Humans and dogs were two borderline species until dogs were domesticated. But together the two were so complementary, that they never looked back. The dogs had the speed, teeth, smell and baby sitting while humans had the weapons, rock throwing, intelligence and cooking. It was and is a killer combination that rose to the top of the animal world on earth so far.
When did dogs become our best friends?
181–190 of 244 posts
Re: When did dogs become our best friends?
#182Earlier quoted context omitted.
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...
I've long believed that riding a bike should require a license and that cycling laws need to be part of getting licenses for both the cyclist and drivers. Part of the problem is, most people don't actually know the laws for operating a bicycle, including most cyclists. I know this is an unpopular opinion.
... So my six year old daughter needs a license?
Re: When did dogs become our best friends?
#183[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
I feed and care for my dog and he doesn't have to do jack crap except act friendly from time to time. Quite the scam he's running.
Re: When did dogs become our best friends?
#184Earlier quoted context omitted.
That blows my mind. I had two dogs as a kid, and if we didn't pick up the poop fast it destroyed the grass underneath. Their corner of the yard was all dead grass.
My dog has pooped in my backyard for years and nothing but thick quality grass everywhere. probably because most kibble is vegetable based and vegetable based poop is good for the grass. maybe you fed your dog more meat? if your dog's poop is killing the grass you're doing something seriously wrong with its diet.
> most kibble is vegetable based
Most cheap kibble maybe.
> if your dog's poop is killing the grass you're doing something seriously wrong with its diet.
If yours isn't, I think _you_ might be doing something wrong with its diet. https://lawnlove.com/blog/is-dog-poop-bad-for-grass/
Re: When did dogs become our best friends?
#185Earlier quoted context omitted.
Don't shoot the messenger, but this is one of a number of quality-of-life improvements which is a non-starter because of the doctrine of disparate racial impact. The argument would be that poverty, undocumented status, etc, means it's harder for some ethnicities to comply with that sort of regulation, so the burden of police interaction would disproportionately fall on them. Probably not wrong in this case, getting a…
Yet obviously there are many laws that are enforced and do have disparate racial impacts... So this is just an airing of grievances.
Those laws aren't dog ownership requirements in New York City, though. Which is the topic I was replying to. It wasn't a statement about all laws everywhere.
Re: When did dogs become our best friends?
#186Humans and dogs were two borderline species until dogs were domesticated. But together the two were so complementary, that they never looked back. The dogs had the speed, teeth, smell and baby sitting while humans had the weapons, rock throwing, intelligence and cooking. It was and is a killer combination that rose to the top of the animal world on earth so far.
By baby sitting you mean dog hearing?
Re: When did dogs become our best friends?
#187Earlier quoted context omitted.
I've long believed that riding a bike should require a license and that cycling laws need to be part of getting licenses for both the cyclist and drivers. Part of the problem is, most people don't actually know the laws for operating a bicycle, including most cyclists. I know this is an unpopular opinion.
... So my six year old daughter needs a license?
I love that attitude - we have a safety issue, so let's victim blame and ignore the infrastructure issues, poorly trained HEAVY MACHINERY OPERATORS, safety-hostile vehicle design, and generally enormous subsidies for using cars everywhere.
Re: When did dogs become our best friends?
#188Earlier quoted context omitted.
That's a better test. There are a lot of places with 95%+ fare compliance where I wouldn't leave my bike unlocked for an instant. It only takes one asshole out of thousands to steal a bike, and every society has at least one asshole.
Any example? Also high trust != absolutely no crime ever It's the difference between getting your bike stolen because of a random asshole and knowing your bike will be stolen by someone (also arguably an asshole).
> Any example?
Literally any city with good fare compliance. If it's got enough people in it to have a transit network, it's got enough bike thieves in it to steal your bike.
> It's the difference between getting your bike stolen because of a random asshole and knowing your bike will be stolen by someone (also arguably an asshole).
That's just a product of population density. If you live in the middle of nowhere, with 5 people total in a 15-mile radius, it's highly unlikely someone's going to steal your bike.
If you leave your bike on Main Street, where thousands of people walk by every hour, all it takes is one in a thousand.
Re: When did dogs become our best friends?
#189Likely twice as old as written language. https://www.livescience.com/stone-age-dog-burial.html Abuse of a dog or cat is a crime against civilization itself.
> https://www.livescience.com/stone-age-dog-burial.html
"Of note, it's unclear whether the dog died a natural death, or whether it was killed to be buried with its human. An analysis of its remains may reveal this mystery."
What are the odds that the dog died of natural causes at exactly the same time as the owner?
> Abuse of a dog or cat is a crime against civilization itself.
That logic doesn't follow. If dogs predate civilization, then how could it be a crime against civilization? Your article is about dogs in primitive hunter gatherer societies. Not civilizations. Besides, many civilizations have thrived abusing dogs and cats. You might want to read what the bible says about 'unclean' dogs. Or why we have the saying 'there is more than one way to skin a cat'.
Or how 'civilizations' dispatched of dogs not too long ago.
https://archive.nytimes.com/cityroom.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/...
Not to mention the millions of cats/dogs that are 'euthanized' every year or the hundreds of million of cats and dogs that are castrated ( which people oddly don't consider to be abuse ). Heck, it's not hard to argue that imprisoning animals in your home as 'pets' is abuse.
If anything, civilization is an abuse against dogs and cats.
Re: When did dogs become our best friends?
#190Reminded 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
Really fascinating, I love the implication that domestication is tied to juvenile characteristics (getting along in a group means acting more like a kid than an adult protecting your territory / breeding rights). > "Are we domesticated in the sense of dogs? No. But I am comfortable saying that the first thing that has to happen to get a human from an apelike ancestor is a substantial increase in tolerance toward one…
It also seems to have something to do with adrenaline, making them less fearful. It's really interesting research.