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Overview
Just think about the different behaviors you see at a dog park. We have a good understanding of what it means when dogs wag their tails—but what about when they sniff and roll on a stinky spot? Why do they play tug-of-war with one dog, while showing their bellies to another? Why are some dogs shy, while others are bold? What goes on in dogs’ heads and hearts—and how much can we know and understand?
Written by award-winning scientist—and lifelong dog lover—Marc Bekoff, Canine Confidential not only brilliantly opens up the world of dog behavior, but also helps us understand how we can make our dogs’ lives better. Rooted in the most up-to-date science on cognition and emotion—fields that have exploded in recent years—Canine Confidential is a wonderfully accessible treasure trove of new information and myth-busting. Peeing, we learn, isn’t always marking; grass-eating isn’t always an attempt to trigger vomiting; it’s okay to hug a dog—on their terms; and so much more.
There’s still much we don’t know, but at the core of the book is the certainty that dogs do have deep emotional lives, and that as their companions and trainers we must recognize them as the unique, complex individuals they are—so we can keep them as happy and healthy as possible.
“Bekoff shares his own studies and others’ research, along with real-life stories, in a winning tone.” —Booklist
Product Details
| ISBN-13: | 9780226433172 |
|---|---|
| Publisher: | University of Chicago Press |
| Publication date: | 12/22/2022 |
| Sold by: | Barnes & Noble |
| Format: | eBook |
| Pages: | 287 |
| Sales rank: | 917,358 |
| File size: | 1 MB |
About the Author
Read an Excerpt
CHAPTER 1
The Many Joys of Watching and Living With Dogs
Bernie and Beatrice are well known as "the butters" at a local dog park in Boulder, and it's easy to understand why. On their first approach to both unfamiliar and familiar dogs and humans alike, they go right for the butt. Gus and Greta, "the groiners," love to run up to dogs and humans and shove their noses into groins and unabashedly sniff and snort. I admit on more than one occasion I have been hit so hard by an inquisitive nose I thought my voice would change.
Sassy, the "poop eater," has a seemingly unquenchable taste for poop, according to her human, and Tammy "the tongue" and Louie "the licker" run up to people with their long tongues protruding and leave a trail of saliva.
Harry and Helen are happy humpers and unhesitatingly jump on other dogs, from all different orientations, some rather acrobatic, and hump away as if it were nothing. On more than one occasion, they have chosen one of my legs for their maniacal humping and misdirected thrusting. Helen's human often exclaims, "Oh my god, my dog was fixed to stop this stuff." Helen is a good example of what I fondly call an "ADD dog" — an attention-deficit disorder dog.
I met Peter, the "pecker pecker," some years ago. No need to tell you what he loved to do, all with the blessings of the human who accompanied him. When I told Peter's human I preferred not to be peckered, the guy answered, "Well, he likes to do it to us, so what the hell ..." Of course, all this barreling into groins, humping indiscriminately, and pecker pecking results in a lot of questions and useful conversations about why dogs do these things without a care in the world and about what humans should or shouldn't do about it.
* * *
When I'm at the dog park, I enjoy nicknaming the dogs I meet (as well as the dogs I live with), and I often take an anatomical approach. Dog behavior often revolves around body parts: butts and noses, mouths, tongues and legs and groins. When dogs meet one another, or greet humans, they employ every form of address: they use eye-to-eye contact as well as nose-to-nose, nose-to-butt, and nose-to-groin. In fact, as we all know, dog noses roam widely, sniffing and snorting with abandon and joy. For dogs, following their noses around a dog park leads to a rich source of great stories and data.
This canine zest for what humans might avoid, consider inappropriate, or find disgusting rarely diminishes our fondness for dogs. For instance, "flatulent" Freddy and Abe, "the anal gland expresser," think nothing is more pleasant than sharing gases and pungent odors, Freddy farting and Abe blowing out globs from his anal gland, sometimes on a person's leg. When people laugh, the dogs take this as an invitation to do more of what they love to do, nose butting as many people as possible, trying to stimulate a gag response by shoving their tongue into people's mouths, passing wind here and there, and breathing right into someone's face. I well remember a guy at a dog park who pulled me aside and quietly explained what was happening with a dog, Lucifer, who was notorious for his bad breath. Lucifer's human, he said, "just doesn't get it. Her dog has the 'zactly' disease, cause her breath smells 'zactly' like her butt. Everyone here will be better off when she realizes this."
