Men and Their Dogs: A New Understanding of Man’s Best Friend (original) (raw)
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Behaviour, 2003
Ainsworth's 'strange situation' procedure was used to investigate the dog (Canis familiaris) -human relationship. 38 adult dog-owner pairs were observed in an unfamiliar room, introduced to a human stranger and subjected to four short episodes of separation. The procedure and behavioural analyses were as similar as possible to those used in studying human infants, except for the inclusion of an extra separation period in which the dogs were left alone in the room with articles of clothing belonging to the owner and stranger. A secure base effect was suggested by the fact that the dogs accepted to play with the stranger more in the presence of their owner than during his or her absence. They also explored more in the presence of their owner, but this appeared to be due to diminishing curiosity over time rather than a secure base effect. The dogs also exhibited a range of attachment behaviours, i.e. search and proximity seeking behaviours when separated from their owner, including following, scratching and jumping up on the door, remaining oriented to the door or the owner's empty chair and vocalising. They also greeted their owner more enthusiastically and for longer durations compared to the stranger. Finally, they contacted the owner's clothing more often and for 3) Corresponding authors address: Prof. E.
Dogs and people: The history and psychology of a relationship
1998
is a psychologist and author of a number of best selling books dealing with psychological topics, including "Sleep Thieves," and "The Left-hander Syndrome." His book on dog behaviour, "The Intelligence of Dogs," went into 18 printings in hardcover and has been translated into 16 languages. His recent books include "What Do Dogs Know" and "Why We Love the Dogs We Do" which was released in June. We're going to be talking about dogs and people and their relationship to each other. During the course of this I will give you a little bit of information about why we love dogs and the personalities of people who pick particular breeds of dogs. The first thing which I think is really important to know is that most of us don't know an awful lot about dogs because our canine education comes from Walt Disney and his ilk-you know, 101 Dalmatians or Lady and the Tramp. For real-life experience we might have a little bit of Lassie, Benji or Rin Tin Tin. This often results in a number of misperceptions about dogs, such as the belief that they are all heroic, incredibly intelligent and actually sort of four-footed people in fur coats. Learning about dogs through the media can also cause us to gloss over differences between the various breeds of dogs. You have to recognize that if you were a Martian biologist and you came down to earth and you looked at a Great Dane, who stands about 32 inches at the shoulder, can weigh up to 135 pounds or so, has long elegant straight legs and short hair, and then you looked at a Pekingese who stands about 8 inches at the shoulder, weighs around 12 pounds, has crooked legs, has more hair than it has body weight-you would
The Veterinary Journal, 2022
Dogs synchronise their behaviour with those of their owners when confronted with an unfamiliar situation and interactions with their owners have been shown to decrease the dogs' stress levels in some instances. However, whether owners may help manage dogs' anxiety during veterinary consultations remains unclear. In Part I, we compared the behaviour of dogs in the presence or absence of their owners during consultations, which consisted in three phases: exploration, examination, and greeting. Our findings suggest that allowing owners to attend consultations may be beneficial for dogs. In Part II, we investigated the direct relationship between owners' actions and their dog's behaviour. Using the videos from Part I, we examined whether 1) dogs interact more when their owner is more interactive; 2) owners' stress scores are related to dogs' stress-related behaviour and emotional state; 3) owners' actions influence dogs' stress-related behaviours, emotional state and tolerance to manipulations; 4) dogs' stress-related behaviours and emotional state are associated with increased eye contact with their owners. We analysed the recordings of twenty-nine dogowner dyads submitted to a veterinary consultation in Part I. The behaviours of the dogs and their owners were analysed, and their emotional states were scored. The ease of manipulations was also scored. Despite limitations (e.g. no physical contact during examinations, no invasive procedures, aggressive dogs excluded, no male owners, limited sample size), our study showed a link between dog and owner behaviours: when owners attended an examination, their negative behaviours intensified the signs of anxiety in their dogs. Additionally, visual and verbal attempts to comfort their dog had no significant effect. However, we observed that the more dogs displayed stress-related behaviours, the more they established eye contact with their owners, suggesting that dogs seek information (through social referencing) or reassurance from their owners.
