Why Are Dogs Man's Best Friend?

[Joker37]

What makes dogs loyal to humans?

 

Is it based on hereditary information or environmental factors?

 

Please provide examples from everyday life with your stance.

[joekgamer]

A person gets a dog.

 

The person feeds the dog.

 

The person is nice to the dog.

 

The dog befriends the person.

[Boerseun]

Simply put, humans and dogs have the same social structure. Also, we have selectively bred only those dogs having the traits we want, for thousands of years.

 

Interestingly, humans are the mammals with the most facial muscles. We use our facial expressions very much in communication. Dogs are the animals with the second most facial muscles, after humans. Communication with dogs is very effective, and dogs can smile, frown, show their intentions, everything necessary to make a good hunting partner.

 

I think its only natural that some sort of affection should exist between the two animals with the most amount of facial muscles for communication, as well as a mutually compatible social hierarchy.

[HydrogenBond]

Dogs are smarter than apes, if we use a broad based definition of smart. The ape is a one trick pony. But a dog can be trained to do a wide variety of independent jobs, even jobs where the dogs needs to use it own judgement.

 

For example, one can train a seeing eye dog and then place him/her in a totally new environment and he/she will extrapolate lessons learned into real time decision. Dogs are not monkey see monkey do, but have extrapolation intelligence for a wide range of tasks (not a one trick pony like apes). In all due respect for the apes, that one trick is a good one.

 

Dogs can work alone, work in teams, they can lead or follow. Dogs can also lead other species such as herding sheep even in unknown environments with changing parameters. The dog's natural intelligence resulted in them aligning with the pre-humans since their relationship would become mutually beneficial. Humans did not align with apes before Darwin because they were too much work, limited practical value and not that smart when it came to job training. The ape was more for entertainment.

 

The human may have had to learn from the dog, the value of their mutual relationship. Dogs sometime will try to adopt an owner if possible. The early relationship with dogs may have started when dogs adopting the humans, showing his value in protection and hunting. The facial muscles of the dog allows dogs to understand and communicate human body emotion and moods, allowing dogs to overcome human language barriers, for full scale adaptation with humans. This rapport may have helped overcome the primitive fear of novelty the early humans would have; dog could sense and appease until the bond was formed.

[joekgamer]

Dogs are smarter than apes, if we use a broad based definition of smart. The ape is a one trick pony. But a dog can be trained to do a wide variety of independent jobs, even jobs where the dogs needs to use it own judgement.

 

Nope.

 

http://www.koko.org/friends/index.html

[JMJones0424]

For example, one can train a seeing eye dog and then place him/her in a totally new environment and he/she will extrapolate lessons learned into real time decision. Dogs are not monkey see monkey do, but have extrapolation intelligence for a wide range of tasks (not a one trick pony like apes). In all due respect for the apes, that one trick is a good one.

 

This is the second time that I am aware of that you have made this assertion. Do you have any source for this claim? As far as I know, it is clearly false. Guide dogs are in fact highly trained animals that provide a tremendous service to their handlers. They are not, however, capable of "extrapolating lessons learned" into new situations. It appears to me that you are making unfounded assumptions and extrapolating an interpretation from them. Please read the following overview of what guide dogs are actually capable of from the International Association of Assistance Dog Partners.

 

http://www.iaadp.org/tasks.html

 

Notably:

The human partner makes most of the decisions for the team, giving the dog directions and determining, after listening to the flow of traffic, the most optimal time to cross each street. Guide dogs are carefully conditioned to refuse the "Forward" command under certain circumstances where it would be unsafe to proceed, something termed "intelligent disobedience." A dog does not have the reasoning power to comprehend the inherent danger in traffic. The net effect of the conditioning, however, is a habitual reaction from the dog to specific stimuli which substantially improves team safety. It should be noted this skill deteriorates over time if the handler forgets to appropriately praise the dog for avoiding a situation. Like other assistance dogs, a guide dog relies heavily on the team leader's feedback, especially praise, to reinforce and motivate desired behaviors.

 

Guide dogs are carefully trained to react to specific stimuli that are generic enough to be useful in most any situation the handler may encounter. It is a mistake to conclude that the dog is actually making the decisions. Guide dogs are trained to be a tool that gives feedback to the handler about his environment. They are not actual guides. Think of a guide dog as an extremely useful, living, white cane.

[Deepwater6]

I have 3 dogs and I tend to agree with hydrgenBond as far as dogs extrapolating different situations. The smarter than the apes quote I couldn't say as I have never spent years in the company of apes like I have with my dogs. Two of my dogs are not certified to do anything however I have spent hours and hours teaching them things that will help my disabled wife.

