Animals in Translation (45 page)

The story of how researchers have begun to piece this together is an example of
converging lines of evidence,
which is what happens when findings from different fields start to fit together and all point in the same direction. For a long time, the best evidence researchers had about when and how wolves turned into dogs came from
archaeological discoveries of dog remains that had been carefully buried underneath humans' huts. Some archaeologists found dogs and people buried together in the same grave.

Those first buried dogs date back about 14,000 years. Humans had not yet invented farming at that time, but they had the same bodies and brains we do. So it made sense to conclude that primitive humans evolved into modern humans first, then began to associate with wild wolves who subsequently evolved into the domestic dog, in order to serve as working dogs and pets.

But a study by Robert K. Wayne and his colleagues at UCLA of DNA variability in dogs found that dogs had to have diverged from wolves as a separate population 135,000 years ago.
¹¹
The reason the fossil record doesn't show any dogs with humans before 14,000 years ago is probably that before then people were partnered with wolves, or with wolves that were evolving into dogs. Sure enough, fossil records do show lots of wolf bones close to human bones before 100,000 years ago.

If Dr. Wayne is right, wolves and people were together at the point when
homo sapiens
had just barely evolved from
homo erectus.
When wolves and humans first joined together people only had a few rough tools to their name, and they lived in very small nomadic bands that probably weren't any more socially complicated than a band of chimpanzees. Some researchers think these early humans may not even have had language.

This means that when wolves and people first started keeping company they were on a lot more equal footing than dogs and people are today. Basically, two different species with complementary skills teamed up together, something that had never happened before and has really never happened since.

Going over all the evidence, a group of Australian anthropologists believes that during all those years when early humans were associating with wolves
they learned to act and think like wolves.
¹²
Wolves hunted in groups; humans didn't. Wolves had complex social structures; humans didn't. Wolves had loyal same-sex and nonkin friendships; humans probably didn't, judging by the lack of same-sex and nonkin friendships in every other primate species today. (The main relationship for chimpanzees is parent-child.) Wolves
were highly territorial; humans probably weren't—again, judging by how nonterritorial all other primates are today.

By the time these early people became truly modern, they had learned to do all these wolfie things. When you think about how different we are from other primates, you see how doglike we are. A lot of the things we do that the other primates don't are dog things. The Australian group thinks it was the dogs who showed us how.

They take their line of reasoning even further. Wolves, and then dogs, gave early humans a huge survival advantage, they say, by serving as lookouts and guards, and by making it possible for humans to hunt big game in groups instead of hunting small prey as individuals. Given everything wolves did for early man, dogs were probably a big reason why early man survived and Neanderthals didn't. Neanderthals didn't have dogs.

But dogs didn't just help people stay alive long enough to reproduce. Dogs probably also made it possible for humans to pull ahead of all their primate cousins. Paul Tacon, principal research scientist at the Australian Museum, says that the development of human friendship “was a tremendous survival advantage because that speeds up the exchange of ideas between groups of people.” All cultural evolution is based on cooperation, and humans learned from dogs how to cooperate with people they aren't related to.
¹³

Maybe the most amazing new finding is that wolves didn't just teach us a lot of useful new behaviors. Wolves probably also changed the structure of our brains. Fossil records show that whenever a species becomes domesticated its brain gets smaller. The horse's brain shrank by 16 percent; the pig's brain shrank as much as 34 percent; and the dog's brain shrank 10 to 30 percent. This probably happened because once humans started to take care of these animals, they no longer needed various brain functions in order to survive. I don't know what functions they lost, but I do know all domestic animals have reduced fear and anxiety compared to wild animals.

Now archaeologists have discovered that 10,000 years ago, just at the point when humans began to give their dogs formal burials, the human brain began to shrink, too. It shrank by 10 percent, just like the dog's brain. And what's interesting is what
part
of the human brain shrank. In all of the domestic animals the
forebrain,
which
holds the frontal lobes, and the
corpus callosum,
which is the connecting tissue between the two sides of the brain, shrank. But in humans it was the
midbrain,
which handles emotions and sensory data, and the
olfactory bulbs,
which handle smell, that got smaller while the corpus callosum and the forebrain stayed pretty much the same. Dog brains and human brains specialized: humans took over the planning and organizing tasks, and dogs took over the sensory tasks. Dogs and people coevolved and became even better partners, allies, and friends.

