The genius of dogs : how dogs are smarter than you think

Title:

Author:

Hare, Brian, 1976-

Added Author:

Woods, Vanessa, 1977-

Personal Author:

Hare, Brian, 1976-

ISBN:

9780525953197

Publication Information:

Physical Description:

xiii, 367 pages : illustrations (some color) ; 24 cm

Abstract:

"Brian Hare, dog researcher, evolutionary anthropologist, and founder of the Duke Canine Cognition Center, and Vanessa Woods, offer revolutionary new insights into dog intelligence and the interior lives of our smartest pets. In the past decade, we have learned more about how dogs think than in the last century. Breakthroughs in cognitive science, pioneered by Brian Hare have proven dogs have a kind of genius for getting along with people that is unique in the animal kingdom. Brian Hare's stunning discovery is that when dogs domesticated themselves around 40,000 years ago they became far more like human infants than their wolf ancestors. Domestication gave dogs a whole new kind of social intelligence. This finding will change the way we think about dogs and dog training--indeed, the revolution has already begun. Hare's seminal research has led him to work with every kind of dog from the tiniest shelter puppy to the exotic New Guinea singing dog, from his own childhood dog, Oreo, to the most fashionable schnoodle. The Genius of Dogs is nothing less than the definitive dog book of our time by the researcher who started a revolution. "-- Provided by publisher.

Subject Term:

Dogs -- Behavior -- Evolution.

Evolution (Biology)

Summary:

Holds:

Available:*

Library	Material Type	Shelf Number	Status
Searching... Main Library	Book	636.7 H274	Searching... Unknown

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Summary

Brian Hare, dog researcher, evolutionary anthropologist, and founder of the Duke Canine Cognition Center, and Vanessa Woods offer revolutionary new insights into dog intelligence and the interior lives of our smartest pets.

In the past decade, we have learned more about how dogs think than in the last century. Breakthroughs in cognitive science, pioneered by Brian Hare have proven dogs have a kind of genius for getting along with people that is unique in the animal kingdom.

Brian Hare's stunning discovery is that when dogs domesticated themselves as early as 40,000 years ago they became far more like human infants than their wolf ancestors. Domestication gave dogs a whole new kind of social intelligence. This finding will change the way we think about dogs and dog training--indeed, the revolution has already begun.

Hare's seminal research has led him to work with every kind of dog from the tiniest shelter puppy to the exotic New Guinea singing dog, from his own childhood dog, Oreo, to the most fashionable schnoodle. The Genius of Dogs is nothing less than the definitive dog book of our time by the researcher who started a revolution.

Reviews (1)

Kirkus Review

Hare (Evolutionary Anthropology/Duke Univ.) and Woods (Bonobo Handshake: A Memoir of Love and Adventure in the Congo, 2010) delve into the rich cognitive world of dogs and how they domesticated themselves through natural selection. Dogs are the authors' special subjects--Hare founded Duke's Canine Cognition Center, and Woods is a research scientist there--and they examine the scientific studies of dogs' communication skills (from visual signals to categorization), their empathy and cooperative talents, between their ability to infer, find solutions and display flexibility. But one question the authors tackle with the greatest vigor: Why the dog at all? If dogs evolved from wolves--which were threats and competitors of humans in the carnivore guild--why did domestication become an option? What forces drove it? Hare and Woods clearly reintroduce readers to the old garbage-eater-on-the-outskirts-of-camp theory of wolves and man finding common ground but from a very specific angle. It was the friendliest of the wolves, those that could coexist with humans, that benefitted from this stable food supply. A relaxed wolf, one that had come to understand the communicative intentions of human behavior, was a wolf with more offspring. It wasn't long before wolves started to change physiologically. Their breeding cycles changed, their heads became smaller, they became distinctive to the human eye and could be ignored or encouraged. "Humans did not set out to domesticate wolves," write the authors. "Wolves domesticated themselves. The first dog breed was not created by humans' selection or breeding but by natural selection." Interestingly, the same anatomical signatures that differentiate dogs from wolves are seen in bonobos and chimpanzees and humans and their forebears. A well-presented investigation into how dogs came to be.]] Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.