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When did dogs become our best friends?

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Re: When did dogs become our best friends?

#41

Post by BeFlatXIII »

temporarely wrote: post #24
sph wrote: post #20

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I strongly agree and it's apparent not everybody shares this opinion. I grew up in the countryside in the middle of nowhere, my dog used to have an enormous backyard to run in, and was cheeky enough to have made a hole in the fence when that time of the year came and he really wanted to leave for a couple days at a time, either to sire some puppies, or to roll around in horse dung. We used a leash whenever we took hi…

> Cats on the other hand are much more like humans - cat's dig urbanism, can hang out at a cafe for hours, sit on a couch watching the tube all day, they happily adapt.. So that' why we say "there's a cool cat" but you never hear anything about "cool dogs". So your theory is correct in my opinion: dogs are good rural friends and cats are good urban friends. There is also the matter of dog poop. Has anyone every compl…

> Now a cat on a farm, don't know about that. Wonder how that would work.

Can easily feed themselves from all the rodents enjoying the grain supply.

Re: When did dogs become our best friends?

#42

Post by JohnBooty »

vouaobrasil wrote: post #7

First, I know a lot of people are very nice to their dogs, but... I live in a large city, and based on the number of dogs locked away in apartments all day barking and bored to death with almost no stimulation, I figure dogs are certainly not the best friends of a lot of people. Instead, they are more like prisoners that illustrate the cruelness of humanity in general: these people use them as entertainment and care…

I generally agree that cities and apartments aren't great places for dogs.

But a lot of dogs are rescues, and a lot of breeds are quite happy in apartments.

There are also a lot of mitigations possible. There are dog walkers and dog sitters who come by and walk the dogs during the daytime. You can have multiple dogs that keep each other company. Etc.

    based on the number of dogs locked away in apartments 
    all day barking and bored to death with almost no 
    stimulation
Respectfully, it seems like you don't know a lot about dogs?

A barking dog isn't necessarily distressed. In fact, they're probably not distressed: there are a lot of other ways that dogs show that.

They also like to sleep during the daytime. They sleep a lot in general. They are pretty adaptable to our schedules.

While I generally don't think we should be breeding dogs at all, the reality is that there are a lot of dogs who need homes (as well as homes who need dogs!) and in the majority of situations I think that getting dogs into homes with a loving family is preferable to euthanizing them.

Re: When did dogs become our best friends?

#43

Post by the_af »

lordnacho wrote: post #6

[flagged]

> The naked ape thinks it domesticated me.

You're getting downvotes for some reason, but that's more or less how Neil deGrasse Tyson humorously puts it in Cosmos 2 [1]:

"[...] This wolf has just discovered what a branch of his ancestors figured out some 15,000 years ago. An excellent survival strategy: the domestication of humans."

[1] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aQHBmY6LbiA

Re: When did dogs become our best friends?

#44

Post by Jensson »

sph wrote: post #22
lordnacho wrote: post #6

[flagged]

Your funny comment actually has some deep insight I'd like to see researched more. We know by now how we turned the grey wolf into the dog, but do we know what the relationship has done for us ? What have wolves taught humans? Some hypotheses to get you started: they might've taught us the power of collaboration. The power of social hierarchy. The empathy towards other life forms. Anthropomorphism (maybe that's why w…

Sub Saharan Africa didn't domesticate dogs but they still had tribes and pack hunting.

Re: When did dogs become our best friends?

#45

Post by bryanrasmussen »

xandrius wrote: post #3
INTPenis wrote: post #2

On this topic I saw this great documentary called "Man's first friend" from 2008.[1]. Also speaking of northern Italy, as a dog owner, I am fully behind this[2] proposal to DNA test dogs and punish anyone leaving dog poop on the streets. 1. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=talBvZ5x8sY&t=4882s 2. https://www.theguardian.com/world/2024/jan/17/italian-provin...

