Changing Beliefs

I can not believe it is already the end of week three. Time seems to be flying by. So far, I have noticed great improvements in my ability to conduct research and advocate for animal rights. After reading Safina's article, the story that stuck out to me the most was when Chula and Jude were barking at a swan in the water who did not seem frightened or worried whatsoever. The swan just sat in the water and almost seemed to mock the dogs since it recognized that they were incapable of reaching it and not dangerous from a distance. On the other hand, when most swans see humans, they quickly scatter. Since swans “understand a dog's limits and have learned that humans can kill at great distance," they obviously seem to know that humans pose a greater threat than dogs. Overall, swans understand that humans could be thinking about killing them, and they do not want to take the chance of letting that happen. This story opened my eyes because I never would have thought that swans have a "theory of mind" and can gauge what humans think. Additionally, one idea I enjoyed reading about was how a sanderling used "precise and finely timed shifts... [to] repeatedly turn [a] falcon's speed advantage into a disadvantage" (Safina 275). If I had to previously guess who would have "won," I would have said the falcon without hesitation. This is because falcons are faster and have more endurance, whereas sanderlings are on the slower side. Despite this, the sanderling outsmarted me as well as the falcon and was able to escape due to its ability to calculate its relative speed and distance in comparison to the falcon. The sanderling was aware of itself and the falcon at the same time which is a very intelligent ability.

Now that I have some experience with animal science, I am considering conducting research on dogs and intelligence or dogs and communication. I already knew dogs were able to communicate through their body language, like how a downward dog pose indicates that they want to play. However, I originally thought a dog who wags its tail is trying to demonstrate that it is happy. Little did I know, that this is not always the case. Although "a wag that's low and relaxed may indeed signal the happiness it seems to convey…, a high wagging tail, wagging quickly, may signal agitation" (Kluger 75). I was extremely surprised to learn this since I have two dogs and thought they were joyous whenever they began to wag their tails. My ideas of dog communication have changed as a result, especially with my own dogs. My ideas about dogs have also become more specific as I learn more about them. They were especially strengthened after I read Animal Behaviorist Patricia McConnell's results about dog communication. She recognized that "some signals between dogs last only a tenth of a second and involve a change in posture of only a quarter of an inch, yet they convey volumes about social status, potential, aggression or mating interest" (Kluger 75). What is even more interesting is that dogs can even read this in humans which shows their ability to transfer their knowledge from one area of life to another. I believe this is a very intelligent behavior that dogs have learned due to domestication. For instance, there is a flicker of discouragement when humans lean forward, but when humans lean backward, it may encourage a dog to approach. I was in awe about the variety of different ways dogs can communicate that are blind to the human eye.

Furthermore, my research process this week consisted of analyzing articles about dog science and discovering more animal scientists on Twitter. Two scientists I learned about this week were Jana Rade who is the author of "Symptoms to Watch for in Your Dog" and Doctor Zazie Todd who wrote the book "Wag: The Science of Making Your Dog Happy." I thought their research was very interesting since Rade found that dogs have the same emotions as a toddler whereas Todd discovered that dogs have different personalities. Moreover, some keywords that appear to be promising for conducting research are dog communication, dog intelligence, and domestic dogs. Overall, I consulted Twitter and Google Scholar to find more information about dogs, possible researchers I can reference, and aspects about animal science as a whole. As a result, the best source I found this week was vcahospitals.com which discusses the communication behind dogs sniffing each other's butts. This article states that the main reason dogs do this is because it allows them to determine if they have met before. Dogs have a strong sense of smell and memory which causes them to remember past experiences and feelings through scent.

This is a chart of how dogs communicate with their tails. I believe people need to be more aware of this since a tail wag does not always mean a happy dog and can result in a defensive response.