There are lots of things you can do to have a closer relationship with your dog. “My Doggie Says…” is sort of a training manual for observing your dog, learning to understand what it’s saying, and nurturing it. This can bring you into a much closer relationship with your dog.
But what does it mean to be in a relationship with your dog? Does it just mean that your dog responds to “sit,” “stay,” “come,” and “roll-over?” Or is there something more going on? Is there some kind of emotional connection between people and their dogs? It sure feels that way to me.
People who really love their pets are often accused of “anthropomorphizing,” or imagining that their dogs behaviors represent human emotions or actions. If my dog licks my hand, is it because he loves me? Or is it because the salty flavor tastes good? But do dogs “doggiepomorphize?” Do they assume that people think like dogs? Probably. You could explain some of the “pack behavior” training theories this way.
Here’s a very thoughtful piece on this subject by Jasper: The Blogging Lab. After all, Jasper’s a dog, so he should know the answers to these questions.
Jasper believes there’s more to the people-pet relationship than anthropomorphizing. Here’s what he says:
“Personally I believe that there has always been much more to the canine mind than what we have in the past permitted ourselves to perceive. Believing this is no longer the wishful thinking of a pet owner anthropomorphizing their own thoughts onto those of their dog’s. Rather, dogs have recognizable intelligence.” Jasper also points out that scientists are discovering that dogs do have “recognizable emotions.” These emotions come into play in “pack” interactions. Why not also in human interactions?
Here are some thoughts I especially like:
“When I’m sad, they (my dogs) snuggle and are gentle and loving, not playful or rough. When I share good news with them, they respond by jumping around or by bringing me one of their toys. To me, this illustrates in the dog, a certain degree of intelligence and emotion, as well the ability to read, understand and interact with us.”
Yesterday, I talked about how much I enjoy my soccer games with Callie. She sits in the back yard, just on the other side of the soccer ball from me, and waits for me to come and play. How long would she sit there and wait? I don’t want to know, because after about thirty seconds, I start to feel guilty — like I’m hurting her feelings if I don’t play. Would it hurt her feelings if I didn’t respond? I have to believe it would, and it would begin to “train” her to not invite me any more.
So whether Callie is feeling human-like emotions or something else, I’m not going to “hurt her feelings.”
