Scientist says new research proves 'dogs are people too'

Researchers out of Emory University have spent the past two years training dogs to go into MRI scanners so they could get the first scans of their active brains.

f you sedate an animal, you won’t get a scan of the active brain. So, the scientists had to train the dogs, and when they started getting those scans, they saw amazing activity.
BERNS: “Dogs recognize the scents of people they live with and they have positive feelings for them. ... basically the same things that humans love each other for — things like social comfort and social bonds.”

So those if you who have pets at home i'm sure you have figured it out by now that our best friend truly does love you

its like seeing your best friend walk threw the door, you recognize them and feel for them

dogs do too, they remember your individual sent and ties it to positive feelings

so they need comfort and social interactions, just as much as any child




btw dogs love children (of course there are those with mental instability) but that mostly occurs with bad 'owners' and is a different topic all together


www.statesman.com...

reply to post by hknudzkknexnt



" Researchers out of Emory University have spent the past two years training dogs to go into MRI scanners so they could get the first scans of their active brains. "


Good Luck trying to get my Cat into one of those things..


i297.photobucket.com...

reply to post by hknudzkknexnt


Of course dogs are people too! The surprising part of this is that they needed to do research in order to prove it. However now that they have, I guess that settles it once and for all.

Maybe some non-dog lovers/people will believe what some of us say about our dogs. Being a stay at home mom, my dogs always got used to me being home most of the time. My chihuahua screams almost like a human baby when I leave regardless if there is anyone left at home with him or not. His anxiety is like a clingy baby almost. When I come home he can't sit still for a good hour. Full body shakes and high pitched whines/whistles ensue. I know that I love him and I am pretty sure that he loves me (as long as there are no apocalyptic shortages of food and I have been dead in my living room for a week and he is hungry scenarios).

Thanks for the article!

reply to post by hknudzkknexnt


A few years ago I trapped a baby chipmunk with my hands. It was in a dangerous area so I kept and raised it, bought a hamster kit and watched it grow. this little creature was amazing what it learned by watching people. It could change channels on the remote, run to the door when the doorbell rang, dance to music, and loved to ride in my truck. This creature was smarter than my cat by far and had a personality more advanced than my neighbors 1200 dollar trained german shepard. Chipmunks do not have a long life span, but he put in a lot in a short time. My point is that most animals are adaptable to their enviornment, they will learn and do things that will blow your mind. this is not limited to just one of the many...

reply to post by hknudzkknexnt


I see where the doctor is coming from in that I agree that the way society murders dogs is basically psychopathic, but still dogs clearly aren't people. There are a lot of other things that separate people from dogs regardless of there perhaps being a similarity in the forming of attachments. I'd like people to be a bit more sympathetic to dogs with behavioural issues but I'm not sure sensational soundbytes are the way to do it.

reply to post by Kangaruex4Ewe


Your dog does that because he thinks he's the leader of your pack...and you're leaving without his permission- causing him anxiety!

On topic: Pft! We don't need scientists to tell us this!! Despite the fact that my cat won't go into an MRI machinie (while it's turned on, making horrid noises), he's a person too!

reply to post by Hushabye


That is utter baloney....and I hope you were joking.

My doxy/pit mix acts the same way. She typically will run around all excited and panting. But if i start whining at her in a high pitch falsetto, she will start screaming with me.

She loves me absolutely. Putty in my arms. And I love her. Best damned dog I have ever had, and I have had a few. I like to think she is my roommate, because she just walked into the house one day behind my son and made it her home. He didn't know where she came from...she just walked in and stole my heart. We tried to find her owner, and determined that she couldn't be owned. So she became our room mate.

I should add: the owners were likely some folks around te corner with a new litter of doxy/pit mix pups. But they didn't want to claim her, saying they had "given them all away".

And what's up with that psychic connection, or sensing intention thing? They are amazing and are capable of learning things that they have never been tested on. New testing involving higher intelligence are being conducted showing that dogs are capable of learning more than we had thought, via traditional tests. Link

How are they like us?
Dogs are the only species that have demonstrated that they can learn words in a manner similar to a little kid. It’s not that other species that we think of as being highly intelligent, like bonobos and dolphins, can’t become sophisticated at communicating using symbols, but there’s some nice evidence that dogs are using an inferential strategy, which takes advantage of what’s called the principle of exclusion. They know that a number of objects are named or labeled with a sound, and when a new one is introduced that they do not have a label for, and they hear a new sound that they’ve never heard before, they infer that the new sound must apply to this new object. That has only been observed in human children before. That was a big shocker, and it’s been replicated. It even gets crazier than that—several border collies are using what’s called the principal of iconicity. You can show them a two-dimensional picture, and they will then go fetch the object in the picture. That’s something people thought only kids could do, and that it would only be in a linguistic species that that would be possible.