Concerning bad breath in dogs, my friend Kimberly Nuffer shared this story with me about what she calls "stinky tongue syndrome," or STS:
Zelda (Zipper, ZDog) came into our lives from the Aurora Animal Shelter. When I met her at the shelter, she climbed right into my lap in the visitation room and cried once back in her shelter cage. When we brought her home, she couldn't have a bath for a week so that her spaying incision could heal, and it was clear the shelter hadn't bathed her since finding her roaming the streets of Aurora. The homeless, dumpster-diving dog smell did not deter my need to bond with my new pup, so she slept on our bed and I snuggled her endlessly. Finally, incisions from her spaying healed, and I gave her a much-needed bath. More snuggling ensued as I was bonding well with my new family member.
Yet a significant odor lingered despite the lavender dog wash and the eventual trim of her curly gray poodle fur. It was coming from her mouth! It smelled like a dead animal; there is really no other way to describe it. Inspection of her teeth showed pearly whites, not yellow, rotting, mildewed pickets. Inspection of her tongue revealed a supple and soft pink plank ready to kiss anyone nearby. To the vet she went for a teeth cleaning. No extractions needed. Everything was in good shape. Her breath improved ... for a day.
Fast-forward ten years. The dead animal breath remains. It persists despite teeth brushing, weekly baths, fancy organic food, and doggie breath mints. Sometimes it's a little better, sometimes a lot worse, but generally, it is always there. The mystery remains unsolved. To help alleviate the shame she must feel when we recoil in disgust as she gives kisses, we named her disorder Stinky Tongue Syndrome or STS.
We could not ask for a more loyal, loving dog. People who spend time with her want to take her home as she snuggles up in a lap as soon as one is available. The reality is we are all flawed in some way, and these flaws make us unique and lovable. We often strive to fix those flaws, and sometimes the only fix is acceptance, not change. Thank you for this life lesson, Zelda and your STS.
Ken Rodriguez, Kimberly's husband, sent me a follow-up email that he claimed Zelda dictated to him:
Every year, thousands if not millions of dogs contract STS. Some are shamed by their people. Some are subjected to quack treatments. And some, lacking any sort of treatment, feel forced to run away and live a dangerous life on their own just to feel better about themselves as a person. But compassion is right now the best treatment for STS, and we all must be aware of the silent suffering of those who, like me [Zelda, that is], live with this condition.
Sometimes, our "problems" with dogs are really our problems. There's no solution but acceptance, as Kimberly and Ken put it so compassionately. At times, I certainly have wished that dogs would turn their heads away when they breathe or burp. I've had a few dogs whose breath floored me — literally and metaphorically — and yet other dogs don't feel that way. From a dog's perspective, they can't wait to sniff around another dog's mouth and savor the odor, and on occasion the saliva, that spews out. While we don't know precisely why dogs do this, it's a safe bet that they're gathering information, and being that close to another individual could also be a social or potentially bonding event. Smelly places and private parts play a huge role in a dog's world, which can make us humans uneasy.
People are always asking me why dogs put their noses in such places, as if understanding might help us figure out how to get them to stop it. Dogs put their noses in places where people can't imagine there is anything of interest. We don't greet friends or strangers by immediately licking their mouths or with a nasal snort or genital sniff or slurp. What's perfectly normal dog-appropriate behavior might not be even marginally acceptable dog-human behavior, but dogs aren't especially interested in our social norms. One woman who was pretty open to a dog's investigative ways once said to me, "If you got it, use it," and dogs do just that.
Thus, if we want to learn about dogs, and we want to live with and love dogs, we must make our peace with an anatomical, body-parts approach to life. That's the only way to journey into the minds, sense organs, and hearts of dogs. Not everything about a dog's cognitive, emotional, and moral life is anatomically based, but little happens that doesn't involve a body part.
