Are dog behaviors dependent on a human? (Wolf, dog, and human experiments)

Comments

• Calia

  September 2009 edited November -1

  This reminds me of this one experiment I read about a long time ago that compared the dogs and wolfs willingness to rely on humans.
  
  They took a few dogs and a few human-raised wolves, and taught them that if they pulled a rope a door would open and a treat would come out. Once the dogs and wolves understood this device, they rigged it so that no matter how much they pull on the rope, no food would come out. The wolves would pull and pull and pull, not wanting to give up, while the dogs would pull a few times and then look at the near-by human for assistance or guidance.
  
  It's amazing how different our dogs really are to their wolf relatives.
• Sangmort

  September 2009 edited September 2009

  Hmm. I think it's because that is what dogs have been bred for, to look to humans for guidance. IMHO, I would say dogs show "loyalty" moreso than [ true ] love, because loyalty has been sooooo ingrained in them. Wolves dont have a sense of loyalty to humans.
  
  
  Now, I wonder if say, the experiment Beth spoke about was replicated with different breeds of dog? It'd be interesting to compare a Lab or GSD to say, a Shiba or Jindo. ~
• Nekopan

  September 2009 edited November -1

  I haven't read the article due to my poor internet, but I think I saw the same or very similar on a TV program. Unfortunately, I don't remember the name of it.
  
  Basically, the researchers raised a pack of puppies and a pack of wolves at the same time and gave them the same amount of human attention. When the canines were all adults, they did a few experiments with them, one being the rope experiment Beth explained. The one I found the most interesting was where they took some pots and rubbed them with meat. One pot was placed on either side of a person, one with meat and one without. The human pointed to the pot with the meat, and the canine was released to investigate the pots. The dogs would always go to the one the human pointed at, whereas the wolf would go to whichever one they felt like.
  
  They also did some experiments showing dogs know how to imitate human body motions. The wolves didn't have a clue. Cool stuff.
• lindsayt

  September 2009 edited November -1

  That's cool-I was reading a dog focused Nat Geo and like the pointing test, the tester would be in the middle of 2 cups, one had food underneath it, the other didn't. The dog always went to the cup that the person pointed to, and the wolf would investigate on it's own no matter how the person guided it.
• shirapup32

  September 2009 edited November -1

  This is FASCINATING! I love dogs! And wolves! And science! :P