those between a mother and child. A man being interviewed in the video said dogs were parasites; I’d have to disagree.  This man obviously doesn’t own a dog in my bias opinion; I feel that the majority of people seem to like dogs more than most other humans.

When a person dies in a scary movie in a gruesome way there isn’t much reaction, but if a dog dies the majority of the audience seems a lot more upset.  Rarely do dogs die in movies to begin with, they usually go missing and turn up fine at the end. I personally feel that babies are parasites much more than dogs. At least most dogs will warn you of intruders, relieve stress, and in some cases can spot disease in their human owners. A five-year-old dog could be a trained police dog, what can a five-year-old child do that is equally helpful?

The Evolution of Man’s Best Friend

Dogs are awesome animals. They’re loyal, smart, and full of personality. What I found most interesting about the latest documentary we watched in class was how we humans created dogs, as we know them today.  It’s amazing that through a process of selective breeding and many many years, mankind was able to guide the evolutionary direction of the canine family. I feel this sort of ties in with my last post about Co-Evolution. Without ancient human interaction with ancient wolves. Wolves wouldn’t have co-evolved alongside mankind to become the dogs they are today.

In the fox breeding experiment I thought it was real cool how the fox’s appearance started to change as they bread the less aggressive foxes over and over again.  They started to keep their infant like features even as they aged.  Some of these changes included patches of different colored hair, shorter tails, floppy ears, and large more expressive eyes. If you look at dogs today you can see a lot of these traits in most any breed. In fact most dogs aren’t as intimidating and feral looking as their wolf brethren.

Because puppies are young they aren’t very aggressive, they have cute features, and their bodies aren’t totally developed. Because of this these traits are more approachable and allow for a more social animal. And because human’s bread more socially tame wolves in the long ago past. These features that resembled their younger forms started to persist through the wolves aging process. I also want to invoke the idea of co-evolution once more here. Because dogs evolved alongside mankind that’s why their able to recognize and read our emotions so well. They where forced to. Humans became apart of their DNA. We can be recognized as part of the pack because we have the ability to communicate with one another, and that’s why dogs are our best friends.

Written by: Matthew Trammell

Wolf Pups and Foxes

This week we watched a movie about how intelligent dogs are. Scientists looked into what the difference is between domesticated dogs and their wild relatives, wolves. It’s funny because there was an incredibly large difference…domesticated dogs are just friendlier.

Scientists did an experiment where they had two trainers raise wolf pups as if they were actual puppies. They showed them love and care as they would to any old dog. The wolves grew up to be pretty rude, just like how any wild animal would act. They refused to look at humans and sometimes not acknowledge their care takers, they would jump up onto tables and try to get food even after being told no. The wolves ended up not acting domesticated even after being raised like domesticated dogs.

But why? How do animals become domesticated? I was amazed that they answered this question…with the use of foxes! I found the experiment kind of cruel though…when the foxes were obviously upset and being forced to stay in cages. It was amazing how after choosing the two tamest foxes and breeding them over and over again they managed to breed foxes that could be kept as pets!

Back to dogs though…the movie talked about how dogs have a sort of sixth sense about human emotions. Whenever I cry in front of my Chihuahua she kind of never cares but I think that’s just how her temperament is? She is still very cute though and I love her even if she doesn’t care about how I feel or anything…

But I thought what the movie showed about owners talking about their own pets was beautiful! I love the idea that dogs can sense what we are feeling. It’s sweet, they truly are our best friends.

In conclusion: domesticating animals seems kinda mean and cruel but animals are cute and might kill us if we don’t teach them that we are their friends.

Sure, I like dags…I like caravans more.

So, the movie/documentary we watched this class was awesome and mind blowing as usual. One of the things that never really crossed my mind was how dogs were so different back then, before they were domesticated. It’s kind of scary actually, the fact that we can change their mindset genetically is really a sign of evolution. Imagine….domesticated dinosaurs…anyways, I really liked the huge difference between dogs and wolves. Wolves actually went forth and tried to solve the puzzle, meanwhile dogs gave up, relying on their owner to solve it for them. And this is why I can’t really agree with domestication, we’re basically taking a species, and bending them towards our needs, it’s kind of sad because what happens if a domesticated dog is released into the wild? Most likely it’ll die from starvation etc, and that’s mainly the problem with domestication. It’s like we’re erasing a huge part of their animalistic instincts just so they don’t bite us. And I’m sure other domesticated animals won’t do as well when they’re released into the wild as well.