What are some other new findings about dog intelligence?
There’s a lot of research into how dogs solve problems. For instance, in a new experiment, a dog demonstrated opening a sliding door, using one of two techniques. It turns out other dogs will copy the first dog and use that same technique the very first time they open the door. That is not something that most people would have expected. [A hundred years ago, British psychologist] C. Lloyd Morgan was one of the first people to write about animal intelligence from an experimental perspective. One of the great anecdotes he tells is about how his dog Tony struggled to open a gate, and through trial and error, he slowly learned a solution. It looked like Tony the terrier was a genius, but because Morgan had watched the problem-solving develop, he knew that Tony didn’t understand anything, that it was all chance trial and error. Morgan then concluded that when you see animals doing intelligent things, you must consider that there’s a very low-level mechanism that allowed them to solve the problem. But the new finding is, if he had only shown Tony how to open the gate, Tony could have learned almost immediately how to do it. You make the problem social and dogs do fantastically.

Read more: www.smithsonianmag.com...

It is true, this knowledge brings a more refined responsibility imo, for providing adequate stimulation and exercise to our beloved companions.

aboutface
reply to post by hknudzkknexnt

 

Of course dogs are people too! The surprising part of this is that they needed to do research in order to prove it. However now that they have, I guess that settles it once and for all.

Agreed. I would be more impressed if they had a study that proves people are people. I have my doubts sometimes.

Nah. Dogs ain't people. People wouldn't eat the things my dog picks up of the ground and scarfs before I can get to him.
People don't do shoulder dives and roll around it foul things (the fouler the better) like my dog does before I can get to him.
People don't endlessly run after, get, and bring back tennis balls.

That don't mean my dog doesn't really like me...an vice versa.

Phage
Nah. Dogs ain't people. People wouldn't eat the things my dog picks up of the ground and scarfs before I can get to him.
People don't do shoulder dives and roll around it foul things (the fouler the better) like my dog does before I can get to him.
People don't endlessly run after, get, and bring back tennis balls.

That don't mean my dog doesn't really like me...an vice versa.

edit on 10/7/2013 by Phage because: (no reason given)

1. Aparrently, you've never had kids.
2. You haven't smelled some of the women I've dated.
3. Yes they do, it's called "playing tennis."

reply to post by speculativeoptimist


This is true to a large extent.

I have another dog. A rat terrier/chihuahua mix that is...um....special. She is "touched by God", so to speak. When i saw her and how she was obviously the dog no one would want, i grabbed her up. She is gentle and delicate, easily scared by the smallest of things. Not quite shaped right for her breed, and incapable of interactions that aren't awkward (like sitting backwards in your lap for "petting time", or staring at the wall from a couple of inches away for an hour straight). But we have loved her for 13 years now.

I can tell her "Go see (my boy's name)" and she gets up to go to his room. If i tell her "Go see mimi" she goes to moms room (mom lives with us). "Potty outside" and they both know to go outside (and get very excited). "Leave it" and they run away from whatever it is they were showing interest in. So on and so forth. That all started with Roscoe, who left us as Sasha came into our lives. The older dog always "trains" the younger dog. In a couple of years, it'll be Sasha's turn to teach a puppy how to live with us.

twfau
reply to post by hknudzkknexnt

 

I see where the doctor is coming from in that I agree that the way society murders dogs is basically psychopathic, but still dogs clearly aren't people. There are a lot of other things that separate people from dogs regardless of there perhaps being a similarity in the forming of attachments. I'd like people to be a bit more sympathetic to dogs with behavioural issues but I'm not sure sensational soundbytes are the way to do it.

Sounds like you have a clear definition of what "people" are then!

I know some pretty funky ape like homonids that are anything but what I would consider personable. And I know some pooches that would lick your face off and wag it back on again.

To be perfectly honest, I think it's better to be a dog than a person. Poor dogs being equated to the inhumane barbarism that CAN be humanity.

At least when a dog eats you, it's because you're dead on the living room floor for 3 weeks and they're starving.

I enjoy these topics about animals. Especially since I heard someone's experience with the "spirit molecule" or some sort of mushroom?.... if I recall correctly, "i saw a beetle walk through my path, and I bust out crying"

All of us with dogs understand that they get excited when you're around. Perhaps, horny? No homo.

reply to post by hknudzkknexnt


I don't remember when the post was about, but I really enjoyed the video lol

Phage
Nah. Dogs ain't people. People wouldn't eat the things my dog picks up of the ground and scarfs before I can get to him.

I shall not link to any of it as it would infest my keyboard and monitor, but .. poop eaters are everywhere man... Human ones. They seek each other out.

People don't do shoulder dives and roll around it foul things (the fouler the better) like my dog does before I can get to him.

^^ see poop dudes above for rolling around in foul things.

People don't endlessly run after, get, and bring back tennis balls.

Due to the nature of the sport, quick retrieval of loose tennis balls and delivery of the game balls to the servers are necessary for quick play in tennis. In professional tournaments every court will have a trained squad of ball boys/girls with positionings and movements designed for maximum efficiency, whilst also not interfering with active play.

I say old man, are you working magic under a bridge here? Did I pay the toll? I am likely the butt of this scenario, but never the less...

reply to post by VictorVonDoom


OH snap.

Well, it is what it is. You do the math. I know I didnt.

Oo

reply to post by winofiend

As has been sufficiently demonstrated, I was in error.
Dogs are indeed people...or vice versa...not sure.