In many ways, I think of myself not only as a canine confidentialist but also as a myth buster. I feel strongly that both first-time and lifelong dog people can benefit from what my friend and dog trainer Kimberly Beck calls "the beginner's mind." Kimberly founded an organization called the Canine Effect, which stresses the importance of looking at the relationship between dogs and humans. To hold a beginner's mind means to make no assumptions and to take the time to relate to, and learn about, this individual dog, here and now. It's essential to recognize that myths harm dogs and dog-human interrelationships. When we pay close attention to what we know about dogs and dog-human relationships, it's beneficial for everyone concerned.
Choosing to share your life with a dog should be fun. Of course, because dogs, like so many other nonhuman animals, experience rich and deep emotions and are witty, wise, and temperamental, they can be a challenge. But the bottom line is that living with a dog should be enjoyable, if, on occasion, noisy, smelly, and frustrating. The challenges remind us that dogs are individuals. And judging from the number of books and scientific and popular essays focused on defining who dogs are and explaining why they do the things they do, there is a good deal of interest worldwide in understanding these fascinating beings.
The Big Question: Who Are Dogs?
Domesticated dogs are fascinating mammals. We created them in our own image, favoring the traits we liked or considered useful, even though at times these have compromised the health and longevity of dogs themselves. Perhaps it's stating the obvious, but dogs vary greatly in size, shape, mass, color, coat, behavior, and personality. Because dogs are so variable and so common in our lives, they make wonderful subjects for evolutionary, biological, and ethological studies, especially concerning social behaviors related to play, dominance, different types of communication, and social organization.
That said, it's interesting to note that for years "serious scientists" thought dogs weren't worth studying at all, precisely because they were considered "artifacts," products of human genetic engineering. Rather than naturally evolved beings, dogs are animals who were made to be what they are by humans, based on what we wanted or imagined. Veterinarians and geneticists could study dogs, but not serious researchers interested in behavior. Now things have really changed, and numerous renowned universities focus on dogs in a range of incredibly interesting studies. The graph here shows a steady increase in studies of dog behavior over the last thirty years, with an especially sharp increase beginning around 1995.
Among regulars at the dog park, I often hear an enduring confusion about the difference between domestication and socialization. Dogs evolved from wolves to become a new domesticated species, which means that every dog is born a dog. But occasionally, people who share their home with a wolf who is friendly toward them will say, "I have a domesticated wolf." They really don't; if this "friendly wolf" gives birth, that child will be a wolf, a wild animal. Their friendly wolf is actually a socialized individual. Simply put, a "domesticated wolf" is a dog.
As the section title above states, this book seeks to answer the question of who dogs are, not what dogs are. Dogs continually thwart attempts to characterize them as predictable stimulus-response machines. While the well-known Nobel Prize–winning Russian physiologist Ivan Pavlov surely made significant contributions to learning theory by studying dogs, what he did not prove is that dogs are automatons. It's clear from evolutionary theory, detailed scientific data, and common sense that dogs are neither merely mindless machines nor simply "bundles of instincts" who mainly rely on using hardwired behavior patterns. Rather, dogs are smart, thinking (sapient), and feeling (sentient) beings who assess different situations and experience a wide range of emotions similar to our own. Dogs routinely make decisions about what they do, and they don't do things "for no reason at all." Indeed, many current successful training (or teaching) methods are based on the rich and deep minds and hearts of dogs. They are mammals, just like us, and we can learn a lot about them by recognizing this fact.
Scientific research has shown us that numerous animals are intelligent and emotional beings, including dogs, fishes, and insects. Throughout this book, but especially in chapters 6 and 7, we will consider the heads and hearts of dogs, and the secrets and mysteries they contain, but there is no question that they think and feel. This is well supported by scientific research, and we need to let this knowledge influence how we care for dogs. Of course, this doesn't mean we need to embellish the mental life of dogs, or of other animals, to make them appear smarter than they really are. But it isn't putting the cart before the horse, or the leash before the dog, to let the data drive our concern and compassion for dogs and other animals and to give them the best lives possible.
