Dog Sense (53 page)

8
. The bush dog is a rare social canid found in South America. Its stumpy tail, round head, and furry feet would probably, if married to a suitable temperament, be rather appealing.

9
. This list of desired traits is derived from research by Australians Paul McGreevy and Pauleen Bennett; see their “Challenges and paradoxes in the companion-animal niche” in
Animal Welfare
19(S) (2010): 11–16. Bennett and her colleagues at Monash University in Australia presented further refinements of the ideas behind this list at the 2nd Canine Science Forum held in Vienna in July 2010.

Most of the source material for this book comprises papers in academic journals, which are often difficult (and expensive!) to access for those without a university affiliation. Although I've included references to the most important of these in the endnotes, I can also recommend the following books, most of which were written by knowledgeable academics but with a more general audience in mind.

Wolves: Behavior, Ecology and Conservation
, edited by L. David Mech and Luigi Boitani (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2003), provides detailed up-to-date information on wolf biology from a host of experts. Older books on wolves are less useful because they contain misconceptions about the organization of wolf packs.

Ádám Miklósi's
Dog Behavior, Evolution and Cognition
(New York: Oxford University Press, 2009) is currently the standard textbook on dog behavior. It contains a great deal of detailed information on domestication, canine cognition, and ways in which dogs perceive people, although his conclusions are not identical to mine.

Apart from Ray and Lorna Coppinger's
Dogs: A New Understanding of Canine Origin, Behavior and Evolution
(Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2002), there are few readily accessible accounts of social behavior in dogs that draw on up-to-date science.

Carrots and Sticks: Principles of Animal Training
(Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2008), by Professors Paul McGreevy and Bob Boakes from the University of Sydney, Australia, is a fascinating book in two halves: The first half explains learning theory in accessible language, and the second contains fifty case histories of animals (twelve of them dogs) trained for specific purposes, ranging from film work to bomb detection. Each case history is illustrated with color photographs indicating how the animals were trained.

Karen Prior, Gwen Bailey, and Pamela Reid are among the dog-training experts whose many books are worth looking out for.

Paul McGreevy's
A Modern Dog's Life: How to Do the Best for Your Dog
(New York: The Experiment, 2010) is full of indispensable advice for dog owners.

For more information on the effects of early life events in humans and animals, I recommend
Design for a Life: How Behaviour Develops
by Patrick Bateson and Paul Martin (New York: Vintage, 2001). If you're looking for practical advice on choosing and raising a puppy, I suggest Ian Dunbar's
Before and After Getting Your Puppy: The Positive Approach to Raising a Happy, Healthy, and Well-Behaved Dog
(Novato, CA: New World Library, 2004) or Gwen Bailey's
The Perfect Puppy: How to Raise a Well-Behaved Dog
(New York: Readers Digest, 2009).

Patricia McConnell's
For the Love of a Dog: Understanding Emotion in You and Your Best Friend
(New York: Ballantine Books, 2007) is an excellent and accessible account of current understanding of canine emotions. Alexandra Horowitz provides an enlightened integration of recent research into dogs' sensory and cognitive abilities in
Inside of a Dog: What Dogs See, Smell, and Know
(New York: Simon & Schuster, 2009). Sophie Collins'
Tail Talk: Understanding the Secret Language of Dogs
(San Francisco: Chronicle Books, 2007) is a good pictorial guide to canine body-language. David McFarland's
Guilty Robots, Happy Dogs
(New York: Oxford University Press, 2009), though more about robots than about dogs, provides a discussion of several highly complex philosophies of self-awareness and consciousness.

The sensory worlds of animals is a rather neglected topic. For a general introduction to the ways in which animals' sensory worlds affect their behavior, an excellent source is the late Professor Chris Barnard's textbook
Animal Behavior: Mechanism, Development, Function and Evolution
(Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall, 2003). In addition, Tristram Wyatt's
Pheromones and Animal Behaviour: Communication by Smell and Taste
(Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2003) provides a thorough coverage of odor communication across the whole of the animal kingdom.

The pioneering work on breed differences in behavior, John Paul Scott and John L. Fuller's
Genetics and the Social Behavior of the Dog
, has been reprinted (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1998). Information that is even more up to date can be found in Kenth Svartberg's chapter on personality in Per Jensen's multi-author textbook
The Behavioural Biology of Dogs
(Wallingford, UK: CAB International, 2007).

