Tails From The Trails

Tails From The Trails:
Anthropomorphism and the Art of Dog Training

If not one of your favourite training tools, then it should definitely be one of your favourite words.
Let it roll and play on your tongue…....an..thro..po…mor..phism.
How cool does that sound?
Pure poetry…very similar effect to the words ‘amorphous’ and ‘androgynous’. Which is why the Electronic Artisans Future Sound Of London had a side project called “Amorphous Androgynous”.
If I start a band, it will definitely be called “Anthromorphic Endorphic”.

Anyways, what does this smooth sounding word mean?
Anthro = human, morph = change.
Hence, to change into human.
In dog trainers parlance, to apply human thought processes, feelings, and motivations to k9.

My take on that?
This is a problem because….…..Oh, I remember now.
It’s important, so dog trainers can argue with each other!

It is well known that canines evolved alongside humans, and we have one of the most symbiotic relationships in nature. They needs us, we needs them.
It is not unreasonable to conclude that during the course of this evolution, canines picked up some ‘human type’ traits. For one, they read our own body language better than we do ourselves.

The only error in anthropomorphism is the one whereby humans just assume that because they have shown the dog some lovin’, he should just know how to fit into the home, hearth, and heart, and shouldn’t want to upset us.
And if he does upset us, he is doing it out of spite, and when we tell him off hours later from the event, he knows he has done wrong, because he looks guilty.

All of which is…well, anthropomorphic, of course.
We should humanise our four legged friends, as they form part of our family, we don’t form part of their pack.
But the real error is that we don’t treat them the same as the 2 legged variety of human.
That is, we don’t show them love alongside show and tell; by example, instruction, and guidance. AKA: training.
Potty training - garden toileting?
Learning to walk on reins - walking nicely on a lead?
Sending to the bed with a bone - getting them to settle down with a DVD?
Can you tell the difference?

Now, don’t you think it better just to accept anthropomorphism and apply it constructively, instead of being all dog trainer smartass about it?

There is no active purpose in a dog trainer giving you a lecture on the scientific quantifications of the anthropomorphisms present in your training regime. The only active purpose I have seen anthropomorphism applied to is the one whereby dog trainers start waving their smarts (or should that be smalls) at each other.
Oh how I have grinned reading dog forums when one trainer compares a dog action with that of a child, or a motor vehicle (dog training is very akin to learning to drive, btw), to only be accused by another trainer of being anthropomorphic.
In their smug satisfaction to show that their smart knickers are hanging on the end of longer poles, they completely miss the point: the statement under scrutiny wasn’t an example of anthropomorphism; it was an example of an analogy.
(an = my auntie, ology = something you auntie would be proud of, it you got one).

Besides, doesn’t it make more sense to human-eyes your dogs than wolf-eyes – lupomorphism - yourself?
So what’s best, sitting in a dog bed to show your alphaness – canomorphism? - (alphaness, is that metrosexual or retrosexual, btw?), or getting big Charlie my 5 feet side and length way rottie x ridge to snuggle on the sofa akin to a chi and then proceed to channel his thoughts thru my voice box so he can speak to mummy?
Yes, I, professional dog trainer, does do dogspeak, written AND verbal, no less. And I’m not ashamed, Father Skinner!

As a footnote to this article, last week I discovered a book called The New Anthropomorphism.
(Snappy title - when I have my hiatus from Anthromorphic Endorphic, this will be what I call my side project).
I thought, great, someone whom may share my thinking in turning the idea in on itself (after all, pop always ends up easting itself).

But no, to my disappointment, it’s a dry tome by John Kennedy, which argues that anthropomorphism is not necessarily dead, but it is in disguise.

Uh-oh!

Apparently, it affects research, but no one notices.

Uh-oh!

Apparently, it affects academic behavioural concepts, such as “efference copy” (the great band names just keep on rollin’), “goal-directedness”, and “cognition”

Did you know that believing animals have cognition, which just means thought process, is anthropomorphic faux pas?

No? Neither did it.

But fear not, as the final chapter does outline what we can do to minimize the “damage” anthropomorphism does to the study of animal behaviour.

So, there you have it, to paraphrase Rhythm Is A Dancer by Snap:
“Im as serious as a dancer when I say anthropomorphism is a cancer”!

Golly gosh, if the animal biologists and behaviourists are prone to anthropomorphism, what hope the rest of us!

Don’t get me wrong, I love science me, I devour animal behaviour research papers. The good ones filter down into the parlance of popular knowledge and pet owning consciousness (as do the bad ones, like the Dominance Theory, but that’s another article). However, somehow, I suspect this particular Kennedy study is on a one way road to a dust jacket cul de sac.

Happy trails and kindest regards

It depends where you`re coming from If you`ve never had dealings with any other species, it is difficult to get your head round the non-verbal world of the dog. If, however, you have been brought up around animals like horses etc., it is much easier to avoid the pitfalls like: If you don`t behave, you won`t get a biscuit. (And yes, the woman was totally serious).

I enjoyed that
...and agree with what you've said

I've often said that there are huge similarities in training a a dog and with raising a human toddler.

I also enjoyed it ~ & very true.

That was one of the main reasons I took dog & cat behaviour courses ~ to try to see & understand how the world looks from a cat or dog's viewpoint. I'm very conscious of the fact that their senses & cognition are different from ours in so many way ~ but there are still enough similarities for us to understand each other so well & on so many levels.

I get it now - I had to read it outloud and "bore" my dad (not a dog person) with it but I understand.