Dogs Can Be Pessimistic 99
Not that it will change anything, but researchers at Bristol University say that your dog might be a gloom-monger. In addition to the downer dogs, the study also found a few that seemed happy no matter how uncaring the world around them was. "We know that people's emotional states affect their judgments and that happy people are more likely to judge an ambiguous situation positively. What our study has shown is that this applies similarly to dogs," said professor Mike Mendl, an author of the study and head of animal welfare and behavior at Bristol University.
Being a dog owner ... (Score:4, Insightful)
Being a dog owner, I think most dogs just want to hump, eat, and sleep. Some like to bark.
That's pretty much it.
From TFA (Score:4, Insightful)
"Just as happy people tend to see the positive in any situation, so optimistic dogs sprinted toward the bowl, expecting to find food, while pessimistic dogs hesitated or ran more slowly."
You know, it's often said that semi-depressed people see reality in a much more realistic way, whereas "normal" (if you can call it that) people see reality in an augmented way, and that's why they're more happy and optimistic. It makes me wonder if actually "normal" people should be re-classified as someone who is (by our shitty definitions) semi-depressed, because really they're just seeing reality as it is, not through rose-coloured glasses.
The bowl (Score:1, Insightful)
Re:Being a dog owner ... (Score:5, Insightful)
If you honestly don't realise that your dog has a sense of humor, needs to socialise, to challenge itself on a long run, to play in a river, then I worry you might not be qualified to own a dog.
This should be obvious... (Score:4, Insightful)
...to anyone who's ever seen a dog get wise to the old "pretending to throw the ball" trick.
Re:Breeds Used in Study? (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:Being a dog owner ... (Score:3, Insightful)
The dogs I've owned, and I loved them all, well, their sense of humor roughly matches yours.
Re:From TFA (Score:3, Insightful)
I think so. One situation I'm reminded of is a gf I had for a couple of years, and my brain even had her in the enemy pile during a lot of that time, for reasons that are rather silly and obviously shouldn't have even existed :p Such is the world of a seriously depressed/paranoid person. Now even with people I hardly know I try to be more open minded and optimistic. The more open and friendly you are with people the more likely they are to reciprocate anyway..
Re:Being a dog owner ... (Score:2, Insightful)
If every parent worried this much about their kids well being then everyone would know the correct way to treat animals. However, since many parents seem to care more about their cars, dogs, cats, computer, money, house, etc, etc, their children grow up not knowing how to care for anything.
Re:Being a dog owner ... (Score:3, Insightful)
Being a dog owner, I think most dogs just want to hump, eat, and sleep. Some like to bark.
You're thinking of men.
Why do you think Dogs are man's best friend? We are envious.
Re:Being a dog owner ... (Score:4, Insightful)
Being a dog owner, I think most dogs just want to hump, eat, and sleep. Some like to bark.
That's pretty much it.
Being a dog owner, I think it's a bit more complex than that.
Our first dog - a gorgeous AmStaff - had an irrepressibly sunny disposition. Although he had been criminally neglected by his original owners (when the SPCA took him in, he was skeletally thin, had a heartworm infection so severe he could hardly breathe, and had a choke chain so deeply embedded in his throat that the flesh had grown completely over it, and it had to be surgically removed under general anesthesia), he was a happy guy, who never seemed depressed for long. He was also highly intelligent, very well-socialized, and incredibly eager to please. Our second dog - a mutt - is high-strung, has the attention span of a two-year-old, and has very little impulse control. (She is also well-socialized, but she's dumb as a box of rocks.) Our third dog - a St. Bernard - was another happy-go-lucky fella, and also very well-socialized. Our newest addition - an American bulldog - was abandoned by his owners in the middle of January (when the temperature around here hovered near zero). He was hyper-vigilant, paranoid, and clearly depressed. His behavior has improved tremendously since we adopted him, and he is now a very well-socialized and friendly dog - but he still suffers from separation anxiety, and doesn't seem happy by default, as his predecessors were.
I attribute the improvements in our bulldog's temperament to leadership, regular exercise, and our refusal to cater to his anxieties. He gets petted and praised when he's calm and relaxed. When he's anxious and fretting, we ignore him until he settles down.
Personally, I know for a fact that dogs have individual personalities. They all like to sleep and eat; they all enjoy going for walks and meeting new people; they all like to be praised and petted; and they all respond positively to calm, confident leadership, and a consistent structure of discipline. But, beyond that, they definitely have internal lives of their own, and each has a unique personality. Our AmStaff and our mutt both enjoy chewing on Nylabones and Pup Treads, while neither our St. Bernard nor our bulldog have much interest in either. Our mutt likes to jump up on people and compulsively lick them. None of our other dogs has shown similar OCD symptoms. Our AmStaff and our Saint liked to lean against people. Our bulldog and our mutt don't. Our Saint liked and our bulldog likes to stick their snoots under people's hands to insist they be petted - a habit exhibited by neither our AmStaff nor our mutt.
And so on.
I'm convinced that the personalities of dogs are as varied and individual as those of humans. Their communications repertoire is more limited, true, but if you've ever doubted that dogs have very real feelings of their own, then clearly you've never seen one smile.