Abandonment,
96
,
145
,
254
,
283
,
284

Active submission,
19–20

Affiliation display,
20
,
21 (fig.)
,
22

African basenji,
269
,
270 (fig.)
,
271

African wild dog,
11–13
,
12 (fig.)

Africanis,
256

Aggression,
17–18
,
22
,
139
,
140
,
141

and anger,
166–167
,
167–168

and biting,
176–177
,
178–179

and breeding,
254

and conflict resolution,
87

and fear,
164
,
167–168
,
179

and laws, breed-specific,
272–273
,
276

and punishment,
178

and selective breeding,
271–275
,
274 (table)

territorial,
167

and training method,
119–120

Aguara dog,
9–10

Air movement, and odors,
234–239
,
237 (fig.)

Allergens,
290–291

Alpha model,
22–23

Alpha-wolf roll-over disciplinary technique,
97

American cocker spaniel,
256
,
269

American Humane Association,
282

American timber wolf,
23–24
,
24–25
,
44
.
See also
Wolf

Anatolian Karabash,
127

Ancestry,
1–2
,
6–7
,
25
,
27

and domestication,
29–30

and pedigree,
254–255

Anger,
153
,
163
,
166–168

and aggression,
166–167

and biting,
177

See also
Emotions

Animal Behavior and Training Council,
282

Anthropomorphism,
149–150
,
151
,
224

Antithesis, principle,
158

Anxiety,
139
,
163
,
165–166
,
168

and anti-anxiety drugs,
173

and biting,
177

See also
Emotions

Anxiolytics (anti-anxiety drugs),
173

APDT.
See
Association of Pet Dog Trainers

Appearance,
54

selective breeding for,
254
,
257
,
263
,
288

vs. personality traits,
276

Association of Pet Dog Trainers (APDT),
282

Associative learning,
105–108

and classical conditioning,
102–104

and extinction,
103

and inadvertent reinforcement,
106

and operant conditioning,
102
,
105

and punishment,
103–104

and rewards,
103
,
107

unintentional,
107–108

See also
Learning

Attachment,
170
,
171
,
278

over-,
176

and rewards,
279

Attachment figure,
144–147

Aversion,
103

Awareness.
See
Self-awareness

Back shape,
262

Bailey, Gwen,
111

Bantu dog,
256

Bar Harbor project,
268–270
,
271

Bared-teeth signal,
160
,
263

Barking,
113

Basenji,
269
,
270 (fig.)
,
271

Beagle,
269

Behavior development,
141–142

Behavior rules,
88–90

Behavioral disorders,
283

Behavioral problems,
96
,
139–141
,
143–144
,
171

Belly-up display,
21–22
,
21 (fig.)

Binocular vision,
226
,
230

Biting,
176–179

Body-language,
166
,
202
,
203
,
262–263

and emotions,
151
,
160
,
161
,
168

See also
Facial expressions
;
Postures
;
Signals

Bomb detection,
182

Bonding,
2
,
20
,
140–141
,
144

Bonobo,
3–4

Border collies,
173
,
267–268

Boredom,
175

Borophagine,
5

Boston terrier,
256

Brain, social,
130–131

Brain development,
141–143

Breed barrier,
65

Breed clubs,
257

Breed standard,
257–258

Breeding,
252–257
,
283

and aggression,
254

and ailments,
254

and ancient breeds,
59–63
,
252–253

and companion role,
254

for companionship,
285–290

controlled,
285

cooperative,
16–17

cross-,
63
,
65
,
259

and deliberate selection,
58–65

and genetic mutations,
255

human intervention in,
59

line-,
258

out-,
259

over-, accidental,
258

pedigree,
65

and registration system,
255

restrictions,
63
,
65

and welfare,
252–254
,
255–256
,
259–260

See also
Inbreeding
;
Selective breeding

Breeds

ancient,
59–63
,
252–253

medieval,
61–62
,
62 (fig.)

specialty,
62–63

See also individual breeds

Bulldogs,
261
,
263
,
273

Burials,
34–36
,
36–40
,
38 (fig.)

Cairn terrier,
268

Canaan dog,
256

Canid,
1–2
,
5–14

social,
2
,
27–28

Canidae (aka Dog family),
1
,
5
.
See also
Canid

Canis
,
5–6

Captivity,
18
,
22–23
,
70–71
,
83

Cats,
156
,
231
,
291

Cavalier King Charles spaniel,
257–258
,
260
,
261