Doggone Genius Genus

Man's Best friend is supposedly the dog ......

Man's Best Friend - The Wife Or The Dog?

..... and I certainly have come across men, who would say, well it certainly isn't the wife!

Dogs have learnt to understand human commands because of 14,000 years of domestication, a scientific study by Dukes University has found. The pets have actually evolved in that time period to read human gestures, looks, and voice commands. They have even evolved to look to humans for help when distressed.

They also found that when wolf pups that were hand raised by humans, were tested against dogs that had been raised with little human contact, they were still out performed by the dogs. Dr Brian Hare said "It solidifies evidence that the social genius of dogs is a product of domestication."

They found that even untrained dogs, can understand human directions by pointing gestures. 80 per cent of stray dogs will follow pointing gestures. This suggests that dogs have always had this ability.
 
Cats on the other hand, have not gone through anything like the same domestication evolution, despite spending at least the same length of time in contact with humans. In fact so different are the path that cats have taken, that some cat lovers have even said that owners should ask for their feline friends permission, before picking them up, petting them etc. This arrant nonsense was posted on Katzenworld, the UK's biggest cat blogging platform.

Now, any cat owner would agree that understanding a cats body language, is sometimes a good idea before picking a cat up (especially if you are a a stranger or not its owner), it is only to prevent getting scratched. As the Cats Protection charity pointed out, they "Wouldn't recommend that people ask their cat if its OK to pet them or pick them up. Cats don't understand English." ... Hmm, so dogs do ... well sort of?

But back to the dogs ..... there are numerous web sites who list the:  14 Reasons Why Men Have Dogs And Not Wives

1.     The later you are, the more excited your dogs are to see you.
2.     Dogs don’t notice if you call them by another dog’s name.
3.     Dogs like it if you leave a lot of things on the floor.
4.     A dog’s parents never visit.
5.     Dogs agree that you have to raise your voice to get your point across.
6.     You never have to wait for a dog; they’re ready to go 24 hours a day.
7.     Dogs find you amusing when you’re drunk.
8.     Dogs like to go hunting and fishing.
9.     A dog will not wake you up at night to ask, “If I died, would you get another dog?”
10.     If a dog has babies, you can put an ad in the paper and give them away.
11.     A dog will let you put a studded collar on it without calling you a pervert.
12.     If a dog smells another dog on you, they don’t get mad. They just think it’s interesting.
13.     Dogs like to ride in the back of a pick-up truck.
14.     If a dog leaves, it won’t take half of your stuff.

..... well it takes all sorts I guess ..... but give me a woman every time.