Interesting Article on the K9 mind

[showpug]

If you have some time to read, this is an interesting article on the way a dog thinks and issues of separation anxiety etc.

http://slate.msn.com/id/2127419/?GT1=7125

 

[Doberluv]

That's good. I wish more people would read that. I've read so many posts where people say something like that: "My dog is angry with me and conspiring to ruin my life." LOL. Or, "My dog KNOWS he did the wrong thing. He looks so guilty when I come in and get mad at him."

 

[Renee750il]

Nice article. I can vouch, though, that very little of it is applicable to Filas, at least in my experience with them

 

[Zoom]

I like Jon Katz's stuff. I have most of his dog books, except for the new one. For the most part I think he has a pretty darn good idea of what he's talking about, but there are times when it really shows through that he has "pets" or "working partners", not "family members". There is nothing wrong with that, and it sounds like his dogs have the best life a border collie could imagine, but he does tend to look down on the dog people who put their dogs right up (or even over) their own kids, buy the designer doggie clothes and take them to doggie yoga. His recent book "The New Work of Dogs" is an awesome read and goes more in depth with a lot of what he was talking about in this article.

 

[Vega]

That's good. I wish more people would read that. I've read so many posts where people say something like that: "My dog is angry with me and conspiring to ruin my life." LOL. Or, "My dog KNOWS he did the wrong thing. He looks so guilty when I come in and get mad at him."

We did a lot of that didn't we in here.
http://www.chazhound.com/forums/showthread.php?t=11147

 

[oriondw]

Meh some stuff he says is right... alot of stuff doesnt apply to my dog.

 

[Angelique]

I've read one of the articles by Mr. Katz. I was impressed by what he had to say, and sent him an email. He was kind enough to respond back. I am looking forward to reading his books, especially this new one!

I think this year is going to bring some incredible breakthroughs, which will help people understand and communicate better with their dogs.

Some of this HAS been around for awhile and many people with dogs do understand at least part of it. But the tricky part is, to put it into terms most people can understand and use.

 

[Renee750il]

I don't know. He just seems somewhat condescending toward dogs and limited in scope. It takes a great amount of hubris to assume that another sentient species is limited only because we are too limited to understand them and insist on defining their capabilities by our own very flawed understanding.

 

[Zoom]

He's a good writer anyway. But like I said, he has working pets, not family members. He does have a good article about "new abuse" where the dog is pampered and well-taken care of, but the family is too busy to spend time with it, resulting in neglect. It's in the Slate archives, so just follow the links at the bottom of this article.