Why Are Dogs So Happy to See Us

[Anomalocaris]

Unlike a certain companion animal that will go unnamed, dogs lose their minds when reunited with their owners. But it’s not immediately obvious why our canine companions should grant us such an over-the-top greeting—especially considering the power imbalance that exists between the two species. We spoke to the experts to find out why.

Why Are Dogs So Insanely Happy to See Us When We Get Home?

[Lilly]

Dogs know a great deal more than some of these researchers give them credit for. IMO dogs are quite capable of understanding the concept of love.

This part caused me a bit of amusement:

“What we’re finding with the imaging work is that dogs love their humans—and not just for food,” he says. “They love the company of humans simply for its own sake.”

I could have told them that without any "imaging work".

[PrisonerX]

“It may sound a little odd to say that a wolf, who can easily kill you, is afraid of you, but that is precisely why they can be dangerous: because they may choose to take proactive measures to protect themselves, using their teeth,” says Hekman. “Dogs are a lot less likely to do this.”

Doesn't sound right to me. Are wolves even mathematically capable of matching the 4.5 million bites dogs account for each year? Fatalities by wolves are almost unheard of in modern times.

We successfully (depending on how you want to look at it) decimated them in N America.

That aside, dogs are the way they are because we bred it into them and assure it via further conditioning. They're a perversion of a naturally occurring organism. They are our servants and they respond that way because that's exactly how we want them to. We are their 'masters'.

"It is just this characteristic way in which the brute gives itself up entirely to the present moment that contributes so much to the delight we take in our domestic pets. They are the present moment personified, and in some respects they make us feel the value of every hour that is free from trouble and annoyance, which we, with our thoughts and preoccupations, mostly disregard. But man, that selfish and heartless creature, misuses this quality of the brute to be more content than we are with mere existence, and often works it to such an extent that he allows the brute absolutely nothing more than mere, bare life. The bird which was made so that it might rove over half of the world, he shuts up into the space of a cubic foot, there to die a slow death in longing and crying for freedom; for in a cage it does not sing for the pleasure of it. And when I see how man misuses the dog, his best friend; how he ties up this intelligent animal with a chain, I feel the deepest sympathy with the brute and burning indignation against its master."

- Arthur Schopenhauer

Edited August 1, 2015 by PrisonerX