Article About Dog & Human Association

[persephone]

Article LINK

excerpt :

If you think dogs are drawn to your winning personality then think again — the attraction may be genetic, according to a new study that pinpoints genes linked to interspecies amity.

Providing food and playing fetch, of course, also forge strong bonds.

But experiments involving several hundred dogs and a sweeping analysis of their genomes uncovered a handful of genetic variants clearly linked to canines being friendly with humans.

The same genes, it turns out, help govern sociability in our species, and are implicated in neurological problems ranging from autism to ADHD.

"Our findings suggest that there may be a common underlying genetic basis for social behaviour in dogs and humans," said senior author Pers Jensen, a professor of ethology at Linkoping University in Sweden.

The first domesticated dogs — some 15,000 years ago — were probably wolves that had grown accustomed to the presence of humans in their habitat, most experts agree.

Since then, man's best friend has continued to evolve, a process likely influenced by our intimate cohabitation.

Indeed, one of the ways in which dogs diverged from wolves was by developing an innate tendency to seek our companionship, earlier research has shown.

Several experiments, for example, compared the behaviour of puppies and wolf pups raised as family pets. The baby wolves were taken from their mothers at about eight weeks old.

When confronted as adults — in the presence of humans — with so-called "impossible tasks" that they could not resolve, the dogs and socialised wolves behaved quite differently.

"In general, dogs had a strong tendency to solicit human help, whereas wolves" — even those raised as pets "did not", said Professor Jensen.

[Willem]

Article LINK

excerpt :

If you think dogs are drawn to your winning personality then think again the attraction may be genetic, according to a new study that pinpoints genes linked to interspecies amity.

Providing food and playing fetch, of course, also forge strong bonds.

But experiments involving several hundred dogs and a sweeping analysis of their genomes uncovered a handful of genetic variants clearly linked to canines being friendly with humans.

The same genes, it turns out, help govern sociability in our species, and are implicated in neurological problems ranging from autism to ADHD.

"Our findings suggest that there may be a common underlying genetic basis for social behaviour in dogs and humans," said senior author Pers Jensen, a professor of ethology at Linkoping University in Sweden.

The first domesticated dogs some 15,000 years ago were probably wolves that had grown accustomed to the presence of humans in their habitat, most experts agree.

Since then, man's best friend has continued to evolve, a process likely influenced by our intimate cohabitation.

Indeed, one of the ways in which dogs diverged from wolves was by developing an innate tendency to seek our companionship, earlier research has shown.

Several experiments, for example, compared the behaviour of puppies and wolf pups raised as family pets. The baby wolves were taken from their mothers at about eight weeks old.

When confronted as adults in the presence of humans with so-called "impossible tasks" that they could not resolve, the dogs and socialised wolves behaved quite differently.

"In general, dogs had a strong tendency to solicit human help, whereas wolves" even those raised as pets "did not", said Professor Jensen.

that's too late; one of the big differences (maybe the difference) between dog and wolves is that wolves have a much earlier socialisation window. If you take them from the mother with 8 weeks all the most important socialisation already happend and the window is closed, so of course they behave differently then. So sorry, but their experiments are somehow flawed:https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2013/01/130117152012.htm and http://www.everythingwolf.com/news/readarticle.aspx?article=38

ETA: so wolves and dogs are not sooo different, just a different socialisation window.

ETA: had to remove the 'ellipses' :)

ETA: form the link:"My gut feeling is that there is the same kind of gene variations in the wolf population," Professor Jensen said." ...he might be right here :D

Edited September 30, 2016 by Willem

[karen15]

As a person who dislikes the majority of people, I'm an animal magnet. That sort of goes against the premise of the article. Personally I haven't seen too many gregarious people who are popular with animals. It's the quieter (volume and physically) people who tend to have more of an affinity in my observations.

[m-j]

As a person who dislikes the majority of people, I'm an animal magnet. That sort of goes against the premise of the article. Personally I haven't seen too many gregarious people who are popular with animals. It's the quieter (volume and physically) people who tend to have more of an affinity in my observations.

I'm inclined to agree.

[m-j]

The same genes, it turns out, help govern sociability in our species, and are implicated in neurological problems ranging from autism to ADHD.

That is odd as neither autistic people and people with ADHD are renowned for their sociability, that's not to say they can't be. however I have noticed a couple of my dogs seem to instantly like autistic people, one in particular and the autistic people I know like dogs, even when they have had no experience with them they just seem to have a repoire

[Mrs Rusty Bucket]

Yeah most autistic people I know - get along better with animals than people. Animals tend to evaluate people based on what they see right now. People are often looking for hidden agendas and read things into what other people do that were never intended.

But I also know two autistic people who are very specific to their own dog and their own people - and get upset if dogs or people they don't know get too close. But I know some dogs that are like that too - they only like their own people and dog friends.