I guess one of the things I liked most about domesticated dogs was their use for helping civilians, protecting, and just being awesome? Like, when the dogs were used to sniff out bombs that could potentially harm thousands of people, that’s not a bad cause, or to help identify different lung cancers and the stages they’re at. The fact that dog sniffing was more accurate than an X-ray is awesome, but somewhat scary on the other end because a majority of people are using X-rays to scan for cancer etc. Another thing I liked about domestication of dogs was the different breeds, each breed was basically revolved around the humans interest and needs. Some dogs were good for hunting, herding, etc, while other dogs were good helping the blind and guiding them down a path. But, just as humans are, there will always be a negative use of this. People breeding dogs for fighting, mainly for their monetary wins, others use dogs to clear out a building of people, which seems fine, but putting another animal in the line just to make yourself safe is cruel.

Overall, good movie, definitely an eye opener since I never really thought about dogs being…normal? Domestication is scary.

The Science of Dogs

I really enjoyed this documentary; it was easy to get into and very informative. The sections about the experiments with wolves and foxes were especially interesting–though I thought that wolves and dogs were 100% identical DNA-wise. I’ve always known wolves cannot be kept as pets, though I didn’t think there would be that much of a wild-streak in wolves that have been hand-reared. I was also unaware that the Russian fox experiment also included specifically-savage foxes. It’s very interesting to know that behavior is linked to genetics in such an extreme way and I’d like to know more about this, particularly in humans themselves.

My question from my post last week still stands, however–I’d like to know if the variety of traits that have been bred into dogs can be bred into other animals; what exactly makes canines different in that regard? There are no extremely-different cat breeds or horse breeds, so what in canine genetics let skeleton build/fur/color vary so wildly?

I also enjoyed hearing about how dogs and humans have had an evolution so closely intertwined, and how dogs are the only animals that pick up on cues from humans (I’ve always been a dog person, and this just re-enforces my love). It does make me wonder how other animals that have been domesticated for long periods of time have also been changed by humans, or why they also do not pick up on human gestures or interactions. For instance, ferrets have been domesticated for thousands of years, yet the “side effect” of domestication on the species is a complete lack of wild instinct–my pet ferrets do not realize meat is food, and if lost outside they would have no knowledge to hunt or shelter themselves. Domestication is a fascinating process because of how deeply it impacts species in those ways, and I’d like to learn more about it.

Dogs Decoded Response

So, I guess I’ve always been what you would call a “dog person”. Growing up, my aunt always had dogs, and my freshman year of high school my family got a maltese puppy. There wasn’t anything in particular I liked about dogs–they were fun to play with, and liked being pet. But I guess, at the end of the day, I always felt this camaraderie between myself and whatever dog I would care for. There was a certain unspoken language between myself and the dog that was always there, an inexplicable communication I couldn’t explain. Thus the NOVA episode we watched in class, Dogs Decoded, was especially interesting to me. Finally, I got more in-depth explanations behind communication.

The episode did, however, get me thinking. According to Dogs Decoded, dogs have one of the most advanced means of communication between themselves and humans compared to any other animals. All without physical words on their end, relying greatly upon tone. Despite the evidence supporting this claim, I couldn’t help but think about birds and their grasp of human language. How much do birds truly understand, especially when juxtaposed against dogs?

One bird in particular came to mind when regarding language: parrots. While most parrots who can “speak” are often limited to a generic “hello”, I’ve seen quite a few birds in my day that knew multiple phrases. Some birds even seemed to know just what phrases to use, and when to use them. Are these birds truly speaking with a level of comprehension?

An online article from slate.com answered all my questions and more. While the domestication of dogs affected their language skills with humans, the article seems to indicate parrots “speech” patterns as part of their own evolution regardless of domestication. The article states that in the wild, birds have their own dialects which help differentiate birds from different flocks. In one experiment, a group of parrots were integrated into a different flock of birds who had their own vocalization patterns. With the different “languages”, half the birds left while the other half formed it’s own dialect to adapt to their surroundings.

