Posted on 08/21/2008 6:11:16 AM PDT by Alex Murphy
Dogs are becoming more intelligent and are even learning morals from human contact, scientists claim.
They say the fact that dogs' play rarely escalates into a fight shows the animals abide by social rules.
During one study, dogs which held up a paw were rewarded with a food treat.
When a lone dog was asked to raise its paw but received no treat, the researchers found it begged for up to 30 minutes.
But when they tested two dogs together but rewarded only one, the dog which missed out soon stopped playing the game.
Dr Friederike Range, of the University of Vienna, who led the study, said: 'Dogs show a strong aversion to inequity. I would prefer not to call it a sense of fairness, but others might.'
The first Canine Science Forum in Budapest was attended by more than 200 experts to discuss what is going on inside the mind of a dog.
Human's inclination to invest dogs with human-like states of mind isn't as unscientific as it might appear as they really do have some remarkable mental skills that allow them to thrive in their strange habitat - our world.
Domestic dogs evolved from grey wolves as recently as 10,000 years ago since when their brains have shrunk so a wolf-sized dog has a brain around 10 per cent smaller than its wild ancestor.
Dr Peter Pongracz from Eotvos Lorand University, Budapest, and colleagues have produced evidence dog barks contain information that people can understand.
They found even people who have never owned a dog can recognise the emotional 'meaning' of barks produced in various situations, such as when playing, left alone and confronted by a stranger.
His team has now developed a computer program that can aggregate hundreds of barks recorded in various settings and boil them
(Excerpt) Read more at dailymail.co.uk ...
I have two dogs, Nando and Max. When I come home from work I let the dogs out and when they come back in I feed them. Last week Max finished eating first and came to me whining and barking like he wanted to go back out. When I opened the door, Nando, who was still eating, stopped eating and ran outside. Max, instead of going out, then ate the rest of Nando’s food.
Doesn’t sound to moral to me.
Best laugh I’ve had all day.
.
I would also submit that dogs understand the basics of a contract - I will do this in return for that - and are quick to take punitive action when the contract is breached by the owners.
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