
Why Is That Dog Looking at Me? - dnt404-1
http://www.nytimes.com/2015/09/16/science/why-is-that-dog-looking-at-me.html?action=click&contentCollection=N.Y.%20%2F%20Region&module=MostPopularFB&version=Full&region=Marginalia&src=me&pgtype=article
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ghshephard
Aren't they overlooking the fairly straightforward explanation that
domesticated dogs were evolutionarily selected for looking at humans because
they were rewarded with food? I note that most of the tests they are using
involve food. But verifying that feral dogs behave in the same way is also a
good idea (noted in the article). My guess is that they will - feral kittens
seem to know to cozy up to humans when begging for food.

They should try tests involving something other than food that inspires dogs -
like attempting to get access to a female in heat, and see if the dogs bother
looking at humans in that scenario.

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gnur
I can tell from experience that dogs also look at humans to get something they
want that is not food.

When my 5 month old labrador rolls her ball under the couch (again), she tries
for 5 seconds to get it herself, after that, she starts staring at me.

When she needs to "go", she will sit by the door and start staring at me.

Both of which are events that are not rewarded by food, but something she will
enjoy by herself. (playing with a ball, and "relief"), even though in the
latter case, I am very pleases she is going outside :).

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ghshephard
What's challenging there, of course, is whether this is trained behavior or
innate. I.E. Would a _feral_ dog think to look at a human if it couldn't get a
toy, or needed to go outside?

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pluma
I'm thinking a feral dog would just pee on the carpet...

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Asbostos
I know people tend to underestimate how difficult other people's work is, but
do you really need a doctorate and a university to do research like this? Why
not just do it at home as a hobby and if you want Indian feral dogs, hire some
Indian freelancers to perform the experiment and video it.

Are they just trying to do anything to keep their job? What kind of university
lets its well qualified staff do things so far beneath their ability?

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jakobegger
While the description of the experiments sounds simple, the actual protocols
end up pretty complicated if you want reproducible results.

A couple of years back, i visited the wolf science center in
Ernstbrunn/Austria, where they have wolves and feral dogs, and they also
perform these kinds of behavioral experiments. It was quite eye-opening to see
how much effort is needed for such seemingly simple experiments.

Obviously, just ensuring safety is quite complex when working with wolves, but
there's also a lot of effort that goes into making sure the experiments work.
You can only work with animals for a limited time, you don't have infinite
number of animals, etc.

There was a PhD student at the center who was trying to design an experiment
to simulate cooperation during hunting on a giant treadmill; not exactly
trivial stuff...

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Asbostos
Complicated yes, but surely nothing that most people couldn't figure out if
they had the curiosity and no formal education in the field is it? The
equipment here seems to be common kitchen containers and meat from the
supermarket.

I don't think experiment design is something scientists are necessarily very
good at or needed for. Just look at the recent articles pointing out the large
proportion of bad results - probably coming from bad experiment design. A
hobbyist on the other hand, could try again when it fails and fix problems.

Could it be the hard part is writing it up and submitting to a journal? That's
not something you could just hack together without a lot of probably
uninteresting self-teaching.

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eru
> Complicated yes, but surely nothing that most people couldn't figure out if
> they had the curiosity and no formal education in the field is it? [...]

The most curiosity and passionate about a topic of research often tend to go
into academic research.

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pmx
I'm pretty sure they learn that if they look at us we'll try to fix their
problems for them. I think the whole "training" thing goes both ways with dogs
and humans. My dog has trained me to let her back into the house when she
makes a noise outside the back door, it's the only place she makes this
particular noise and she started doing that by herself.

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pygy_
Dogs are mostly wolves with neotenic traits, it would be interesting to see
how wolf and dog pups behave in the same test when presented with an
impossible task, and, if they behave identically, at what age they diverge.

Likewise for dogs and wolves raised by their biological parent (assuming dogs
treat their owner as a surrogate parent).

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sound_of_basker
Stressing each part of that sentence separately, I got five different
meanings. English is a strange language.

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dlubarov
We could tease out seven meanings:

    
    
      WHY is that dog looking at me? - the standard version
      Why IS that dog looking at me? - a reply to the above; I'm wondering the same thing!
      Why is THAT dog looking at me? - why not the other dog?
      Why is that DOG looking at me? - why not the cat?
      Why is that dog LOOKING at me? - why is it just looking, not sniffing etc?
      Why is that dog looking AT me? - why not look past me at the food on the table? (okay, this one's a stretch)
      Why is that dog looking at ME? - why not you?

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callesgg
Not really i question i would think to ask as my instant thought was:

They have selfs learned that if i look at a human the human will eventually
fix my problems for me.

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buffoon
Slightly off topic but I had a friend who was scared of dogs because they
looked at him. We had to cross the road if there was a dog coming.

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Asbostos
In fairness, looking can also be a precursor to attacking.

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MrZongle2
Betteridge's law of headlines fails us in this case.

