I'm reading The Other End of the Leash by Patricia McConnell, zoologist and applied animal behaviorist--which means that she helps people with dogs with serious behavior issues. This is sort of a doggie training book, but mostly a sophisticated, philosophical look at primates (us) and canines (our beloved pooches), and the biologically-wired differences in how we communicate--but then how to see the world a bit more as your dog does, to help diffuse communication problems. I'm enjoying it immensely. I came to it to learn more about our doggie-to-be we're going to get this summer, and I'm ending up learning more about my own species. Go figure. For example:
"We humans love to hug. It's called "ventral-ventral" contact in the primate literature, and chimps and bonobos love to do it, too. They hug their babies, and their babies hug them. Adolescent chimps hug each other, and so do adult chimps when they're reconciling from conflict. Gorilla mothers and their babies are great huggers."
She goes on to explain how canines DON'T like hugging, they don't get it, and only the ones who REALLY love us will deign to put up with it. I think this stock photo conveys this perfectly. The woman looks happy and relaxed, hugging a dog she loves. But the dog isn't getting her message "I love you." He's getting, "I've got my paw over you and therefore I'm dominant over you." He loves her and he's a good dog, so he's patiently waiting for it to be over, but you can see on his face he's not relaxed.
Mamas, hug your babies! It regulates our heartbeats, it raises our seretonin levels, and darn it, it's hard-wired into the DNA of our species. I think I'll go engage in a little ventral-ventral contact with my primate offspring right now.
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