Posted on 02/16/2017 5:52:57 PM PST by RoosterRedux
Humans and dogs have lived side-by-side for centuries, and new research has given us even more insight into the feelings of man's best friend .
Researchers at Kyoto University's department of psychology in Japan have worked out that dogs - as well as some species of monkey - have an almost human-like sense of morality.
During a series of experiments, they found that our canine chums were less likely to interact with anyone they perceive as acting rudely or unfairly.
The Japanese team set up three experiments and documented their findings in the journal Neuroscience & Biobehavioral Reviews .
One experiment involved watching a dog watching two people (one of which was its owner) arrive with three balls each. One asked the other for their balls and, in some cases, that person obliged - handing over all their balls. Next, the person who had given up their balls asked for them back - again, sometimes the person obliged and other times they declined.
Following this exchange, the dogs were offered treats by both parties. And the researchers found that the dogs were less inclined to accept treats from the person they had observed as being selfish.
The researchers claim both the dogs and the capuchin monkeys that were also tested, made social judgements similar to those that a human might make.
(Excerpt) Read more at mirror.co.uk ...
I agree whole heartedly. Outside of my wife, my dogs are my best friends.
I’ve read of similar experiments before. One that comes to mind was that they had a group of dogs. They gave treats to all the dogs but one. Eventually, the other dogs stopped taking the treats, or would give them to the one being excluded. I think we make a mistake in thinking that animals don’t ‘reason’. Having been a dog and cat owner most of my life, I’m quite convinced they do. It is different from us, but the ability is there nonetheless. I saw a vid on youtube a few months ago that was an excellent example. A dog was on a dock, and a bunch of fish had been taken out of a well. The dog was doing its best to slash water up on the fish, which were gasping for air, like it knew that was what they needed. It was almost pitiful, seeing how distressed the dog was getting because it wasn’t able to help as much as it wanted.
Yeah. But you know they do
I know, I know.... but sometimes things don’t work out in an ideal way. I’m glad you have your pups. Give them an extra pat on the head for me.
Yes your right.
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