New evidence reveals what dogs understand, about their world and about people, what they say and how they say it - to each other and to us - and what they know that people don’t. The hidden lives of dogs themselves are uncovered by dog observers Jon Katz, Alexandra Horowitz, Clive Wynne and Monique Udell, Xioaming Wang, Gillian Ridgeway, Patricia McConnell, Jennifer Arnold and Suzanne Clothier in conversation with Max Allen
It’s pretty interesting.
Dogs, they say, think in maps informed with their smell. They sniff and resniff a location to find out what has been there and they sniff the air to tell the future: to discover what will be here or where they will go next. Thus, they say, dogs have a different sense of “now.” Unlike our eyes, which take in what is visible and apparent at this moment, their noses can sense the past — who and what was here and what’s decaying underneath — and the future of a place — what’s coming, just upwind.
Looks good. Will listen. I recently read The Wolf in the Parlor by Jon Franklin. He provides some illumination into that idea of dogs living more in the world of smell, and does some interesting theorizing about how the human/dog symbiosis improved or permitted both species to survive through pre-history.
At the risk of repeating myself Alexandra Horowitz’s book “Inside of a Dog” is an excellent up to-date easy reading yet scholarly look at what we “know” about dogs.
I’m sure that the title is a reference to exactly this.
I’ve heard that quote ascribed to James Thurber, by the way, but I’ve no idea which is correct. They were almost exact contemporaries, so it’s conceivable that they both said it. Neither of them were strongly averse to, err, adopting a forlorn and lonely joke in need of better company.
whenever I visit one of my friends his dog gets excited and runs round and round the room and jumps all around me and does a doggy tap dance. When I first met him I gave him 3 (yes only 3) almonds. Do almonds make dogs nutty or does he think I am the nutty guy? I have fuond my own way to bring his antics to a stop. I simply stare at the ceiling with my nose pointed up - very calmly. Loses interest.
It is nearly always wise not to enthusiastically greet dogs nor make a big production upon leaving them. Some dogs are prone to separation anxiety from “their” people and you are obviously one of your friend’s dog’s people. Our youngest dog has anxiety about my leaving if she is not in her crate when I go. While my inclination is say a big goodbye or hello I resist. They both have to sit when I return in order to be greeted upon exiting their crates.
what? I gave a dog three almonds and it thinks I have bought the privilege to belong to him?
I cannot believe that dogs could be as intelligent as humans but your explanation would demonstrate that they are just like us.
I don’t think the advice about greetings & goodbyes need to be applied to dogs one only meets occasionally. It’s more important for the dogs’ main companions. Even there, I disagree with the need to keep a dog waiting for a greeting: our hounds give me a much more enthusiastic welcome home than our daughters, so it’s only fair that they get the first kiss & cuddle back
It should also be borne in mind that all dog psychology and dog training advice is at best a guideline. Different breeds have different needs and personalities, and even within breeds there are huge variations. I live with four greyhounds and a lurcher cross: five completely different personalities. Greyhounds are nearly untrainable in the conventional manner, but will learn what they decide is important.
Quite true. I have a 95 year old mum who really can’t afford to let our puppies jump up on her. As much as my wife enjoys a hearty greeting when she gets home we can’t afford the dry cleaning bills for her suits.
We have a neighbour with an English Mastiff who put her in a coma for three days not to mention the sutures to the head when he greeted her one day, now he sits when she gets home. His slobber is still taking the paint off the side of their truck, can’t train him not to drool.
One of our dogs years ago use to run upstairs at supper time because I had scolded her for jumping on me, just once, when fixing her supper, so for the rest of her life she decided it would be better to take herself away from the temptation of being overly enthusiastic, at least about supper.
That’s precisely what I mean - some dogs are so sensitive that they need super-soft training, others have thicker skulls and want more firm reminders. My lurcher/collie cross Bonnie self-trains, frequently not in line with our ideas: when we started acquiring greyhounds, Bonnie decided that she was no longer allowed to step on the lawn. This lasted for well over a year, and we have no idea what her reasoning was.
She also believes that it’s okay to mug my husband when he eats toast, which is so delightful to watch that we let her get away with it…
re “one of our dogs” - how many do you have, what type?
We only have two currently, but we usually have three to four at a time. Almost always Irish Water Spaniels, excepting my partner detection dog, Kolt, who was a GSD. We’re a bit breed blind, but my family has been for several generations. Our dogs work if they are not gun shy.
Our dog Dot was always happy to see me come home from work but she was always way happy to see me come home late from work. It took me the longest time to realize that when I came home late from work, I usually had fast food.
Just curious: drug detection? explosives? human remains?
My current dog, Hoover (a Labrador retriever), and I are volunteer members of our local search and rescue group. We do trailing, airscent (both scent-specific to locate a particular person, and non-scent-specific to find any living human in the area), and human remains detection. I am constantly amazed by what dogs can do with their noses. It’s really fun training for scent work, largely because the dog loves it so much. It’s all a wonderful game to him.
That ties in with the differences between dogs: it seems to me that retrievers typically think they’re playing when they’re working, and herding dogs (especially border collies!) think they’re working when they’re playing.
Biologicals such as feathers, bones, skins, ivory, plants, animals. We still use the same training methods with our current dogs. They love hide and seek games for all sorts of items, however they retrieve the items which would have been a no, no for Kolt. It’s great fun if the weather is too lousy, for humans. We only let one dog at a time search, girl dogs of this breed can become quite aggressive towards each other regarding territory in the home.
Our first dog was a mixed Corgi, he used his nose to hunt and we liked hiding treats around the house for him to find. He liked that too.
Our second dog was a mixed Dalmatian, she hunted by sound. You could put a treat down in front of her and she’d never notice. If you opened up a Dorito bag during a thunderstorm with the TV blaring, she was right beside you.
Our third dog is a Golden Retriever mixed with Chow, she hunts by sight. She don’t care about food but let a squirrel move outside on a powerline and she is there.