“D
OGS
M
AKE
U
S
H
UMAN
”

The Aborigines have a saying: “Dogs make us human.” Now we know that's probably literally true. People wouldn't have become who we are today if we hadn't co-evolved with dogs.

I think it's also true, though in a different way, that
all
animals make us human. That's why I hope we'll start to think more respectfully about animal intelligence and talent. That would be good for people, because there are a lot of things we can't do that animals can. We could use their help.

But it would be good for animals, too. Dogs first started living with people because people needed dogs and dogs needed people. Now dogs still need people, but people have forgotten how much they need dogs for anything besides love and companionship. That's probably okay for a dog who's been bred to be a companion animal, but a lot of the bigger breeds and practically all of the mixed breeds were built for work. Having a job to do is part of their nature; it's who they are. The sad thing is, now that hardly anyone makes his living herding sheep, most dogs are out of a job.

It doesn't have to be that way. I read a little story on the Web site for the American Veterinary Medical Association that shows the incredible things animals are capable of doing, and would do if we gave them the chance. It was about a dog named Max who had trained himself to monitor his mistress's blood sugar levels even while she was asleep. No one knows how Max was doing this, but my guess is people must smell slightly different when their blood
sugar is low, and Max had figured that out.
¹⁴
The lady who owned him was a severe diabetic, and if her blood sugar levels got low during the night Max would wake up her husband and bug him until he got up and took care of her.

You have to think about that story for only five seconds to realize how much dogs have to offer. Dogs and a lot of other animals.

 

People always wonder how I can work in the meatpacking industry when I love animals so much. I've thought about this a lot.

After I developed my center-track restraining system, I remember looking out over the cattle yard at the hundreds and hundreds of animals milling around in their corrals. I was upset that I had just designed a really efficient slaughter plant. Cows are the animals I love best.

Looking at those animals I realized that none of them would even exist if human beings hadn't bred them into being. And ever since that moment I've believed that we brought these animals here, so we're responsible for them. We owe them a decent life and a decent death, and their lives should be as low-stress as possible. That's my job.

Now I'm writing this book because I wish animals could have more than just a low-stress life and a quick, painless death. I wish animals could have a
good
life, too, with something useful to do. I think we owe them that.

I don't know if people will ever be able to talk to animals the way Doctor Doolittle could, or whether animals will be able to talk back. Maybe science will have something to say about that.

But I do know people can learn to “talk” to animals, and to hear what animals have to say, better than they do now. I also know that a lot of times people who can talk to animals are happier than people who can't. People were animals, too, once, and when we turned into human beings we gave something up. Being close to animals brings some of it back.

T
raining, solving behavior problems, and understanding why animals do what they do will be easier if you know the motivations for different behaviors.

Animal behavior is a complex mixture of learned behaviors, biologically based emotion, and hardwired instinctual behavior.

Examples of hardwired behaviors are bird mating dances and a dog chasing something that moves rapidly. Ethologists call these behaviors, which are always the same and never vary from one member of a species to another, fixed action patterns. Fixed action patterns are turned on by sign stimuli. The sign stimulus for prey chasing is rapid movement, while a bird's mating dance is triggered by the sight of a potential mate as well as a surge of hormones.

The fixed action pattern is hardwired but the particular sign stimulus that turns it on is determined by learning and emotion. A basic principle of animal behavior is that WHO you have sex with, WHAT you eat, WHERE you eat, WHO you fight with, and WHO you socialize with are
learned
. In dogs the killing bite is instinctual, but the animal learns what to kill and what not to kill. Chasing things that move rapidly is instinctual, but a dog learns that he
can
chase a ball but he
cannot
chase children.

