A Dog’s Life – A Special Relationship Needing Special Consideration

INTRODUCTION

Traditionally dogs’ interactions with people have been perceived in somewhat contradictory ways, emphasizing either their place as man’s best friend or their drive to be “top dog” unless put in their place by a human “pack leader”. Although some popular opinions suggest that the former perspective is anthropomorphic and that the latter is a more scientifically robust view, the opposite is more likely the case. Understanding the nature of social interactions and relationships in dogs at both an intra- and interspecific level is important if we are not to misunderstand their behavior or misrepresent their needs. In addition, if we wish to prevent behavioral problems and provide dogs with good welfare on the basis of sound science, it is important to fully appreciate their specific cognitive abilities and the influence domestication has had on the unique symbiotic relationship that has evolved between humans and dogs over thousands of years. It is unfortunate that there sometimes seems to be a failure to distinguish between strongly held or popular opinion and our scientific knowledge. Adopting a scientific perspective can be particularly challenging when we are frequently faced with popular representations in the media which feed into our innate human biases and thus misinform us about this important topic.

HUMAN RELATIONSHIPS WITH DOGS VERSUS WOLVES

While the proposition that the dog is a “wolf in your living room” has a certain appeal to many, it could be argued that this popular projection obscures the essence of what it means to be a dog, and encourages inappropriate behavior towards them by their carers. While dogs are very closely related to wolves, the small genetic difference that exists appears to have been critical to their acceptance and closer integration into human society. Historically humans and wolves have occupied quite similar ecological niches and this competition over similar resources perhaps goes some way to explain why the wolf is often vilified in popular myths or portrayed as the one who cannot be trusted. By contrast, the dog is often seen as the loyal “servant”. So how did canids move from one extreme to the other? It is increasingly recognized that this was not primarily an act of ingenuity, but was, most probably, largely the result of natural evolutionary changes associated with the exploitation of new environmental resource niche. As humans settled, so they created focal collections of important resources and these were attractive to wolves (as they had similar resource interests). Whereas in some cases it would have paid to steal such resources and flee (perhaps giving rise to the mythical portrayal of the wolf), in other instances another strategy which exploited this may have been useful, namely scavenging. This may have been tolerated as the presence of a refuse collector could have brought benefits to the society such as reduced disease etc. Depending on the characteristics of a given wolf, such as its flightiness, one strategy may be a more realistic and successful than another; less flighty wolves would not only be able to adopt the role of cleaner more efficiently and effectively (as they would be less prone to launch an attack when approached by humans), but they would also benefit from not using up so much energy by running away from people, chasing after prey or living far away from a very reliable feeding ground. Thus, domestication may be seen as a natural evolutionary process arising from the advent of human settlements. However the success and development of the human-dog relationship is not simply down to the domestication process per se, but rather, it relates to the nature of the animal domesticated. The very fact that wolves were in competition with humans for similar resources, helps to understand why the dog-human relationship was so important to early humans - both shared an interest in similar prey and the combination of human intellect together with canid hunting skill and speed, created a more successful hunting partnership. This could increase food availability to the benefit of both and facilitate the development of larger populations (leading to the portrayal of the dog as man’s best friend).

THE CO-EVOLUTION OF HUMANS AND DOGS

While it is generally recognized that the dog has evolved adaptations to a domestic environment, it is perhaps less well appreciated that there may also be evolved changes in people associated with more efficient exploitation of the potential in this relationship, i.e. adaptations towards living with a dog. Recent research over the last decade has now shown that both dogs and humans appear to show a number of  [...]