The Indispensable Dog
Dogs’ remarkable success in living in a human-dominated world rests on a set of adaptations to cohabitation with humans. In this paper, I review the nature of these adaptations. They include changes in reproductive and foraging behavior from their ancestor species, wolves, which can be understood as...
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ftdoajarticles:oai:doaj.org/article:e49dcdf3d923449688666c863815c053 2023-05-15T15:49:51+02:00 The Indispensable Dog Clive D. L. Wynne 2021-07-01T00:00:00Z https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2021.656529 https://doaj.org/article/e49dcdf3d923449688666c863815c053 EN eng Frontiers Media S.A. https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fpsyg.2021.656529/full https://doaj.org/toc/1664-1078 1664-1078 doi:10.3389/fpsyg.2021.656529 https://doaj.org/article/e49dcdf3d923449688666c863815c053 Frontiers in Psychology, Vol 12 (2021) domestication symbiosis dominance social hierarchy dogs (Canis lupus familiaris) wolves (Canis lupus lupus) Psychology BF1-990 article 2021 ftdoajarticles https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2021.656529 2022-12-31T13:00:48Z Dogs’ remarkable success in living in a human-dominated world rests on a set of adaptations to cohabitation with humans. In this paper, I review the nature of these adaptations. They include changes in reproductive and foraging behavior from their ancestor species, wolves, which can be understood as adaptations to the change from hunting live prey to feeding on human food residues. Dogs also show several changes in social behavior which are more controversial and even somewhat paradoxical. Contrary to theories of canine domestication which view dogs as less aggressive and more cooperative than wolves, several studies show that dogs’ social interactions with conspecifics are more hierarchical and competitive than are wolves’. As scavengers rather than hunters, dogs do not need to cooperate with conspecifics the way that wolves do. But how then can we understand dogs’ willingness to cooperate with humans? I propose an integrated account of dogs’ social behavior that does not assume that dogs need to recognize the species-identity of the individuals with whom they interact. Because of the overlap in formal signals of dominance and submission between dog and human and people’s complete control over the resources dogs need, I propose that people occupy a status of “super-dominance” over dogs. This conception suggests several new lines of research which could shed light on the human-dog relationship to the benefit of both partners. Article in Journal/Newspaper Canis lupus Directory of Open Access Journals: DOAJ Articles Frontiers in Psychology 12 |
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Directory of Open Access Journals: DOAJ Articles |
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English |
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domestication symbiosis dominance social hierarchy dogs (Canis lupus familiaris) wolves (Canis lupus lupus) Psychology BF1-990 |
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domestication symbiosis dominance social hierarchy dogs (Canis lupus familiaris) wolves (Canis lupus lupus) Psychology BF1-990 Clive D. L. Wynne The Indispensable Dog |
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domestication symbiosis dominance social hierarchy dogs (Canis lupus familiaris) wolves (Canis lupus lupus) Psychology BF1-990 |
description |
Dogs’ remarkable success in living in a human-dominated world rests on a set of adaptations to cohabitation with humans. In this paper, I review the nature of these adaptations. They include changes in reproductive and foraging behavior from their ancestor species, wolves, which can be understood as adaptations to the change from hunting live prey to feeding on human food residues. Dogs also show several changes in social behavior which are more controversial and even somewhat paradoxical. Contrary to theories of canine domestication which view dogs as less aggressive and more cooperative than wolves, several studies show that dogs’ social interactions with conspecifics are more hierarchical and competitive than are wolves’. As scavengers rather than hunters, dogs do not need to cooperate with conspecifics the way that wolves do. But how then can we understand dogs’ willingness to cooperate with humans? I propose an integrated account of dogs’ social behavior that does not assume that dogs need to recognize the species-identity of the individuals with whom they interact. Because of the overlap in formal signals of dominance and submission between dog and human and people’s complete control over the resources dogs need, I propose that people occupy a status of “super-dominance” over dogs. This conception suggests several new lines of research which could shed light on the human-dog relationship to the benefit of both partners. |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Clive D. L. Wynne |
author_facet |
Clive D. L. Wynne |
author_sort |
Clive D. L. Wynne |
title |
The Indispensable Dog |
title_short |
The Indispensable Dog |
title_full |
The Indispensable Dog |
title_fullStr |
The Indispensable Dog |
title_full_unstemmed |
The Indispensable Dog |
title_sort |
indispensable dog |
publisher |
Frontiers Media S.A. |
publishDate |
2021 |
url |
https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2021.656529 https://doaj.org/article/e49dcdf3d923449688666c863815c053 |
genre |
Canis lupus |
genre_facet |
Canis lupus |
op_source |
Frontiers in Psychology, Vol 12 (2021) |
op_relation |
https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fpsyg.2021.656529/full https://doaj.org/toc/1664-1078 1664-1078 doi:10.3389/fpsyg.2021.656529 https://doaj.org/article/e49dcdf3d923449688666c863815c053 |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2021.656529 |
container_title |
Frontiers in Psychology |
container_volume |
12 |
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1766384866614575104 |