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Dogs Can Be Pessimistic
Not that it will change anything, but researchers at Bristol University say that your dog might be a gloom-monger. In addition to the downer dogs, the study also found a few that seemed happy no matter how uncaring the world around them was. "We know that people's emotional states affect their judgments and that happy people are more likely to judge an ambiguous situation positively. What our study has shown is that this applies similarly to dogs," said professor Mike Mendl, an author of the study and head of animal welfare and behavior at Bristol University.
Being a dog owner, I think most dogs just want to hump, eat, and sleep. Some like to bark.
That's pretty much it.
No sig for you. YOU GET NO SIG!
But I guess this just proves it wrong. They can be gloomy in addition to extremely happy. Guess string theory will have to look elsewhere for monopoles.
"Just as happy people tend to see the positive in any situation, so optimistic dogs sprinted toward the bowl, expecting to find food, while pessimistic dogs hesitated or ran more slowly."
You know, it's often said that semi-depressed people see reality in a much more realistic way, whereas "normal" (if you can call it that) people see reality in an augmented way, and that's why they're more happy and optimistic. It makes me wonder if actually "normal" people should be re-classified as someone who is (by our shitty definitions) semi-depressed, because really they're just seeing reality as it is, not through rose-coloured glasses.
Dog Has Best Day of His Life for 400th Consecutive Day
Well, there's spam egg sausage and spam, that's not got much spam in it.
I have ten bucks that says the breed most likely to be pessimistic was the Basset hound. Meanwhile, the happiest dogs were probably Collies or, perhaps, Poodles. Next I'd like to see a study that shows that cats really are condescending bastards. =)
Motorcycles, Robots, Space Gossip and More!
... can be dangerous when combined with tequila and a game of truth or dare.
Yeah, I was afraid they might be pessimistic. :(
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is the wrong size.
My dog has been pessimistic about the economy ever since he got laid off.
...to anyone who's ever seen a dog get wise to the old "pretending to throw the ball" trick.
"Prefiero morir de pie que vivir siempre arrodillado!"
Now, what was I doing?
and told them: You aren't a packleader. With Cesar the dogs where perfectly happy. How much money did this nonsense cost the taxpayer?
... my dog listens to a lot of emo and hangs out at the mall!
The smart ones understand that a dish that doesn't smell of food probably doesn't have food in it. The dumb ones simply don't believe their keenest sense.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Learned_helplessness :(
Some dogs never tried to escape the shocks, just giving in and accepting them. Is this technically pessimism? I find this to be a sad study
Makes me think of a very old SNL skit/commercial for "Puppy Uppers" and "Doggy Downers".
Puppy Uppers and Doggy Downers
.
Prisencolinensinainciusol. Ol Rait!
A little short fat lady who was really strong. Met her in town when I was shopping, saw her loading scrounged wooden pallets onto a trailer. I said, wow you sure are strong! she goes ya, this was my husbands business but he died last year. Oh, sorry says I. So we were talking about this or that, got to the subject of dogs. she goes, dogs are really loyal. They, mostly her husband, had two rottweillers. When her husband died, she says, they went into a funk and *stopped eating* and literally starved themselves to death within a month. She had animal control and the vets look at them, those dogs just would not eat. True or not I don't know, just what she said.
I have a lot of dogs, and I am told they all howl mournfully when I have to leave.
So, ya, I can believe dogs get bummed out. Opposite, I see them when they are happy as clams as well, same with my cats. They have moods just the same as human animals.
I can tell you that without early socialization cats are whirling balls of claws and teeth.
The dogs have had Chewtoy for about 4 years now and the little bastard still isn't very friendly (unless full or cold and with the exception of his old 'mama' bitch).
Great mouser though.
John McAfee 'It was like that time I hired that Bangkok prostitute; to do my taxes, while I fucked my accountant'
Wonderful research study. On the mood of my dog.
that is the real question.
lose != loose
http://www.cell.com/current-biology/fulltext/S0960-9822(10)01020-1?large_figure=true