Some people — thankfully, not many anymore — still claim we really don't know what dogs want and need, but I always say, "Yes, we do." They want and need what we want and need, namely, to live in peace and safety and to coexist harmoniously with others.
Thus, throughout, I consider each aspect of what we know about dogs based on current research, and I note where we really need more information, which is just about everywhere. However, to make the book more readable, I cite most of this research in the notes; please turn to these if you want to know more. It's essential to use available evidence to understand and appreciate dogs, and I provide a fair representation, citing scientific studies, essays, and books, as appropriate.
That said, I also include numerous stories, both by scientists and everyday people. Science writer Fred Pearce has written: "To change the world, scientists need to become storytellers." I totally agree. Nonresearchers find it much easier to appreciate what researchers are doing when it's presented in accessible ways. Stories that "hit home" are very effective.
As importantly, good stories can point out all we don't yet know and lead us to question received wisdom, misplaced assumptions, and dogmatic certainty. It might surprise you that, while we know quite a lot about the behavior of dogs, about what they're thinking and feeling and what they want and need, much remains about which we don't have much of a clue. There are many holes in the database, despite claims to the contrary by many popular dog books that purport to tell it like it is.
The challenge at hand is to come to an appreciation and understanding of these fascinating individuals on their own terms and to use what we know on their behalf. What works for Fido might not work for Annie, and what works for Annie might not work for Pluto. Among the many dogs with whom I have shared my home, I can name few generalities other than that they all had one tail, two ears, two eyes, one nose, one mouth, and voracious appetites.
As I like to say, beware "the mythical dog."
My Dog and Your Dog, Not "the Dog"
This is a major message I'll repeat throughout, namely, talking about "the dog" can be extremely misleading because of the incredible amount of variability among dogs, even among littermates and members of the same breed. I also avoid distinguishing "good dogs" from "bad dogs" because so much of how we label a dog (or a human, for that matter) depends on context. Most of all, good and bad are human judgments, and every person's criteria is different. I've seen dogs doing what dogs typically do being called both "good" and "bad." These judgments often make no sense to the dog or to me.
Individual dogs also vary in how much they are attracted to us. It might shock some people when I say this, but dogs aren't necessarily our best friends, nor do they give love unconditionally. Sure, dogs can love and play with and entertain us until we're laughing in tears, but they have needs and "conditions" that can be a huge challenge for us, hence the burgeoning dog training or teaching industry.
Furthermore, an individual dog can have a bad day, just like we can, and his or her behavior will reflect this. I remember a dog named Cheghi who I knew well who wasn't acting like himself. Rather than being a ball of high energy, he was laid-back and seemed out if it. I later discovered that an iron had fallen on his head. His human believed Cheghi had a headache or perhaps a minor concussion. Only after a few days did he return to himself, an effusive and high-energy guy. Once, one of the dogs with whom I shared my home rapidly gulped down a lot of icy cold water after a run, and I'm sure he got a cold headache. He squinted his eyes and shook his head from side to side as if he was trying to get rid of something. He also got grouchy and seemed on edge for a while. The exact same thing has happened to me after I've gulped down some iced tea too fast after a long bike ride.
Over the years I've had numerous emails and calls from researchers and nonresearchers alike who want reliable summary statements about what we know and don't know about the cognitive capacities of dogs. For example, do they follow human pointing? Do they follow human gazing? Are there breed differences? How do dogs compare with wolves? And so on.
(Continues…)
Excerpted from "Canine Confidential"
by .
Copyright © 2018 Marc Bekoff.
Excerpted by permission of The University of Chicago Press.
All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.
Excerpts are provided by Dial-A-Book Inc. solely for the personal use of visitors to this web site.
Table of Contents
Preface: A Naturalist in a Dog ParkOne The Many Joys of Watching and Living with Dogs
Two The World According to Dogs
Three Dogs Just Want to Have Fun
Four Dominance and the Society of Dogs
Five Who’s Walking Whom?
Six Minding Dogs
Seven Emotions and Heart
Eight Dog Park Confidential
Nine A Dog Companion’s Guide
Acknowledgments
Appendix: So, You Want to Become an Ethologist?
Notes
Bibliography
Index
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