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

81–90 of 244 posts

Re: When did dogs become our best friends?

#81

Post by Jensson »

navigate8310 wrote: post #76
prmoustache wrote: post #59

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

Instincts? Wolves hunt animals much larger than themselves for a living, they run after, nibble their ankles and wait for them to make a mistake and then they go in.

Re: When did dogs become our best friends?

#82

Post by lordnacho »

RcouF1uZ4gsC wrote: post #19
lordnacho wrote: post #6

[flagged]

> The naked ape thinks it domesticated me. The naked ape removed your testicles (or ovaries) to make life easier for them. That kind of makes questions about who has the power in the relationship pointless.

I got 8 kids, and monkey guy and his wife delivered them and found them all good homes to live in. I see pictures of them regularly and I might be a grandmother next year.

Re: When did dogs become our best friends?

#84

Post by prmoustache »

CalRobert wrote: post #79
prmoustache wrote: post #59

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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

Well I don't want them any harm either. I understand all this is a big misunderstanding as they probably feel I am a danger to them.

Re: When did dogs become our best friends?

#85

Post by extr »

navigate8310 wrote: post #76
prmoustache wrote: post #59

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

My dogs bark at people on bike/motorcycles/scooters. I think they code as a big animal to them. Once we get up close and it's clear that it's a person on a machine they stop barking.

Re: When did dogs become our best friends?

#86

Post by globular-toast »

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.

Cars ruined cycling. The only way to avoid cars is to use a car yourself. The problem is then you need to do pointless supplementary exercise lest you become an incapable blob like they are. Driving to the gym it is then.

Re: When did dogs become our best friends?

#87

Post by alistairSH »

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.

Cycling in rural Virginia/West Virginia has this risk as well. 99% of pooches just want to run along and make noise, but 1/100 wants flesh.

The solution - never be the slowest in the group!

Re: When did dogs become our best friends?

#88

Post by temporarely »

doublepg23 wrote: post #61
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…

This is either amazing satire or the most Hacker News comment ever written.

"Beware of the Cat!" ..

Re: When did dogs become our best friends?

#89

Post by magicalhippo »

Reminded me of the experiment to domesticate silver foxes[1]. Apparently they got quite tame foxes in just 30 generations.

Interestingly, while they were selected purely for lack of aggression towards humans they started to develop dog-like physical traits.

Hasn't been replicated yet, and doubtfully will, but interesting.

[1]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Domesticated_silver_fox

Re: When did dogs become our best friends?

#90

Post by bee_rider »

lordnacho wrote: post #82
RcouF1uZ4gsC wrote: post #19

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> The naked ape thinks it domesticated me. The naked ape removed your testicles (or ovaries) to make life easier for them. That kind of makes questions about who has the power in the relationship pointless.

I got 8 kids, and monkey guy and his wife delivered them and found them all good homes to live in. I see pictures of them regularly and I might be a grandmother next year.

I’d expect that this isn’t a typical story, do most dogs reproduce? I think if that were the case we’d quickly end up with too many dogs, their litters are so big.

Still seems like a pretty good deal for the species as a whole, though. Sort of like ants or bees, most of the members of the species end up as non-reproducing workers (except the work is to go be a friend to humans). Of course the ratio is not as extreme!

Post reply on HN