Review of two new books on animal behavior
Review of "Animals Make Us Human: Creating the Best Life for Animals," by Temple Grandin and Catherine Johnson and "Made for Each Other: The Biology of the Human-Animal Bond" by Meg Daley Olmert.
Both sound very interesting. I picked up Temple Grandin's book in the bookstore the other day and read the chapter on dogs. The most interesting thing I thought in that chapter was the effect on dogs of human beings selecting for particular physical traits in breeding. Grandin says that very roughly there is a correlation between how wolf-like a dog looks and how many wolf-like behaviors they retain. Siberian huskies have many wolf-like traits; Cavalier King Charles spaniels do not. As they become more distant from wolves, the traits that drop out are the submissive ones. Grandin says that we basically have bred dogs into a perpetual puppyhood/adolescence because aggressive behaviors are more tolerated in young dogs in the pack (as they are small and can't do much damage), but as they grow they learn more and more submissive behaviors because these are the behaviors that allow them to live socially in the pack--the balance between agression/submission. So I guess that explains why little dogs are so fierce? But I thought there might be an anology with what we do with human beings if we infantilize them. It kind of makes sense to me that there would be a correlation between increased dependency and aggression--actually subverting the very social bond which would decrease the feeling of dependency. The more adult interdependence, the less childlike dependency.