Brain research now shows that the way the brain processes various core motivations, or emotions, is different. Example: fear and rage are neurologically very different. Being scared and being angry are two different feelings. Both humans and mammals have similar systems in the brain for processing basic emotions.

Another important principle in shaping animal behavior is the fact that animals are individuals. One dog may have high social motivation and respond well to praise alone. Another dog may be more motivated by food rewards. The degree of fearfulness varies greatly between different breeds of animals, but the range of fearfulness within the same breed may also vary greatly. On average, Arab horses and Border collies have higher fearfulness than quarter horses and Rottweilers, but there will be some low-fear Arabs who will have the lower fear levels of a quarter horse.

A high-fear horse or dog is more likely to be traumatized by abuse than a low-fear animal. An Arab horse who has been beaten may become so fearful that he becomes dangerous to ride, but a horse with a less fearful temperament may habituate to some rough treatment. Dogs, cats, and other animals with the high-fear trait often quiver and tremble, and are more likely to panic and startle when they are exposed to a sudden novel stimulus such as an umbrella opening or a piece of metal falling on the floor. A horse who is getting scared will hold his head up high, switch his tail, and sweat. A high-fear dog who has been abused will often cower and crouch down when a person approaches. He may also bite, especially if he feels cornered.

Anyone training an animal should rely on positive emotions and motivations, such as praise, stroking, or food rewards, not negative. Animals learn new skills more easily with positive reinforcement, and learning new behaviors should always be a good experience for the animal.

Below is a list of the basic
behaviors
and
behavior motivators
in animals:

1. Fear
   
2. Rage and anger
   
3. Predatory chasing
   
4. Sociality
   
5. Pain
   
6. Novelty seeking and novelty avoidance
   
7. Hunger
   
8. Sex
   

B
EHAVIORS AND
B
EHAVIOR
M
OTIVATORS

Fear-Motivated Behaviors

Examples

• An animal struggles and vocalizes during veterinary procedures.
  
• A stressed-out dog bites at a noisy party.
  
• A horse rears when he sees a person wearing a black hat because he was once abused by someone wearing a black hat.
  
• A horse is calm when ridden at home but goes berserk at a show when he sees balloons for the first time.
  
• An abused dog cowers and bites when a person raises his hand.
  
• A horse kicks (spooks) at blowing paper.
  
• A dog runs under the couch during a thunderstorm.
  
• A cat goes berserk at a veterinary clinic when he sees a dog for the first time. This is an example of extreme fear and panic.
  
• A monkey at a zoo runs and hides when he hears the voice of the person who immobilized him with a tranquilizer dart.
  
• A dog growls at men because he was abused by a man.
  
• A horse goes berserk when ridden with a type of bit used to abuse him. Changing the bit to one that feels totally different will sometimes prevent this fear-motivated behavior.
  
• A horse bucks when he changes gaits. This often occurs when training has been done too rapidly. During too rapid training, a horse can be frightened by the new sensations of the saddle when he changes from a walk to a different gait. Trying a different pad and saddle that will feel completely different to the horse may help. Once the different pad and saddle are in place, allow the horse to
  gradually
  become accustomed to how they feel on his back at different gaits.
  
• A horse refuses to load onto a trailer because he hit his head the first time he entered one.
  
• A horse bites for no apparent reason. This often occurs in a horse who has been abused or subjected to harsh training methods.
  

Principles of Troubleshooting

• Never punish fear-motivated behavior because the animal will become increasingly frightened.
  
• Fear-motivated behaviors are more likely to occur in high-strung flighty animals. Flightiness and the tendency to startle easily are inherited, genetically based traits. On the average, horses as a species have more fear-motivated behavior than dogs. Some breeds are more flighty than others, but there can be great variation. In all species, animals with fine small bones and slender bodies are usually more fearful than heavier-boned animals with heavier bodies. Horses and cattle with a spiral hair whorl above the eyes are more likely to be flighty compared to ones with a spiral hair whorl located below the eyes.
  
• Fear-motivated behaviors often occurs in abused animals.
  
