A few days ago, I read an article entitled “5 Incredible Ways Dogs Can Read Your Mind” by writer Liz Emery. I love articles like this because they tend to confirm suspicions I harbor about my own canines’ behavior. One example: the article suggests that dogs experience jealousy. Emery notes that scientists staged an experiment by seating pairs of dogs next to each other and then asking them to perform the same trick. Upon successful completion of said trick, one dog was rewarded and one was not. “After a few rounds, they found something surprising,” the article states. “The unrewarded dog stopped performing the trick, even showing clear signs of stress and annoyance.” “Aha!” I thought after reading this revelation. “I knew it!” I always believed my late, great dachshund Clifford was the jealous type. I couldn’t even talk on the phone without enduring his frenzied barking in protest of the momentary loss of my attention. When my sister visited with my then-infant nephew, Clifford went crazy every time I held the baby in my arms. He pawed at my feet, head-butted my leg and howled as though I was withholding bacon. “I’m the baby!” Clifford’s accusing eyes said. “I’M THE BABY.” My dachshund-mix Ollie, who is more laid-back than Clifford in many ways, goes through his own bouts of envy. On our daily walks, trouble starts to brew the minute I stop to pat another dog’s head or have a conversation with a neighbor. “Do you like that other dog better than me?” Ollie’s eyes anxiously enquire as he wraps his leash around my legs. “Because I like you the best. So you really ought to like me best as well.” Luckily, it only takes a few belly rubs to assure Ollie he is the top dog. Another example that confirms my own suspicions: Emery writes that there is a reason dogs gaze with envy at whatever their owners are eating — and that reason has less to do with the actual food than who is eating it. It seems scientists have discovered dogs want to eat what we’re eating simply because we like it and they trust our judgment. Scientists studying this phenomenon found that it held true even if dogs were presented with a seemingly obvious decision between a small plate of food and a large one: If the humans ate and enjoyed the small plate, the dogs also chose the small plate. I suspect the small plate experiment was not conducted on dachshunds. Still, I have experienced this game of “I’ll have what you’re having” with both Clifford and Ollie. No matter what I served Clifford, he would hover at my feet, seemingly convinced I was enjoying the most fantastic meal of my life. If I was eating a salad, I something would jokingly hand over a lettuce leaf, saying, “Are you sure you want this, buddy?” Much to my shock, he would gobble it down. Ollie is a pickier eater and will reject the odd lettuce leaf. But that doesn’t mean he doesn’t campaign for me to give those samples to him. It’s as though he has to be convinced over and over that my taste isn’t as stellar as he thinks it is. “Maybe I’m wrong about that lettuce stuff,” he seems to be thinking. “She’s eating it again; it HAS to be good.” Finally, Emery’s article says that dogs can feel empathy. “When we’re down in the dumps, dogs feel bad for us,” Emery writes. “The physical ways they respond — tails tucked, heads bowed, bestowing our faces with tender kisses — are a form of consolation.” So true. During low points of my life both Clifford and Ollie have provided me with immeasurable comfort. Clifford would tuck his head under mine literally helping me keep my chin up. Ollie will put one paw on my arm and lick my nose. It is amazing how much these simple gestures lift my heart. I suspect most dog owners already knew their beloved companions could read their minds. Now that science has caught up with our observations, perhaps we no longer will be mocked when we call our friends to tell them, “My dog understands me better than you do.” I just hope that my friends will be able to hear me over all the jealous barking.
Posted on: Mon, 30 Sep 2013 19:46:43 +0000
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