The Origin of Dogs

nessdog writes "Your old friend in the back-yard can read you like an open book according to this article from the BBC. They report that your dog's power of reading your body language is better than a chimps. So next time you tell a lie, just remember who might be watching..."

Comments

blatant karma whoring

[Minn_Kota_Marine]

Here is the google news link which has 48 articles on this topic so far.

http://news.google.com/news?q=cluster:www.smh.com. au/articles/2002/11/22/1037697876221.html

Re:3 canine Eves

[Strange Ranger]

A couple of points

You refer to dog breeders making money from "Pure breeds". Good breeders don't use close relatives to accomplish this. At least not what we think of as close relatives. 3rd cousin-in-law twice removed or some such thing is more like it. But together we both make the same point - Because of the lack of genetic diversity in dogs, especially purebreds, distant relatives can be genetically equivalent to fraternal twins (litters are made up of "fraternal twins"). Hence the need to inject some fresh DNA into the line.

My other point to the other poster: Mutts can make the best dogs, and usually have the potential to be healthier, but you never know until after you've owned the dog for half its life. If you want the perfect pet for your own needs the best way to do it is choose a pure breed that fits your needs and lifestyle and then spend a ton of time researching breeders and choosing the right line and puppy for you. This way you are far less likely to be surprised by what you get and be stuck with it for 12 or so years. Sure, there is a mutt out there somewhere who is exactly what you want in size, coat, brains, temperment, activity level, etc, and will live a bit longer than the perfectly chosen purebred, but your chances of finding him as a puppy and raising him as your own are almost exactly nil.

Re:Dogs smarter than chimps

[Austenite]

At least pretend to have read the article.

Puppies as young as nine weeks are as good as the adults, so it's not due to conditioning. Also, the experiment was designed so that the dogs could not use their sense of smell.

Oh wait.... I think I've just been trolled!