Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

When did dogs become our best friends?

atlasobscura.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

71–80 of 244 posts

Re: When did dogs become our best friends?

#71

Post by HarryHirsch »

smugglerFlynn wrote: post #69
xandrius wrote: post #3

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

Isn’t solving trust issues with further mistrust leads to an even lower trust in the end? (genuinely interested because “low-trust/high-trust communities” concept is a topic I know nothing about.)

When you are eating a shit sandwich already because that's all there is it doesn't matter if there's dogshit or horseshit on it.

Re: When did dogs become our best friends?

#72

Post by MediumOwl »

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…

Check out Donna Haraway's Companion Species Manifesto then, it's more or less exactly about this.

Re: When did dogs become our best friends?

#73

Post by ryanianian »

hasty_pudding wrote: post #50
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.

It is absolutely not good for the environment. Your dog does not eat a local, natural diet. There are more dogs than could be locally and naturally sustained.

Re: When did dogs become our best friends?

#74

Post by CalRobert »

ambrose2 wrote: post #60
xandrius wrote: post #38

Earlier quoted context omitted.

NYC and US are definitely low-trust. Interesting comparison: https://jacknicastro.substack.com/p/vienna-and-new-york-high...

Definitely a high trust city (Vienna), but note that a few times a year they do check for tickets. Because the monthly pass rate is so low, most people have purchased the pass on their phone and that must be shown a couple of times a year or else you’ll be charged a fine at the checkpoint. I’m actually surprised that the evasion stats are so low, since the fine isn’t terribly large and you might come out ahead just n…

The first time I visited Vienna I noted the complete lack of fare control and thought "wow, it's great they've made public transport free!" My hostel was kind enough to disabuse me of this notion, though.

Re: When did dogs become our best friends?

#75

Post by empyrrhicist »

stef25 wrote: post #67
prmoustache wrote: post #51

As a cyclist, I can't say dogs are my best friends. OTOH I have had great bonds with some cats.

[flagged]

The cyclist hate is really demoralizing sometimes. Like, I'm out here trying to enjoy life and be healthy and people think it's funny to joke about murdering me.

Re: When did dogs become our best friends?

#76

Post by navigate8310 »

prmoustache wrote: post #59
Unfrozen0688 wrote: post #56

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You have stray dogs where you live or what? Cant say cycling has affected my views on dogs.

Lots of stray dogs around here in south of Spain. Also when I used to be a 12y old cycling in rural france that was pretty much the same, I was always prepared for a sprint whenever I would reach a farm. In a sense it probably made me stronger but I can't say I build a friendship and a mutual sense of confidence with dogs.

I wonder what makes them hunt cyclists and some cars that pass by.

Re: When did dogs become our best friends?

#77

Post by CalRobert »

hasty_pudding wrote: post #50
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.

Dog poop can blind children and is horrible for the environment.

https://www.cdc.gov/parasites/toxocariasis/

https://www.popsci.com/environment/dog-poop-pollution/

Re: When did dogs become our best friends?

#78

Post by CalRobert »

empyrrhicist wrote: post #75
stef25 wrote: post #67

Earlier quoted context omitted.

[flagged]

The cyclist hate is really demoralizing sometimes. Like, I'm out here trying to enjoy life and be healthy and people think it's funny to joke about murdering me.

Sadly it's OK to kill bicyclists in the US. I moved to the Netherlands to avoid jokes about murdering me and my children at standups.

https://www.nytimes.com/2013/11/10/opinion/sunday/is-it-ok-t...

Re: When did dogs become our best friends?

#79

Post by CalRobert »

prmoustache wrote: post #59
Unfrozen0688 wrote: post #56

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You have stray dogs where you live or what? Cant say cycling has affected my views on dogs.

Lots of stray dogs around here in south of Spain. Also when I used to be a 12y old cycling in rural france that was pretty much the same, I was always prepared for a sprint whenever I would reach a farm. In a sense it probably made me stronger but I can't say I build a friendship and a mutual sense of confidence with dogs.

Perhaps this is in order https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Velo-dog

Re: When did dogs become our best friends?

#80

Post by Jensson »

sph wrote: post #25
temporarely wrote: post #24

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> 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…

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Farm_cat We domesticated cats so they would keep rats away from our winter grain storage.

I assume it was more like humans found cats in their winter grain storage, saw the cat ate rats and left the grain alone, so humans left the cat alone. Ten thousand years later and we are now in a closer relationship.
Post reply on HN