{"id":568,"date":"2011-10-29T14:46:51","date_gmt":"2011-10-29T04:16:51","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/leemakennels.com\/blog\/?p=568"},"modified":"2021-08-02T14:43:07","modified_gmt":"2021-08-02T04:13:07","slug":"mcgreevy-on-a-modern-dogs-life","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/leemakennels.com\/blog\/the-origin-of-dogs\/mcgreevy-on-a-modern-dogs-life\/","title":{"rendered":"McGreevy on A Modern Dog’s Life"},"content":{"rendered":"

This post is part of the McGreevy seminar series. Click here for the index<\/a>.<\/small><\/small><\/small><\/p>\n

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McGreevy spoke about some of the demands dogs face in the current era, and explained that these issues are considered in more detail in his book A Modern Dog\u2019s Life<\/a><\/em>.<\/p>\n

Basically, McGreevy asks us to appeal to the types of things dogs have to \u2018put up with\u2019 in the modern world.\u00a0 The difficulties of dogs in the 21st<\/sup> century are far different to those of their ancestors.<\/p>\n

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Dogs have to deal with physical barriers in the modern era.<\/p><\/div>\n

We have co-evolved, so in a way, we exploit each other, and dogs do cope quite well considering what we do to them.\u00a0 For example:<\/p>\n

Dogs are expected to get in and out of cars. The car is a noisy machine that suddenly transports dogs to a entirely different destination, in which dogs are then expected to cope with.<\/p>\n

Dogs experience man-made boundaries and barriers. There are no doors or fences \u2018in the wild\u2019.<\/p>\n

Dogs walk on man-made surfaces.<\/p>\n

Dogs tolerate us touching them in ways other dogs never would. \u00a0We touch dogs around the neck.\u00a0We stare them in the eyes.\u00a0We hug them.<\/p>\n

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Clearly, there are hosts of stresses for \u2018modern dogs\u2019 that need to be considered in studying dogs.\u00a0 He appealed for applied ethology \u2013 ethology that considers human-dog interactions.<\/p>\n

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This train of thought made me think about the kind of stresses I place on my dogs, without even realising it. \u00a0I expect my dogs to tolerate me exiting through a door – barriers like this, and ‘pack members’ leaving like this, is quite unnatural. \u00a0(For the most part) they don’t attack brooms, the poop-scoop, or other items, even though they are normally displeased about their presence. \u00a0I clip their nails! \u00a0I keep a bird in a cage that they have to ignore. \u00a0All really unnatural behaviours that our dogs, by miracle of being dogs, have learnt to deal with.<\/p>\n

What have your dogs learnt to deal with, that their ancestors surely didn’t?<\/p>\n

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This post is part of the McGreevy seminar series. Click here for the index<\/a>.<\/small><\/small><\/small><\/p>\n

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