According to the article, “Birds that are raised in captivity might mimic their human owners as a way of gaining acceptance as a member of the family. If they hear “pretty bird” a lot, they’ll interpret that as a call distinct to their flock, and try making it themselves. If the parrot gets no response when she squawks, but gets lots of attention or treats when she makes humanlike noises, she has an extra incentive to practice forming words and phrases.”

In my opinion, this evidence shows that birds do not have the same grasp on communicating with humans as dogs do. While dogs are not vocal, their grasp on emotions far outweighs the simplistic mimicry birds use. Birds are simply adapting to their environment the same way thy would in the wild, learning dialects to define themselves within a flock. Dogs read into human’s tone and facial expressions, while humans can understand different barks of dogs.

References:

1. http://www.slate.com/articles/health_and_science/explainer/2012/05/talking_parakeets_why_do_they_mimic_human_speech_.html

Dog Decoded and Uncoded

Dog Decoded was a very interesting movie for me to watch for reasons that may be different from other people’s.

This summer I was bored and found this book in the closet. The pages were yellow and falling apart, but other than that it was relatively intact. The Human Side of Animals goes into well thought out analysis on the intelligence of domestic and wild animals, reserving special chapters to dogs, cats, and horses. The chapter on dogs made several points that have conflicted with my family when I told them, and with this movie. Apparently, during the tests, dogs weren’t very bright, and were more eager to please their owners than correctly pass the tests scientists conducted. It was also argued that dogs couldn’t understand human words/commands, but the sound pitches that were given.
Now, considering how old the book is (made in 1961), it’s interesting to compare Dog Decoded with The Human Side of Animals and find a good example of old ideals and science vs. new science. I had tested giving my own dogs commands in different pitches, but they had understood them. In all honesty, I think the book was a bit harsh on the dogs, but that may have been because of the way science experiments were conducted back then (I’m not sure how different they are compared to today except that there’s less technology, and modern science is probably more open to the public).
Enough of that, back to the movie.
As much as I love dogs, I’m not sure if they’ve had as much of an impact on the human race as the movie claims. It just seems like a let down on human capability, sort of like how conspiracy theorists claim that giant pyramids and temples were built by aliens. But maybe they have a larger support than I realize, at least back then, back when hunting and gathering was a major requirement for, you know, surviving.
Also, fox experiment. It was funny that that was another story my dad used to tell me about (right along side the toothed chicken usually), and that I also read a short article on the exact farm on Cracked.com. When I had first heard about it I couldn’t understand why they were breeding aggressive foxes (Watching Dog Decoded, it feels like they were doing it for science lulz).
Also liked the part where they mentioned dogs communicating with humans with their barking. I was talk that cats did the same with their meowing (this is not a confirmed source, and only a rumor at the moment).
Anywho, enjoyable movie. It was fun to watch and I’m looking forward to seeing pet foxes in the future.

Dogs Decoded

Dogs have amazing abilities when it comes to interacting with humans. We treat them as human beings with thoughts, feelings and emotions. We share our life and our homes with them. Over half a billion people have more dogs as pets than babies. It’s crazy to know that people seem to like dogs more then having children.

When it comes to communicating with us, dogs use certain tones of barks to let us know their emotion. It’s very interesting how they know how to communicate the same emotions just through the way they bark considering they were once wild animals and they transformed into mans best friend.

One thing that really caught my attention about this movie is how they processed domestication. How they selected the tamest foxes that were kept in cages to breed, which is usually 1% because the rest are usually aggressive or frightened. When raising the babies, they started showing them more affection, which started to make them change rapidly. The foxes started getting excited, wagging their tails and howling to humans. The one thing that really sparked my interest was the fact that they were beginning to change physically because of their interactions with humans. Are foxes going to be the new popular dog or cat?

How come wolves can’t be changed with human interaction? It’s interesting how wolves don’t change from their wild instincts when raised by humans that show them affection. In the documentary, Dogs Decoded, the woman raised the wolves from cubs and they just seemed to destroy her house. Jumping on the table after food and ripping down everything. I find it weird how most animals’ people raise are tamed but wolves just seem to be impossible because of their instincts. I wonder if scientists will keep trying domestication with wolves and if it will ever work or if they will always be wild.

-Julia