Study: Dogs bond with owners similar to babies with parents

[BainsBane]

After 15,000 years of humans domesticating dogs, a new study shows the bond formed between a canine and its owner may be close to the one shared between a baby and his or her parent.

Called the "secure base effect," the phenomenon occurs when infants use their caregivers as a steady, reliable home base when interacting with things around them. This security has a profound impact on a child's daily life and how they score on cognitive tests, the study's authors pointed out.

Scientists hypothesize that a similar effect occurs between dogs and their owners. Previous studies have shown that dogs get distressed and look for their owners when they are put in an unfamiliar situation, the authors noted. . . .

"One of the things that really surprised us is, that adult dogs behave towards their caregivers like human children do. It will be really interesting to try to find out how this behavior evolved in the dogs," Lisa Horn, a postdoctoral fellow at the Messerli Research Institute at the University of Veterinary Medicine in Vienna, Austria, said in a press release.

The study was published in PLOS ONE on June 21.

http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-204_162-57591011/study-dogs-bond-with-owners-similar-to-babies-with-parents/

[Voice for Peace]

1. hmmm.. they were surprised?

The researcher must never have owned a dog?

"One of the things that really surprised us is, that adult
dogs behave towards their caregivers like human children do."

[IrishAyes]

2. Heck

Some people are surprised to get wet when they go out in a rainstorm without an umbrella.

Yes, it does sound dumb. But I'm glad more scientists(?) are learning what the rest of us were born knowing.

After almost 8 years, I've never once spent the night upstairs. Why? First, because the chows who were too old and rickety to climb the stairs would literally scream like they were being murdered until I gave up and came back downstairs, no matter how long it took to convince me to repent my evil ways and return to them. Luckily the living room sofa is actually a converted single bed with a memory foam mattress, so I haven't suffered.

Molly Maguire and Brigid are young enough to climb the stairs, and MM was just getting old enough for me to trust her overnight but before I could move the two of us upstairs, along came Brigid - and she's nowhere ready to be trusted overnight. She would indeed wake me up, but she's too heavy and squirmy for me to carry downstairs to the front door, and if I tried to follow her down the stairs I'd never make it in time before she decided not to wait. Maybe when she's a year old I can put her on a leash if she needs to be led downstairs in a hurry. But right now we're back to waiting for her bladder to mature a little more.

NO MORE PUPPIES! I'M GONNA SHOOT THE NEXT PERSON WHO EVEN THINKS ABOUT GIVING ME ANOTHER PUPPY!

Especially that anonymous researcher who has finally figured out that dogs bond with their people just like babies do with their own parents. Sheesh! Just think of all the $ they wasted by not asking one of us!

[Voice for Peace]

5. I often wonder how people get funding to do stuff

it's probably a great scheme.. pick something that
is totally obvious to anybody with a brain, and
set about to prove it.

[IrishAyes]

9. Much as I respect and even revere science itself

There's no doubt some scientists got their credentials from a Cracker Jack box. One of my other favorite faux-truisms was (still is?) the notion that gas explains any random smiles of the human infant. Well, if that's true, why does looking at mommy and daddy give the kid gas???? Some will admit that the human infant prefers certain people over others, but they'll still deny that such a tiny undeveloped brain has the awareness and inborn survival instinct! to smile at its comforters to encourage more bonding.

[Voice for Peace]

10. I think the smile comes straight from the heart, straight from Love itself, Beauty itself.

the brain is just the cpu for translating
the feeling into a beautiful smile.

"they call it a burp"

[undeterred]

3. Except they never ask for money.

[Voice for Peace]

4. hahahaaaa.... or bring up the past

[BainsBane]

6. only treats

and better food

[surrealAmerican]

7. Dogs also rely on other dogs the same way.

It's part of how a pack functions. Wolves do this too.

[DainBramaged]

8. Our three year old in a clown suit

[Voice for Peace]

11. inquiring minds want to know ...

.. what that doggie is thinking, and where
he's going in that clown suit, if he knows

[DainBramaged]

13. He was getting ready to go for a ride in Grandma's golf cart around her neighborhood to say hi

He was a rescue from Texas, owned by a deceased elderly man. Gravely ill from heartworms.


He was operated on at the University Hospital for Veterinary medicine at the University of Pennsylvania.


Successfully.


Everyday is a gift.


We love him with all of our hears, something most dog owners understand.

[Phentex]

12. My son claims I love the dog more than I love my kids...

well, if I HAD to rank them....

I've no doubt the dog I have now thinks I'm his mother. It's all he's known!