Posted on 07/28/2010 10:22:29 AM PDT by Nachum
It does supoort the article’s premise.
My dogs have a definite preference to lay their heads on a pillow when on the sofa or the bed. It’s funny to see. Whether it was learned behavior or natural, I don’t know. The girl will sometimes sit upright and lean back on the sofa, just as a person sits; I have never seen another dog do that.
Laughing at the image — my dog does that too. She lies in bed under the covers with her head on the pillow as if she were human.
I read about another study that claimed to show there was nothing “man’s best friend” altruistic about the domesticated dog’s behavior towards humans.
They acquired (possibly over many generations) behaviors that they learned that humans would reward them for, fostering behaviors in humans to act like their parents and take care of them; feed them, give them a home and a “family”. The author called them something like “smart, sly, wonderful, little parasites”.
My dog-loving sense was not offended. It does not matter why (dogs do what they do), the experience is the reward.
One of my favorites: “If there are no dogs in Heaven, then when I die I want to go where they went.” Will Rogers, 1897-1935
My dog loves her pillow. She kept stealing one from the bed and carrying it down to the sofa until we just went ahead and bought a new pillow for my husband.
She sits upright in the front passenger seat of the car, and leans back..but the funniest thing is that she will often stretch out her right “arm” as thought she is driving right along with you. Good thing we don’t have one of those “driver’s ed” cars with the brake on the passenger side; we would be stopping every 10 feet to check out the pheasants, squirrels, etc...LOL!
Any dog-owner Freeper can tell you the same thing without a government grant.
Captain obvious strikes again: Sneaky Dogs Take Food Quietly to Avoid Getting Caught
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