 

Living with a dog and observing it is alot more informative than looking at one in the pet store window at the mall. My dogs know what to do when I say 'open the fridge with the rope" He is not extrapolating he is just doing what he has been trained to do, however as part of their training I purposely changed the scenario. I will ask them to do something I have already trained them to do, but I change the conditions and leave it to them to extrapolate another way to get the command done. Seeing eye dogs cannot be trained in every shape intersection of a city. They have to figure out a way to get their master through a 4 way intersection as well as 6 way intersection. Some intersections are not the standard plus sign shape they may have been trained on. There are some intersections out there that are very oddly shaped and they have to make and extrapolation on how they are going to negotiate them safely regardless.

 

I don't have scientific proof of this, but then again I don't have proof that my grandmother loves me but I know she does.

 

 

 

 

Dogs are smarter than apes, if we use a broad based definition of smart. The ape is a one trick pony. But a dog can be trained to do a wide variety of independent jobs, even jobs where the dogs needs to use it own judgement.

 

For example, one can train a seeing eye dog and then place him/her in a totally new environment and he/she will extrapolate lessons learned into real time decision. Dogs are not monkey see monkey do, but have extrapolation intelligence for a wide range of tasks (not a one trick pony like apes). In all due respect for the apes, that one trick is a good one.

 

Dogs can work alone, work in teams, they can lead or follow. Dogs can also lead other species such as herding sheep even in unknown environments with changing parameters. The dog's natural intelligence resulted in them aligning with the pre-humans since their relationship would become mutually beneficial. Humans did not align with apes before Darwin because they were too much work, limited practical value and not that smart when it came to job training. The ape was more for entertainment.

 

The human may have had to learn from the dog, the value of their mutual relationship. Dogs sometime will try to adopt an owner if possible. The early relationship with dogs may have started when dogs adopting the humans, showing his value in protection and hunting. The facial muscles of the dog allows dogs to understand and communicate human body emotion and moods, allowing dogs to overcome human language barriers, for full scale adaptation with humans. This rapport may have helped overcome the primitive fear of novelty the early humans would have; dog could sense and appease until the bond was formed.

[JMJones0424]

Seeing eye dogs cannot be trained in every shape intersection of a city.

 

This is obvious, though I know of no one claiming that they must be.

 

They have to figure out a way to get their master through a 4 way intersection as well as 6 way intersection. Some intersections are not the standard plus sign shape they may have been trained on. There are some intersections out there that are very oddly shaped and they have to make and extrapolation on how they are going to negotiate them safely regardless.

 

This is easily shown to be false, and is precisely the same point that HBond has continued to make though it has been shown to be false. A guide dog DOES NOT observe an intersection, plan the most appropriate way to negotiate it, and then lead the handler through the intersection. The shape of the intersection is irrelevant to the dog precisely because the dog is not trained to negotiate intersections. That is the handler's job. As you correctly noted above, the dog can not be trained to negotiate every intersection. The dog is trained to negotiate street crossings. The shape of the intersection is absolutely irrelevant to the dog. It is factually incorrect to assert that the guide dog "extrapolated how to negotiate an intersection safely". You and HBond are both forgetting the other half of the handler/guide dog paring and attributing every decision made to the dog, which is as I have shown, a mistake.

 

I don't have scientific proof of this, but then again I don't have proof that my grandmother loves me but I know she does.

Of course you don't have proof of it, as your assertion is demonstrably false. I fail to see why the question of your grandmother's love has any bearing whatsoever on the issue.

[fahrquad]

What makes dogs loyal to humans?

 

Is it based on hereditary information or environmental factors?

 

Please provide examples from everyday life with your stance.

 

Dogs view themselves as part of our "pack" hence they are loyal to the other "pack members". Also they stay with us because we feed them and care for them The first dogs were hungry wolves attracted to our campfires by our fresh kill, and have been with us ever since. We in turn have bred and cross bred them to the variety of forms currently in existence. If those first wolves could have know what an abomination we would make out of them, they would have kept away. PS, Wolves and Coyotes will kill and eat a dog without hesitation.

[Guest MacPhee]

Dogs view themselves as part of our "pack" hence they are loyal to the other "pack members". Also they stay with us because we feed them and care for them The first dogs were hungry wolves attracted to our campfires by our fresh kill, and have been with us ever since. We in turn have bred and cross bred them to the variety of forms currently in existence. If those first wolves could have know what an abomination we would make out of them, they would have kept away. PS, Wolves and Coyotes will kill and eat a dog without hesitation.

 

Suppose you live on your own. Your only companion is a dog, which you're fond of. You allow it to sleep in your bedroom at night.

Then, during the night, you have a stroke, which paralyses you. You're still conscious, but can't move your body.

 

Suppose further, that the doors of the house are all locked. So the dog can't get out, to find any food. The only food available, is your body.

 

What will happen - will the dog start to eat you? If it does, how will you react?