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I can tell from experience that dogs also look at humans to get something they want that is not food. When my 5 month old labrador rolls her ball under the cou

by gnur 11y ago

I can tell from experience that dogs also look at humans to get something they want that is not food. When my 5 month old labrador rolls her ball under the couch (again), she tries for 5 seconds to get it herself, after that, she starts staring at me. When she needs to "go", she will sit by the door and start staring at me. Both of which are events that are not rewarded by food, but something she will enjoy by herself. (playing with a ball, and "relief"), even though in the latter case, I am very pleases she is going outside :).

ghshephard 11y ago
What's challenging there, of course, is whether this is trained behavior or innate. I.E. Would a feral dog think to look at a human if it couldn't get a toy, or needed to go outside?
- pluma 11y ago
  I'm thinking a feral dog would just pee on the carpet...
kawsper 11y ago
Different dogs have different reward patterns. For an example, some dogs prefer to chase an object, but dogs bred for hunting might prefer carrying over chasing. This makes a difference if you want to reward them, for the chasing dog you should throw the ball, but for the carrying of the object you should just give them the ball and let them walk around with it. When you have determined what type of reward that work with your dog, your training become very effective.
zamalek 11y ago
The intuitive conclusion I have is that "dogs are uncanny," and I somewhat doubt if the answer will ever get better than that: we simply can't communicate with them to the degree that is required to answer these questions. > He asked what color he was, and learned "grey" after being told the answer six times. This made him the first and only non-human animal to have ever asked an existential question. There's a little evidence[1] to suggest that the influence of a sentient (or intelligent) species can, to some degree, rub off. You could definitely cherry-pick specific traits of any species that would imply that it is not intellectual, including humans (e.g. war, intolerance). Maybe dogs don't have an intellectual reason for looking at us but that's not conclusive as to the intellectual capacity of the species. At the end of the day I think it's inconceivable for a person to form an emotional bond with an animal such as a baboon - yet we do that with dogs and that's got to mean something, even if it's not scientifically quantifiable. [1]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alex_%28parrot%29 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alex_%28parrot%29

by gnur 11y ago

ghshephard 11y ago

What's challenging there, of course, is whether this is trained behavior or innate. I.E. Would a feral dog think to look at a human if it couldn't get a toy, or needed to go outside?

pluma 11y ago
I'm thinking a feral dog would just pee on the carpet...

kawsper 11y ago

Different dogs have different reward patterns. For an example, some dogs prefer to chase an object, but dogs bred for hunting might prefer carrying over chasing. This makes a difference if you want to reward them, for the chasing dog you should throw the ball, but for the carrying of the object you should just give them the ball and let them walk around with it. When you have determined what type of reward that work with your dog, your training become very effective.

zamalek 11y ago

The intuitive conclusion I have is that "dogs are uncanny," and I somewhat doubt if the answer will ever get better than that: we simply can't communicate with them to the degree that is required to answer these questions. > He asked what color he was, and learned "grey" after being told the answer six times. This made him the first and only non-human animal to have ever asked an existential question. There's a little evidence[1] to suggest that the influence of a sentient (or intelligent) species can, to some degree, rub off. You could definitely cherry-pick specific traits of any species that would imply that it is not intellectual, including humans (e.g. war, intolerance). Maybe dogs don't have an intellectual reason for looking at us but that's not conclusive as to the intellectual capacity of the species. At the end of the day I think it's inconceivable for a person to form an emotional bond with an animal such as a baboon - yet we do that with dogs and that's got to mean something, even if it's not scientifically quantifiable. [1]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alex_%28parrot%29 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alex_%28parrot%29