In a low-trust country such as Italy, I'd say that it would be useful. Also it would depend on the specific commune and not a country-wide requirement.

Denmark is generally considered a high trust country, but it happens often enough I would like to see it.

Re: When did dogs become our best friends?

#46

Post by the_af »

sph wrote: post #22
lordnacho wrote: post #6

[flagged]

Your funny comment actually has some deep insight I'd like to see researched more. We know by now how we turned the grey wolf into the dog, but do we know what the relationship has done for us ? What have wolves taught humans? Some hypotheses to get you started: they might've taught us the power of collaboration. The power of social hierarchy. The empathy towards other life forms. Anthropomorphism (maybe that's why w…

> [...] but do we know what the relationship has done for us?

"Then as now, this was a good deal for the humans too. The scavenging dogs weren't just a sanitation squad, they were also security." [1]

[1] https://youtu.be/aQHBmY6LbiA?t=132

Re: When did dogs become our best friends?

#47

Post by JohnBooty »

sph wrote: post #22
lordnacho wrote: post #6

[flagged]

Your funny comment actually has some deep insight I'd like to see researched more. We know by now how we turned the grey wolf into the dog, but do we know what the relationship has done for us ? What have wolves taught humans? Some hypotheses to get you started: they might've taught us the power of collaboration. The power of social hierarchy. The empathy towards other life forms. Anthropomorphism (maybe that's why w…

On the evolutionary scale, we'd definitely have to say the change is more profound for the dogs. Every pet dog today is the result of selective breeding by humans, whereas most humans probably did not own dogs.

That said, on a personal scale:

My pets have definitely changed me and made me better.

Re: When did dogs become our best friends?

#48

Post by pookha »

newsclues wrote: post #15
vouaobrasil wrote: post #7

First, I know a lot of people are very nice to their dogs, but... I live in a large city, and based on the number of dogs locked away in apartments all day barking and bored to death with almost no stimulation, I figure dogs are certainly not the best friends of a lot of people. Instead, they are more like prisoners that illustrate the cruelness of humanity in general: these people use them as entertainment and care…

Lived on a farm with a 100 acres a dog could roam freely in. Live in a suburban house with a small back yard and a small dog doesn't like it and wants to roam. Dogs are great in rural areas, in cities I think they suffer for the sake of humans.

Not always that simple. I have a giant doberman. I no-shit threw a frisbee for this doberman 72 times yesterday (and ran with her three miles). She gets more exercise than the sheltie I had as a kid that ran leash-free in the country. And if you dare leave her in the backyard her whine could emit high-pitch frequencies that shake glass. She's a city dog that would be lost in the country without a human to hang with.

Re: When did dogs become our best friends?

#49

Post by dazc »

vouaobrasil wrote: post #7

First, I know a lot of people are very nice to their dogs, but... I live in a large city, and based on the number of dogs locked away in apartments all day barking and bored to death with almost no stimulation, I figure dogs are certainly not the best friends of a lot of people. Instead, they are more like prisoners that illustrate the cruelness of humanity in general: these people use them as entertainment and care…

I am not a lover of dogs, which some people seem to find offensive? Yet, people who are cruel to dogs are, generally, dog owners and not people like me who just give them a wide berth.

Anyone who thinks an animal enjoys being locked indoors all day with no understanding of why, or for how long it will be, is a much lesser person than me.

Re: When did dogs become our best friends?

#50

Post by hasty_pudding »

INTPenis wrote: post #2

On this topic I saw this great documentary called "Man's first friend" from 2008.[1]. Also speaking of northern Italy, as a dog owner, I am fully behind this[2] proposal to DNA test dogs and punish anyone leaving dog poop on the streets. 1. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=talBvZ5x8sY&t=4882s 2. https://www.theguardian.com/world/2024/jan/17/italian-provin...

The founding fathers would think that allowing the government to have a database on ANYTHING is a bad idea.

Plus dog poop is ecologically good for the environment and fertilizes nature.

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