Dogs are Basically Humans

"Dogs Are Even More Like Us Than We Though"

By: Maya Wei-Haas

     As most people know, long ago humans domesticated dogs and bred dogs. Therefore, dogs have developed human like traits during their evolution from wolves to domesticated dogs. Maya Wei-Haas writes, "Dogs can read facial expressions, communicate jealousy, display empathy, and even watch TV, studies have shown." People watching is an activity most humans participate in so we can get a feel for their personality and basically decide if we want to interact with them or not, A study summarized in this article suggests that dogs ignore or don't trust people that they see being mean to their owners. You may think, "Of course a dog won't trust someone if they're yelling or hurting someone," but this study involved someone struggling to get tape out of a container. The dogs viewed people who helped and people who didn't help. The helpers and non helpers then tried to give the dogs a treat, and they would only accept it from the human who helped the other human with the tape.

     The purpose of this article was to educate people on how intelligent dogs really are. Also to evoke emotion in pet owners because it is so sweet to think that your dog will ignore someone who was the slightest bit disrespectful to you. I do believe the main purpose was to educate and I hope everyone gets to read this because I hear the words, "Oh it's just a dog," all too much. Dogs can feel like we do and people need to realize that.