• Gentle, positive training methods can often prevent fear-motivated behavior. This is especially important with high-fear flighty animals.
  
• Frightened animals are easier to handle if they are given twenty to thirty minutes to calm down.
  
• Animals with high-fear genetics such as Arab horses, Border collies, and many of the small dog breeds are more likely to be traumatized and damaged by harsh treatment.
  
• Use calming methods to soothe the animal such as stroking and talking in a calm low voice. Stroke the animal, do not pat him. Some animals interpret pats as hits.
  
• A frightened animal will often calm down and relax when he hears the calm voice of a familiar trusted person. It is advisable to train animals to trust more than one person.
  
• Trainers must work to prevent fear memories from forming, especially
  in nervous flighty animals. An animal's first experiences with a new person, place, or piece of equipment should be positive. Example: if a horse falls down the first time he is loaded into a trailer he may develop a fear of trailers.
  
• Fear memories are permanent. Since animals do not have language, fear memories are stored as pictures, sounds, touch sensations, or smells. An animal may become scared if he or she sees, hears, touches, or smells something that is associated with a painful or frightening experience.
  
• Although fear memories are permanent, desensitization programs can help. Example: a dog's fear of thunderstorms may be able to be desensitized by playing a sound effect recording of a thunderstorm with gradually increasing volume.
  
• Some fear-motivated behaviors may require a veterinarian's prescription for either antidepressant medications or anti-anxiety medications.
  
• Combining medications with behavioral methods such as desensitization is more effective than using medication alone.
  

Rage- and Anger-Motivated Behavior

Examples

• A stallion colt reared alone in a stall is vicious toward other horses. This is because he never had the opportunity to learn how to interact with other horses. He does not know that once he has become dominant he no longer has to keep fighting.
  
• A dominant dog bites its owner. In some cases the dog will be dominant over one family member and subordinate to others. Some examples of dominant behavior are growling when told to get off a couch or refusing to obey commands he has already learned such as “sit” or “stay.”
  
• A dog guarding its owner bites the mailman or a veterinarian.
  
• A bull charges people in a pasture.
  
• A dominant dog bites a subordinate dog. Dogs are not democratic: feed and pet the dominant dog first to prevent attacks on subordinate dogs.
  
• A dog who has not been socialized to small children when he is a puppy bites a toddler. To prevent attacks on small children, puppies must be socialized to many different toddlers.
  
• A bull calf hand-reared away from other cattle attacks a person when he becomes mature. This occurs because he thinks he is a person and he views the person as a subordinate who needs to be dominated. Aggression toward people can be reduced by rearing young bulls and stallions in a social group with their own species.
  
• Animals fight over access to food.
  
• A horse or dog bites for no obvious reason. This is most likely to occur in low-fear animals who have been beaten into submission.
  
• A dog or horse who has been raised without contact with other animals gets into vicious fights with other animals.
  

Principles of Troubleshooting

• Rage- and anger-motivated behaviors are more likely to occur in confident, active, assertive animals and less likely to occur in flighty, shy, fearful animals. This applies to all species of animals.
  
• Rage- and anger-motivated behaviors are more likely to occur in animals who have not been socialized to other animals and people.
  
• In some cases, punishment might be appropriate especially with low-fear animals.
  
• Anger and rage are the motivators of a dominant animal fighting a subordinate animal over food or mates.
  
• Obedience training and teaching a puppy that people control its food helps prevent and control aggression toward people.
  
• Dog biting problems in adult dogs must be handled by a behavior professional.
  
• Aggression problems will often get worse if nothing is done to correct the behavior.
  
• Castration of grazing animals such as bulls and stallions at a young age will reduce aggressive behavior. Castration has less predictable effects on dogs, although it does reduce fighting between strange male cats.
  
• Dogs with a dominant personality need to be taught that if they want something they have to work for it. Example: make the dog sit before petting him or giving him a treat.
  
• A dog should be trained to obey every member of the family to prevent him from dominating one family member and being subordinate to another.
  

