4 ms·

https://youtu.be/4dwjS_eI-lQ https://youtu.be/4dwjS_eI-lQ In that video they show how far they still are from domesticated foxes compared to modern dogs. Well,

https://youtu.be/4dwjS_eI-lQ https://youtu.be/4dwjS_eI-lQ In that video they show how far they still are from domesticated foxes compared to modern dogs. Well, domesticated pretty much means, "desirable traits for human benefit" when you think about it, the same applies to humans, but we call that civilized or sociable. Theres a joke in the comments, something like the fox goes "I'm okay with you being a meter away from me... but let's keep it that way." The dog, "you cant ignore my love!" But I fully disagree on the assessment that larger dogs are more wild. Smaller dogs tend to be complete violent assholes for little to no reason. Larger dogs tend to need more reason to become aggressive, unless they came from an abusive environment. I volunteered at an animal shelter for about a year (admittedly to pick up women originally). But I gladly hung out with pits and shepherds from abused pasts so they can be rehabilitated for new homes. I could never do the same with anything smaller than a border collie. Just never worked out. Large working breed dogs are crazy easy for me to calm down, and I am generally not a brave man. Dogs have been bred the last 40k some odd years to genetically want to be with humans. Then some assholes the past few thousand years decided to breed for looks and tiny sizes instead of companionship. That's what makes the larger working dogs great. Listen to and love humans, and have a job to do is their breeding line. Not just looks, which can breed out the friendly part. Caveat though, there are some pit lines that are a bit whack. Sadly, originally they were bred for fighting other dogs, but super strong friendliness for humans, to avoid the owner getting bit. Which is why they're cuddle bugs with people and are dicks to other dogs. This breed attracted a bunch of dipshits that bred them for just pure aggression, then add on the abuse. So yea... those are the sad cases.

Pelic4n 6y ago
A big reason that little dogs tends to be more violent is that they have to compensate their size by agression and appear larger than they are to fend off predators. My bodeguero (spanish terrier) is the most cuddly animal I have ever met but he will 1v1 the sun if I let him.
- NoOneNew 6y ago
  My thing is, I've never been bit by a dog bigger than a border collie. I've been bit by chihuahuas, Scottish terriers and whatever those small scraggly white dogs are. I can never remember their names. And these were considered home ready dogs. I feel safer around an abused pitbull than by a "well behaved" chihuahua. I'm not being funny or macho about it. I'm dead serious. While an adult guy like me doesn't care about the little rat bite, that's going to traumatize a little kid away from liking dogs. Not to mention the breeding of extremely poor body traits that torture some of these dogs. They may look cute, but these poor things succumb to a wide range of abnormalities... I guess I'm just bias in general. That whole tea cup dog craze made me really polarized on the issue. I hate self interested, abusive breeders.
  - war1025 6y ago
    > While an adult guy like me doesn't care about the little rat bite, that's going to traumatize a little kid away from liking dogs. Our neighbor has a "scraggly little white dog" as you describe. It bit my (then three year old) daughter while she was riding her bike a year ago. It certainly didn't do any favors for her trust of dogs. Doesn't help that everyone and their mother seems to leave their dogs off leashes and then just say "oh don't worry, he's nice" as my kids are screaming their heads off while a creature roughly as big as they are sniffs and yips at them.
kemayo 6y ago
If nothing else, people tend to to put more effort into properly training large dogs out of any human-aggressive tendencies. It's a lot easier to view your Chihuahua nipping at someone's ankles as cute, compared to your pitbull doing the exact same thing. Honestly, the biggest problem I've had with large dogs is poor socialization in how to play with humans. A dog doing properly-social play by dog standards (play-bows, carefully light nipping, etc) can still be a really worrying experience for an adult if the dog is 100lbs.
animal531 6y ago
I'd say that foxes are well on their way to domestication. I've been watching some SaveAFox videos on youtube, and their foxes display a whole range of social skills. Some like Finnegan love being handled, but others not as much. Those specific breeds of foxes don't really make for indoor pets though, as they like to mark their territory.

Pelic4n 6y ago

A big reason that little dogs tends to be more violent is that they have to compensate their size by agression and appear larger than they are to fend off predators. My bodeguero (spanish terrier) is the most cuddly animal I have ever met but he will 1v1 the sun if I let him.

NoOneNew 6y ago
My thing is, I've never been bit by a dog bigger than a border collie. I've been bit by chihuahuas, Scottish terriers and whatever those small scraggly white dogs are. I can never remember their names. And these were considered home ready dogs. I feel safer around an abused pitbull than by a "well behaved" chihuahua. I'm not being funny or macho about it. I'm dead serious. While an adult guy like me doesn't care about the little rat bite, that's going to traumatize a little kid away from liking dogs. Not to mention the breeding of extremely poor body traits that torture some of these dogs. They may look cute, but these poor things succumb to a wide range of abnormalities... I guess I'm just bias in general. That whole tea cup dog craze made me really polarized on the issue. I hate self interested, abusive breeders.
- war1025 6y ago
  > While an adult guy like me doesn't care about the little rat bite, that's going to traumatize a little kid away from liking dogs. Our neighbor has a "scraggly little white dog" as you describe. It bit my (then three year old) daughter while she was riding her bike a year ago. It certainly didn't do any favors for her trust of dogs. Doesn't help that everyone and their mother seems to leave their dogs off leashes and then just say "oh don't worry, he's nice" as my kids are screaming their heads off while a creature roughly as big as they are sniffs and yips at them.

kemayo 6y ago

If nothing else, people tend to to put more effort into properly training large dogs out of any human-aggressive tendencies. It's a lot easier to view your Chihuahua nipping at someone's ankles as cute, compared to your pitbull doing the exact same thing. Honestly, the biggest problem I've had with large dogs is poor socialization in how to play with humans. A dog doing properly-social play by dog standards (play-bows, carefully light nipping, etc) can still be a really worrying experience for an adult if the dog is 100lbs.

animal531 6y ago

I'd say that foxes are well on their way to domestication. I've been watching some SaveAFox videos on youtube, and their foxes display a whole range of social skills. Some like Finnegan love being handled, but others not as much. Those specific breeds of foxes don't really make for indoor pets though, as they like to mark their territory.