The Everyday Construction of Human–Dog Companion Relationships in Southern England
This paper is an exploration of the communicative relationship between human and dog. By taking the view that language is not a prerequisite to generating inter-specific meaning, this paper analyses the modes of communication used by humans and dogs to generate authentic social relationships. A consideration of the cognitive capabilities of the dog, referencing studies in animal behaviour and cognitive psychology, provides an overview of the dog’s remarkable capacity to respond to human communicative cues, and to initiate human action. How humans respond to seeing such human-like abilities in dogs is then explored through an analysis of (the presently limited) anthropological and sociological material, illuminated by personal observations of human-dog interaction. It is argued that the concept of anthropomorphism helps humans to overcome the human/animal boundary and to work toward the practical alliance of two minds. Seeing parts of their own selves in the dog, reflected in the way owners “speak for” their dogs as they actively construct the dog’s mind, ultimately leads to a re-affirmation of what it is to be human. The absence of a shared language is what maintains human separation apart from and above all other animals including dogs, yet paradoxically it is also, to a great extent, what makes the unique human–dog bond so extraordinary.
Older Adult Men’s Emotional Bonds with Their Dogs
2018
OF DISSERTATION OLDER ADULT MEN’S EMOTIONAL BONDS WITH THEIR DOGS Knowledge of the deeper meanings of attachment to companion animals is limited, particularly in terms of older adults. This study employed a modified grounded theory method, a phenomenological lens and a life course perspective to gather and analyze data garnered from individual interviews and panel discussions in order to investigate the multiple dimensions of older adult men’s relationships with their companion animal dogs. Individual audio-recorded in-depth interviews and repeated panel discussions with a sub-group of the participants, convened as a panel over a threemonth period, explored behavioral and emotional manifestations of attachment and the emotional bond to their companion animal dogs and the changing nature of that attachment and bond over their life span. Analysis involved open, axial and selective coding of transcripts to reveal underlying patterns within the data. Outcomes included movement toward a ...
THE CANINE-HUMAN INTERRELATIONSHIP AS A MODEL OF POST-OPPOSITIONALITY
Beins' expertise and excellent eye for detail. As an undergraduate Dr. Souris encouraged me to go to graduate school and I will always be grateful for the confidence he had in me. Dr. Cheronda Steele's calm empathy, her insights and strategies, were instrumental in the process and progress of this project. My sincere thanks to Maurice Alcorn who always read and responded kindly. My warm gratitude goes to Dr. Claire Sahlin for her enduring guidance and compassion and for always making time to listen. My children Sierra, Trinity, and Frankie came of age during the course of this project. I love, love, love my children, and their unwavering support strengthened and cheered me throughout the process of this project. Finally and fundamentally, there are my canine companions Fraction, Pi, Abacus, Lemma, Boolean, Julia, Mandelbrot, and Times. Together in these hard times, we make family. I will not forget those who helped make all this possible.
It's Not Just A Dog: The Role of Companion Animals in the Family's Emotional System
2018
my research supervisors, for their patient guidance and support, enthusiastic encouragement and constructive critiques of this research work. I would also like to extend my gratitude to Professor Lisa Karr and Professor McArthur Hafen, who are on my graduate committee for providing me with constructive feedback on my research work. My grateful thanks are also extended to Johnna Hjersman and Kimberly Ruiz for their help in doing the data analysis. I would also like to extend my appreciation to the other faculty in the Marriage and Family Therapy program, my cohort, friends and family for their support and encouragement throughout my study.
Dogs and People: Exploring the Human-Dog Connection
Journal of Ethnobiology, 2020
al. 2020; Tozzer 1941), and guiding their spirits after death into the next life (Wing 2013). Humans have embraced the many roles that dogs have played, intentionally and unintentionally shaping the dogs’ form and behavior to fit these many roles, and thereby creating hundreds of breeds with thousands of physical characteristics. As a result, while all dogs are the same sub-species, the variations in phenotype and morphology among and even within breeds are incredibly diverse, and dogs exhibit phenotypic variability greater than that of any other mammal (Spady and Ostrander 2008). Ancient civilizations used dogs for different tasks, such as hunting, herding, guarding property, carrying burdens, and companionship (Coppinger and Coppinger 2002), and selective breeding has produced a wide variety of traits that complemented these tasks (Kim et al. 2018; Larson et al. 2012). Dog breeds vary considerably in size, morphology, and behavior; even a single trait can have many variations depe...