Predatory Chasing

Examples

• A dog chases cars or joggers.
  
• A dog chases a cat when the cat runs.
  
• A cat chases birds.
  
• A cat chases the red dot of a laser pointer around the house.
  
• Monticore, a pet tiger, attacked trainer Roy Horn when Horn fell down. The tiger's prey chase drive was triggered by sudden rapid movement.
  
• A dog attacks when a person tries to run away.
  

Principles of Troubleshooting

• Predatory aggression is totally different compared to other types of aggression. The circuits in the brain are separate.
  
• Predatory chasing is a hardwired instinctual behavior triggered by rapid movement. Dogs who chase cars or joggers are exhibiting predatory chase behavior.
  
• Stopping predatory chasing may require the use of a shock collar. I do not like shock collars, but this is one of the few situations where a harsh correction may be required. The dog should wear the shock collar for a few days before the first shock is administered so that he will not associate the shock with either the collar or his owner, but with the behavior.
  
• Young animals can be taught through socialization and learning what to chase and what not to chase. Socializing puppies to young children will help prevent dangerous prey drive behavior toward children. Remember: the chasing behavior is hardwired, but the sign stimulus that triggers it is learned.
  

Sociality-Motivated Behavior

Examples

• Cattle prefer to graze with the cattle they were raised with.
  
• Dogs run in packs.
  
• A dog cries when separated from people.
  
• Lambs raised by nanny goats will attempt to breed goats when they mature.
  
• A high-sociality Labrador stays off the furniture when she is praised for staying off the furniture.
  
• A puppy who is socialized at an early age with many different people and animals is more likely to become a friendly adult dog.
  
• A dog chews up the house when he is alone. Gradually teach the dog to tolerate longer periods alone or get another dog for a companion.
  
• High-sociality purebred Brahman cattle will seek more stroking from people than low-sociality Hereford cattle.
  
• A pair of geese stay “married” for life.
  
• Cats living in a barn are feral and stay away from people because they were not handled by people when they were kittens. Kittens who are socialized to people early in life will be friendlier toward people.
  

Principles of Troubleshooting

• Animals are motivated to seek companions.
  
• Animals prefer the company of the animals or people they were raised with.
  
• Both genetic factors and early rearing environment will affect intensity of sociality motivation.
  
• Puppies and kittens form social bonds during a critical period at the beginning of their lives. For puppies the critical period is the first twelve weeks of life; for kittens the critical period is the first seven weeks of life. Handle puppies and kittens with extra gentleness during this period. Failure to socialize young kittens and puppies often results in a fearful adult.
  
• Sociality has a genetic basis. Example: high sociality enables wolves to cooperate during hunting. Some species are more motivated by praise and companionship than others. You can train a dog using praise, but you must use food to train a cat.
  
• Cats are more trainable than people realize.
  Clicker training
  works well with cats. The reason people often believe dogs are trainable but cats are not is that dogs are tuned into people and want to please, so they do
  incidental learning.
  Example: young puppies will bound out of the car the instant the owner opens the door, which is dangerous.
  
• But by the time a dog is an adult, he will probably have stopped doing this and instead will remain inside the car and look at his owner expectantly. This learning has occurred naturally, or
  incidentally,
  over time as the owner has sometimes restrained the dog and on other occasions allowed the dog to get out of the car.
  
• A mother animal licking and caring for her babies is a sociality-motivated behavior.
  
• Labrador retrievers seek praise. Rewarding with praise is most effective in high-sociality dogs. There are individual differences in responsiveness to praise. The praise must be given within one second after the desired behavior occurs so the animal will make the correct associations.
  
• Praise alone may not be a sufficient motivator for training a low-sociality animal. Use a food reward.
  
• In high-sociality animals use praise and avoid punishment.
  
• Species with high-sociality motivation such as geese are more likely to pair-bond and mate year after year.
  
• In general, dogs have higher sociality motivation than cats. Food rewards work well for training cats. Some dogs will respond well to praise and stroking alone and other less-sociality-motivated dogs will respond best to praise combined with food rewards.