As we move forward with the Dog Project, it is one of my dreams to really figure out what makes for a strong dog-human bond, what Konrad Lorenz called a “resonant dog”—a dog and a human who are fully in sync with each other. Using the reactivity of specific parts of a dog’s brain to a human, we could gauge the strength of this bond and figure out activities to strengthen it, or better match people with dogs. Therapy animals could benefit as well, both in finding and training dogs to be the most effective at this important activity.
And while it is easy to see how we could use this information to improve human health, I think it is just as important to use this technology to improve the welfare of dogs. Although they are considered by many to be man’s best friend, they are also still misunderstood, which I think is a result of many people’s impression that dogs are barely domesticated wolves. I was disappointed when I encountered this attitude from an NIH official to whom I was proposing the expansion of the Dog Project to better understand how dogs decrease stress in humans. Instead of seeing how the dog’s reward system is tied into the human’s well-being, his response was “I imagine [the reward system] is maximally active when the dog is tearing into a human.” I can only speculate that he had a bad childhood experience with dogs or that he had been reading too many werewolf stories.
The point is that we can use brain-imaging technology for our own benefit, but we can also train it on dogs for their benefit. We are only scratching the surface of figuring out what dogs know and what they feel. But we already know that the major cause of behavioral problems in modern dogs is separation anxiety. Dogs get attached to their humans, and, understandably, they get lonely when the people are gone. When they act out and destroy things, everyone suffers, but it is the dog that may end up at the shelter.
It may seem far-fetched that scanning dogs’ brains could solve problems like this. But since a dog cannot tell us what is bothering him, peering into his mind may tell us what aspect of being separated from his human causes the most distress. Is it a matter of time or distance? How effective could webcams be in checking in with our dogs during the day? Currently, nobody knows how to best tap into dogs’ perceptual systems through technology. Brain imaging could lead the way.
Beyond all the promise of new discovery, the aspect of the Dog Project of which I am most proud is how we treated the dogs. Of course, Callie and McKenzie were family members, but we treated them like humans in the hope that others who followed in their paw-steps would be afforded the same respect and rights of self-determination. Until proven otherwise, I believe the right course of action is to assume that dogs (and probably many other kinds of animals) have a level of self-awareness and emotion that bears more in common with humans than we had ever anticipated.
Dogs are surely our first friends for always.
Notes
2. WHAT IT’S LIKE TO BE A DOG
Page
16 What is it like to be a dog…: Thomas Nagel. “What is it like to be a bat?” Philosophical Review 83, no. 4 (October 1974): 435–450.
Many authors have written about the dog mind…: For a particularly good review see: John Bradshaw. Dog Sense: How the New Science of Dog Behavior Can Make You a Better Friend to Your Pet (New York: Basic Books, 2011).
17 Lupomorphism…: Adam Miklosi. Dog Behaviour, Evolution, and Cognition (Oxford and New York: Oxford University Press, 2007), p. 15.
18 Visual part of the brain and imagination…: Xu Cui et al. “Vividness of mental imagery: individual variability can be measured objectively.” Vision Research 47, no. 4 (February 2007): 474–478.
4. PUPPY STEPS
34 Classical conditioning…: Steven R. Lindsay. Handbook of Applied Dog Behavior and Training. Vol. 1, Adaptation and Learning (Ames: Iowa State University Press, 2000).
6. RESONANT DOGS
52 Florence Nightingale…: Florence Nightingale. Notes on Nursing: What It Is, and What It Is Not (New York: D. Appleton, 1860), p. 103.
53 Demonstrating that dogs and animals in general can improve human health…: Lori S. Palley, P. Pearl O’Rourke, and Steven M. Niemi. “Mainstreaming animal-assisted therapy.” ILAR Journal 51, no. 3 (2010): 199–207.
Children and pet therapy…: Kathie M. Cole et al. “Animal-assisted therapy in patients hospitalized with heart failure.” American Journal of Critical Care 16, no. 6 (November 2007): 575–585. Elaine E. Lust et al. “Measuring clinical outcomes of animal-assisted therapy: impact on resident medication usage.” Consultant Pharmacist 22, no. 7 (July 2007): 580–585. Carie Braun et al. “Animal-assisted therapy as a pain relief intervention for children.” Complementary Therapies in Clinical Practice 15, no. 2 (May 2009): 105–109.
Animal-assisted therapy patterns…: This is called a meta-analysis and was reported in: Janelle Nimer and Brad Lundahl. “Animal-assisted therapy: a meta-analysis.” Anthrozoos 20, no. 3 (September 2007): 225–238.
54 Konrad Lorenz…: Konrad Lorenz. Man Meets Dog. Translated by Marjorie Kerr Wilson (New York, Tokyo, and London: Kodansha International, 1994).
Animals demonstrate an understanding of fairness…: Frans de Waal. Our Inner Ape: A Leading Primatologist Explains Why We Are Who We Are (New York: Riverhead, 2005).
Resonance dog…: Lorenz, Man Meets Dog, p. 76.
7. LAWYERS GET INVOLVED
66 Rabies in the United States…: “Human Rabies.” Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, last modified May 3, 2012. http://www.cdc.gov/rabies/location/usa/surveillance/human_rabies.html.
8. THE SIMULATOR
69 First investigation of dogs’ hearing…: E. A. Lipman and J. R. Grassi. “Comparative auditory sensitivity of man and dog.” American Journal of Psychology 55, no. 1 (January 1941): 84–89.
9. BASIC TRAINING
80 Puppies and social learning…: Leonore L. Adler and Helmut E. Adler. “Ontogeny of observational learning in the dog (Canis familiaris).” Developmental Psychobiology 10, no. 3 (May 1977): 267–271. Cf. A. Miklosi, Dog Behaviour.
Puppies that watched their mother…: J. M. Slabbert and O. Anne E. Rasa. “Observational learning of an acquired maternal behaviour pattern by working dog pups: an alternative training method?” Applied Animal Behaviour Science 53, no. 4 (July 1997): 309–316.
85 Mutt Muffs…: Mutt Muffs, accessed December 20, 2012. http://www.safeandsoundpets.com/index.html.
11. THE CARROT OR THE STICK?
100 Cesar Millan and pack leader…: Cesar Millan and Melissa Jo Peltier. Be the Pack Leader: Use Cesar’s Way to Transform Your Dog…and Your Life (New York: Harmony Books, 2007).