Dogs Decoded

Just watched an endearing piece on NOVA called Dogs Decoded, about dogs and our relationships with them, and I know we have a lot of dog/animal lovers here so I wanted to share the experience.
When did a once wild and fierce animal become what they are today? What factors specifically made the changes and when? Genetics, biology, and history are examined and mention of new results involving dogs intelligence and levels of sentience are also included.
There's an amazing collie with a vocabulary of over 340 words that it can recognize for different objects, showing that we really do not know the capacity or limits of dog's ability to learn.
Tis a pretty revealing piece that leaves me in more awe of our canine companions and with a greater appreciation of their place in history and modern times.


Dogs Decoded Full Show:
www.watchseries-online.com...
www.megavideo.com...

Peace,
spec

ETA: The chimp test and comparison is unfair imo because the chimp is caged and not free or with a loving owner.

yeah I watched this last night. Intersesting how within a few generations (only a few years really) foxes can be tamed and how their traits and even looks start to change.

But since most people on ATS claim they don't watch TV I doubt anyone saw it (while they were really watching Dancing With The Stars)

reply to post by Electric Crown

(while they were really watching Dancing With The Stars)

No doubt EC, I gave up my tv too, but still watch a handful of shows, particularly non-fiction type.
Yea 3 generations was pretty quick and raising the wolves domestically was interesting too, although for me the results were not that surprising. I wonder if what was done with the foxes could be done with the wolves? I kept thinking man one of those cats or chickens was going to get macked on!
The way the foxes fur turned color with domestication was just bizarre!!

I am also wondering if we could alter our own genetics thru experience and conscious effort?

Thanks for the reply,
spec

I don't get TV (and I never DID watch Dancing with the Stars ) but I have seen a couple shows like this on the Discovery Channel or Animal Planet when we had TV. I specifically remember the fox's fur turning color as it was domesticated. Amazing! But I will watch this tonight on the computer. It looks really good and contains stuff I haven't seen before.

I can't get too much of dog shows. Thanks for the heads up!

Do you know how dogs drink? Think they lap it up on the top of their tongue like we would? Check it out:

reply to post by Benevolent Heretic


That was pretty cool, I never noticed the mechanics involved in lapping it up.
This show was pretty amazing and I hope you enjoy it as much as I did.

Thanks for the reply,
spec

Pfff ... I can't be decodeds!

I am complicatered and stuff.

I watched the show btw ... twas neat.

reply to post by schrodingers dog


More complicated than I would have imagined SD! I thought this was a pretty revealing bit on our canine compadres, and really brings home the "best friend" notion.
Thanks for chiming in man!

spec

reply to post by speculativeoptimist


I have a fully domesticated wolf at home. He lives with a female Husky and a Poodle.


He eats like the two dogs combined and a half more, alone.

He is the one who wakes me up in the mornings, since I rub his head and say Good Morning. He loves it!

I bought him for nearly $1,000 dlls.

Canine species are so smart. I have a 9 year old shepherd/coyote cross, a 3 year old golden lab, and a 2 year old shihtzu. The lab and the shihtzu both hunt mice, but the shepherd/coyote cross (female) protects the mice if she can. She even gets upset when I kill bugs. She gets very upset about the others killing anything, I don't think she realizes what people say coyotes are supposed to be like.

I've known a couple of people that had wolf crosses, they were both good animals. One of the wolf crosses was about 200 lbs, he was the biggest I've ever seen, named Chaos. Gentle, thankfully. It takes an owner with a lot of love to raise the wild ones. My coydog is smart, and good, but very stubborn. She considers herself my equal.

reply to post by speculativeoptimist


Thank you very much, great find!
I always wondered how you can have a wolf, and then morph it into something like a chihuahua. Been lazy doing my reaserch to find out, but now I know


Dogs are amazing, having two myself. Nalle 8 years old Karelian Beardog bitch and Neptunus, 1,5 years old Norwegian elkhound/Finnish spitz mix.
I've noticed Neptunus uses eyemovement to communicate. For example, the beardog always shows what she wants by walking to the door if she wants out, to the stove if hungry etc, while Neptunus just looks in the direction of the door, stove..but once you learn to read dogs you find out the are telling more than you thought.
Once he brought me the leash, my jacket and both shoes..and it was before I taught to bring me the leash when he wants out. Doesn't take a proffessor in dog language to understand the point of that one.

Also when running with him, total eye-to-eye contact, "tuned in", abel to run very fast and intuitively avoid running into trees or tripping..

reply to post by DogFin

Glad you enjoyed it DogFin, my pleasure to share something that brings more light to the true capacity of our friends. It is as if they can do/learn so much more than what we teach them and emotionally, they are right there with us.
Zinn is my first dog and the experience has been wonderful, she is a true friend and companion!

Also when running with him, total eye-to-eye contact, "tuned in", abel to run very fast and intuitively avoid running into trees or tripping..

Awesome man!

Thanks for the reply and welcome to ats!

Peace,
spec

Amazing!! Sometimes I hate being a dog lover, because I get too compassionate, that it saddens
me when there is a hurt dog or stray dog.

I've had a stray dog living in my front yard for 1 week now. He is sweet, gentle, non aggressive towards other dogs.

It's hot as hell here in TX and I couldn't resist not giving him water/food.

He barks at anyone trying to get near my house. I tried to keep him, but my lab(who is a crazy hyper one), is too
hyper active with him. This dog is chill and has some cuts an is weak, so my lab was hurting him because he was too rough.

We want to keep hi, but I just don't think we can,with school starting and my husband in the military.

He's literally the neighborhood watch dog right now.

He scopes the area and a couple of houses have given him water/food as well.
I'm just sad that no one will adopt him.

reply to post by Pinkgomo653

You are probably not the only dog lover in the hood, so hopefully others are giving it some attention too. They are however crafty and resourceful when it comes to surviving, but down there, water has to be of concern. Keep a big bowl of aqua out

Peace,
spec

Very interesting documentary, watched the whole thing.


I have 5 dogs myself :d

reply to post by mnmcandiez

Thanks mnm, I too dug it and thought it was very interesting. 5 dogs huh? Never a dull moment eh?
I have just one and she is my first. I love her to death and am very grateful to share some life with her.

Peace,
spec

reply to post by speculativeoptimist


Yeah I never feel truely alone even if all the humans are gone.

But one thing that bothered me about this documentary was when they showed the foxes. What kind of quality of life is it to keep a fox in a tiny cage 24/7 with no stimulation? Those foxes have to be bored out of their mind.