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Post by elklandercc on Jan 14, 2008 1:18:16 GMT -4
My dogs never ate their shit (at least not that I know of,) I guess its cause I feed them Beniful (sp?)
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Hunter60
Full Member
Last of the Dog Men
Posts: 185
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Post by Hunter60 on Jan 14, 2008 9:00:48 GMT -4
Tonight I was reading about the theories of the original domestication of dogs (which presumably were originally wolves). Well a feature of dogs compared to wolves is that they have gone through morphological, physiological, and behavior changes, which seems is a result of being tamed enough to domesticate in the first place (and is illustrated in all domesticated animals in fact). These include smaller bodies, heads and jaws, smaller teeth, different breeding times, fur length and patterns, tail-wagging, whining, and submissiveness to name a few. In essence, adult dogs retain some of the characteristics of a wolf-pup. The wolf-pup eventually gets the bigger features (head, jaws, teeth, etc.) and outgrows and ceases tail-wagging, barking, and whining, but dogs don't. Conversely the dog doesn't display certain adult wolf traits like regurgitating food for the pups. When I read that last bit, I made the connection that's relevant here...if dogs are in some ways eternal wolf-puppies, they might still instinctively react as they would if their parent had "deposited" vomit for their benefit. Perhaps this would carry over to dookie as well, I don't know. Something to ponder...who would've thought a discussion on dookie could get so "deep". Interesting. I have heard something similar. This expert (I think it was from The Secret Lives of Dogs) said that essentially dogs live in an eternal state of puppyhood as a result of thousands of years of domestication. I have no idea why they do this nasty business but this is as good a theory as any I've ever heard.
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Rustee
Full Member
pima practitioner
Posts: 214
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Post by Rustee on Jan 14, 2008 22:14:44 GMT -4
...an eternal state of puppyhood as a result of thousands of years of domestication. Interestingly (at least I thought so), there's strong evidence that domestication can happen in an evolutionary blink of an eye, contrary to the long held assumption that it's a long gradual process. A Russian scientist, Dmitry Belyaev, did an experiment with farm bred (but nevertheless undomesticated) foxes that consisted of selectively breeding those that showed the least hostility towards people. Long story short, he discovered that within 10 generations in a 10 year span, the foxes were totally domesticated, meaning they not only tolerated people, but liked petting and play. They also started showing the physical traits like floppy ears, different fur patterns, smaller teeth, etc. They even started selling them as pets. They've since correlated that the hormone levels that contribute to tameness (dopamine and such) trigger the physical changes. So put that into the historical context of wolves living near early human settlements: those that had the least "fight or flight" response would likely get more refuse and handouts. It could've very well happened in one person's life-span!
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hdj
Full Member
"Hey, Zakk Mylde, let's kick it up a notch"
Posts: 187
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Post by hdj on Jan 15, 2008 17:06:13 GMT -4
Conversely the dog doesn't display certain adult wolf traits like regurgitating food for the pups. Actually, dogs do regurgitate their food for the pups....It's part of the weaning process....not all momma dogs do it, but some do. Last year I took in a stray Beagle that happened to be pregnant (didn't have the heart to take her to the shelter) and she had 8 pups. When the time came to start weaning them off of the milk, she would regurgitate her food after I would feed her for them.....and she would only do that when I let her back in with the pups... Dogs eating their own poo is a mystery in the dog world, nobody really knows why they do it. There are theories out there...
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