By Brian Hare and Vanessa Woods
Authors Hare and Woods, experts in evolutionary
development, share many fascinating insights into canine – as well as human –
evolution in their book, The Genius of Dogs.
While an undergraduate, Hare realized that he was much
more interested in studying evolution than in pursuing a career in baseball. He
would go on to become a famous anthropologist and author – and also married the
research scientist, Vanessa Woods, author of Bonobo Handshake, and
co-author of this book.
Brian Hare starts with the story of their family dog,
Tassie, who learned quickly how to distinguish between its own dog toys and
those of the new baby – through inference. He then goes on to tell the story of
how, as a seven year-old, he would play ball games with his dog, Oreo, who
developed skill in reading the boy’s pointing signals. Ten years later while
helping his university professor with a signalling game with chimpanzees, Hare
commented, “I think my dog can do it.” They gave Oreo the test, and sure
enough, the dog passed it with ease. Through further experiments, Hare and his
professor proved that dogs are capable of inference. For example, a dog can
understand that a human is referring to a new, unnamed object if s/he uses a
new word to refer to it.
Hare uses a table to show dogs' cognition relative to
other mammals, such as apes and dolphins. He states:
The genius of dogs is their ability to understand human communication and their motivation to cooperate with us. Their genius is why they are so easy to train. But dogs also have biases and limitations to their understanding of how the world works.
A university professor comments on a study of
domesticated foxes in Siberia. Hare sees the congruence in the evolution of
these foxes, dogs, and prehistoric humans. No animal was harmed in the
experiments.
This book will appeal to dog lovers, especially those who
seek to understand better how dogs think and why they behave as they do. The
Genius of Dogs may also prove a great read for those interested in
evolutionary development.
Find this title in the Library catalogue.
