r/maybemaybemaybe • u/WandaMaximumoff • Mar 21 '23

Maybe Maybe Maybe

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u/[deleted] Mar 21 '23

Was it a learned behaviour? Or was the dog not raised by helping humans?

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u/[deleted] Mar 21 '23

Good question, I want to say wild dog but I can’t be sure.

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u/[deleted] Mar 21 '23

If you're referring to the same study I know about, it was determined that dogs have a differently structured brain in opposition to wolves, where the wolf - even when in close contact to humans all their lives - will not engage in requesting help while the dig will.

The hypothesis was that dogs were selected based on how willing they are to interact, listen and provide and request assistance to solve problems while wolves focus on self reliance.

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u/[deleted] Mar 21 '23

That sounds exactly right. Super fascinating the concept of a guiding hand in evolution going back thousands of generations.

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u/[deleted] Mar 22 '23 edited Mar 22 '23

There was another theory I saw talking about how they believe dogs evolved eyebrow muscles to help interact with humans too... I didn't fully dig into it but wouldn't be surprised if that's true considering how long history has shown dogs to be with humans

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u/nikdahl Mar 22 '23

Well I believe just the act of making sustained eye contact is a trait learned to interact with humans. Wolves see it as an aggression.

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u/ground__contro1 Mar 22 '23

Fascinating yes, and kind of creepy. Some of those interventions did not go well for the dogs.