Pets and Their Humans
Domesticated animals have evolved to make their desires known
It was a simple stroke of luck that brought Pasha together with Chris Behrens. The Australian shepherd mutt, born on a dog-breeding farm near Athens, Ga., had been passed from owner to owner and was up for sale again in 1993. Twenty dollars later, she was on her way to Virginia and her new life with the 27-year-old farm worker. "She has almost a supernatural ability to know what I want her to do," he says. "She is very loyal and protective of me." Now the two live in Seattle, where Pasha walks cheerfully by Behrens's side without a leash and waits patiently by the door if he goes into a store. The dog's attachment is touching, even flattering, but Behrens is sure it reflects insecurity. "She has a very expressive face, and when I pack to go on a trip, I can tell she is worried."
Skeptics would say that Behrens is reading too much into his hound's behavior. But pet owners disagree. Not only do they believe their animals feel emotions; they say they know what their dog or cat feels based on even the slightest adjustment in head, eyes, tail, or mouth. "When she wants to go outside, she shakes her head with her tongue out," says Lydia Nichols, a 30-year-old from Washington, D.C., talking about Delilah, her 31/2-pound Yorkshire terrier. "When she wants to be picked up, she squats down, and when she's trying to get my attention, she'll make a sneezing noise."
Most dogs (and cats) communicate in more predictable ways, and animal behaviorists tend to agree that the more than 62 million dogs and over 64 million cats in the United States have owners who are generally good at reading their behavior. But the tendency to project the thoughts, motivations, and desires of people into animals can sometimes lead humans to the wrong conclusions about Fido's feelings. "Dogs that are treated as furry little people who ought to love and be grateful to us for the muffins [we bake] and the little birthday hats they are forced to wear, are not happy dogs," argues Stephen Budiansky in his new book, The Truth About Dogs. "They invariably suffer the consequences of our unrealistic expectations." Instead, Budiansky argues, both owners and pets do better when people understand animals to be the creatures they are, a dog descended from wolves or a cat descended from, well, wildcats.
The domestication of the animals we live with has taken place over thousands of years, but it is only in the past few centuries that pets have become so much a part of our daily lives. The roughly 400 breeds of dogs now have traits that humans deem desirable, such as loyalty, friendliness, and playfulness. Often associated with the more juvenile characteristics of wolves, this selective breeding has created a new type of animal, one that depends on a caretaker throughout its adult life. "A genetic shift has taken place," says Nicholas Dodman, author of the book Dogs Behaving Badly. "In a way, we have dumbed-down wolves to make them our pets." Dogs have also been bred to look young and helpless, with flatter faces than adult wolves, rounder heads, and floppy ears. Animals bred to stay forever young engender continuously strong feelings of love and nurturance from their owners, feelings that are biologically based. "Cuteness is actually a survival factor," says psychologist Stanley Coren of the University of British Columbia in his book How to Speak Dog, "making adults more protective and solicitous of the younger animals in their group." We feel about our dogs the way we do about our children, he says.
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