What qualities do people attribute to dogs?

People tend to look at everything from their “bell tower”. And therefore, human feelings, qualities and a picture of the world are attributed to animals. This is called anthropomorphism. But animals, although similar to us, are still different. And they react and see the world sometimes in a different way.

Thoughts and feelings are what goes on in the head. So you can’t see them. But you can understand what is going on in the head of an animal if you conduct a competent experiment. In this way, people begin to better understand what animals, including dogs, think and feel.

And in the course of the experiments, it turned out that much of what we attribute to our best friends is not true.

So, dogs don’t feel guilty. And what people take for “repentance” is fear and attempts to block aggression from a person with the help of signals of reconciliation.

Dogs do not take revenge and do not act out of spite. And what people take for revenge is most often a reaction to poor living conditions and / or distress (“bad” stress).

It is unknown if dogs can take offense. And while it is believed that this is also exclusively our “prerogative”. So it’s pointless to be offended by a dog. And the way of “not talking” with her is also unlikely to help negotiate.

And no, dogs don’t understand “every word.” Although they are geniuses in communication with us – so much so that they are quite capable of giving the impression of “understanding everything” to ignorant people.

For some reason, some owners believe that dogs understand “exceptions to the rule.” For example, you can’t climb on the sofa, but today I want my furry friend to lie at my side, so I can. For dogs there is black and white. And everything that is always impossible is really impossible. And the fact that at least once is possible – this, excuse me, is possible on an ongoing basis.

Also, dogs are not born with the knowledge of our moral principles and ideas about “good and evil”, about what is good and what is bad. For them, it is good that helps to achieve the desired and satisfy the need. And everything that interferes with this is bad. Such is the unpretentious philosophy. Therefore, the dog must be taught the rules – of course, by humane methods, without torture from the time of the Inquisition.

However, we wrote about all this in detail earlier in other articles. As well as the fact that delusions based on anthropomorphism are sometimes costly for us and dogs. Pets are undeservedly punished, strange things are done to them, and generally spoil life in every possible way. And in response, they begin to spoil the life of the owners. And – no – not because they “revenge”, but because in abnormal conditions the dog cannot behave normally. And how can he survive.

Each animal reacts to the environment in its own way. Dogs are no exception. And if we want to make our four-legged friends happy, it’s important to learn to see the world from their point of view.