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The recent popularity of "designer" dogs, cats, micro-pigs and other pets may seem to suggest that pet keeping is no more than a fad. Indeed, it is often assumed that pets are a Western affectation, a weird relic of the working animals kept by communities of the past.
About half of the households in Britain alone include some kind of pet; roughly 10m of those are dogs while cats make up another 10m. Pets cost time and money, and nowadays bring little in the way of material benefits. But during the 2008 financial crisis, spending on pets remained almost unaffected, which suggests that for most owners pets are not a luxury but an integral and deeply loved part of the family.
Some people are into pets, however, while others simply aren't interested. Why is this the case? It is highly probable that our desire for the company of animals actually goes back tens of thousands of years and has played an important part in our evolution. If so, then genetics might help explain why a love of animals is something some people just don't get.
[...] The pet-keeping habit often runs in families: this was once ascribed to children coming to imitate their parents' lifestyles when they leave home, but recent research has suggested that it also has a genetic basis. Some people, whatever their upbringing, seem predisposed to seek out the company of animals, others less so.
Is the desire to keep pets really hard-wired in our DNA?
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday October 01 2017, @02:38PM (7 children)
You have no idea what these "strangers" have in mind—you are concocting the worst sort of intentions to make yourself feel like your pets give you some sort of advantage. They don't. They're just filthy animals.
(Score: 5, Insightful) by Runaway1956 on Sunday October 01 2017, @02:59PM (5 children)
You're so busy trying to make pet owners look foolish, that you're ignoring something so obvious that most pet owners simply take for granted. It is well known that the dog's fate, his health and well being, depends strongly on his ability to sense and understand his owner's feelings, thoughts, motivations. The dog studies his owner constantly for cues. That same dog will study a stranger for similar cues. The dog will sense, usually long before I do, whether you mean me good, or ill. The dog will even more readily sense whether you mean HIM good or ill. A creature that has spent it's entire life, emulating his forebears, studying the human animal's whims, is probably a lot more perceptive than either you, or me. Whether he is MORE perceptive or not - his senses are different. He will key on your smell, which I am very unlikely to key on.
Have you read any stories about dogs detecting diseases? There have been at least three dogs in recent news stories, probably more that I've forgotten.
https://www.quora.com/How-are-dogs-trained-to-smell-cancer-or-any-other-diseases-in-the-human-body [quora.com]
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/04/25/dogs-smell-cancer_n_3142135.html [huffingtonpost.com]
Dogs sense hormones and pheremones readily, as well. The pheremones at least, help to indicate your intentions. You're feeling amorous? Of course the dog can sense that. You're acting furtive and evasive? Well, duh - the dog can sense that as well.
I am virtually blind, from a dog's point of view - I don't sniff butts to learn how good, or how poor, an associate's health might be. I don't sniff butts to see which women might be inclined to breed. That butt sniffind tells me nothing at all, so I don't indulge in it. But, I do recognize that the dog's senses have their value, and that the dog's judgement may have value to me. As blind as I am from the dog's perspective, you seem to be even more blind.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday October 01 2017, @03:05PM (2 children)
What you imagine to be the case is not necessarily reality.
(Score: 3, Insightful) by Runaway1956 on Sunday October 01 2017, @04:41PM (1 child)
It is at least equally valid to point out that you may not be in touch with reality. Why would you waste time and energy denying that dogs and other animals have different sensory perception than humans?
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday October 01 2017, @05:12PM
I made no such denial.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday October 01 2017, @08:58PM (1 child)
Now I am doubly confused. So why do you sniff butts, Runaway?
(Score: 2) by Runaway1956 on Monday October 02 2017, @08:16AM
Just for the fun of it, of course. You should try it some time!! It'll drive your mate crazy, too!
(Score: 0, Funny) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday October 01 2017, @03:28PM
Maybe you should declare a jihad on them, Mohammed.