How Dogs Became Man's Best Friend Video

The National Geographic News ^ | 1-25-07

[afraidfortherepublic]

http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2007/01/070125-dogs-video.html

RELATED Video: Working Dogs Go Beyond "Man's Best Friend" Video: Dog Whisperer Tackles Pit Bull Terror Dogs: Photos, Video, Audio, and More

January 25, 2007—Though they come in many different sizes and temperaments, all domesticated dogs living today are descended from just a few wild wolves that roamed Asia some 15,000 years ago.

But why, out of all of the animals that humans have domesticated, have dogs become so close to their owners?

Join an anthropologist as he conducts experiments on both wild dogs and down-home pups to figure out why dogs are so good at communicating with humans.

Video by "Wild Chronicles," airing on PBS, made possible by National Geographic Mission Programs and WWF and presented by WLIW New York

[najida]

I have a two Moluccans. One is a self mutilator,and I put that in the lap of her breeder/owners. She never was taught how to be a bird. My other 'too is her name, Diva. Not only does she think she's a bird, but a bird WAY prettier the rest of us.

My cats are independent and comforting in thet fact that aren't needy. My dog? He's my Buddy.

[Publius6961]

Video by "Wild Chronicles," airing on PBS, made possible by National Geographic Mission Programs and WWF and presented by WLIW New York

I am a little puzzled about this article. Is the 5-minute video "it"? Or is there a scheduled expanded version scheduled to be aired sometime on PBS stations as one of the "Wild Chronicles" - National Geographic hour programs?

My local PBS station in Sacramento, California does not seem to have a record of it.

[afraidfortherepublic]

Love the video about Kenzie & Barney. That is an excellent first post! I'll have to get to work and my high speed line to watch te rest of the videos. Thanks for posting.

[afraidfortherepublic]

That's a WONDERFUL video. I've seen that pair on TV before. I'm sure they were contestants on Pet Star a couple of years ago. THanks for posting.

[afraidfortherepublic]

I don't know any more about it. I just picked up the video from the Web.

[afraidfortherepublic]

...finally got DSL in my area, yeaaaa!

I'm jealous. We can't get it at my house yet, but my "neighbor" has it 1 1/2 miles away. The best I can get is Road Runner, but it is twice as expensive, and I don't trust having all of my utilities in the same hands (RR -- Time Warner Cable -- wants to take over the phone service too.)

[Vinnie]

Don't know whether you went to the National Geo video but your video points out exactly the researcher's conclusion.

Dogs sense,pick up cues from humans that wolves, even chimps don't.

I've seen the video before, amazing.

[oldenuff2no]

I don't know what world you live in but in the real world, that does not include cities, dogs are working companions. A good part of the year I go about my work with a good horse under my butt, (something else I train myself), and a couple good dogs following me up. In the summer and fall, I spend most of my time with 6 or 8 pack-mules behind my saddle horse somewhere above 7,000'. I only work inside when it's too cold, wet, or the snow is too deep in the high country. Dogs are pets, but they are most defiantly tools as well. Most people I live around have watchdogs and most everyone around here has some kind of working dog or hunting dog. Most all of them earn their keep.
Ankle biters make good eagle food and don't last too long out and about when things are natural. I have another bunch of new pups out in my kennels. I will obedience train them and then get them started on sheep and cattle and put them on the Internet and in the paper. Those pups will be a good part of my income in Oct and Nov. We have a big working dog sale just up the road every spring. The top working Border Collie sold for $23,000 last Friday night. I sure wish he had been one of mine!!!!! I'd bet someone woke up with one heck of a hangover and one very thin checkbook on Sat morning.

[HairOfTheDog]

What's your point?

Those who have successful skilled working dogs are not the people who seek out the help of Cesar Milan. The people with spoiled pets are. And on those, he pretty much tells people to stop spoiling them and to treat them like dogs. So what's the problem?

[solosmoke]

I agree with Hairofthedog. Cesar has no reason to help people with dogs like that because they are already training them and seem to have just the skills needed to do so. Most of the dogs Cesar deals with DON'T have jobs, and that is part of the problem. They're coddled, they run the house, and most of them aren't even given proper exercise. No wonder they're a handful!

[oldenuff2no]

My point is that Cesar is a con job looking for a mark. I teach kids in 4H how to train their dogs. No one will ever convince me he is special because he can do what a 9 year old kid can do with proper training and techniques. The world that you speak of is totally foreign to me. All of my friends and their children work around animals every day. Kids here learn how to work the dogs and sit a horse working cattle at a young age.
When I was in the military I had a buddy from NYC who didn't know how to drive. I thought that was the stupidest thing I had ever heard. I learned to drive a tractor when I was 6 or 7 and was running around town in an old military jeep when I was 10. He educated me in that most people who live "In the city" can't afford to own a car with the parking fees and parking restrictions.
We truly live in different worlds.

[HairOfTheDog]

You and ~I~ don't live in different worlds, I also grew up around animals. His clients are largely untrained people who did not have the benefit of learning from you in 4H class. You're just being an arrogant curmudgeon because something about his fame and fortune has gotten under your skin.

[solosmoke]

If it wasn't for people like him showing the rest of the non-working dog training world, little ankle biters and big dogs with big problems would never change, or their owners wouldn't, I should say. Of course, in an area where animals are used for work and show instead of lawn ornaments, you would need someone more adept at handling those kinds of animals. But his show is about regular "city" people and their inability to simply be the boss.

Cesar makes it very clear on his show that he does NOT train the dogs. He trains the owners on how to handle them. He came from Mexico as an illegal alien, admits he hasn't been certified and learned his techniques while working as a groomer or kennel person, and seems pretty modest about what he does. His whole show is about clueless owners and I think even though some of the cases I have seen will probably never change, overall his work has had positive results.

If the "city" people's dogs had real jobs, they wouldn't need him in the first place. Most of what he seems to tell these owners is that they don't do well with no work, no exercise, mixed signals, and inconsistency. People with working dogs don't have to experience this because their dogs are trained and kept busy.

[SunkenCiv]

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Note: this topic is dated 1/26/2007. Blast from the Past. Thanks afraidfortherepublic. Just adding to the catalog, not sending a general distribution. To all -- please ping me to other topics which are appropriate for the GGG list.