Dogs are very different from a lot of other animals we work with because they are hyper-social and hypersensitive to everything we do. Dogs are so tuned in to people that they are the only animal that can follow a person’s gaze or pointing finger to figure out where a piece of food is hidden. Wolves can’t do it, and neither can chimpanzees.
Dogs are genetic wolves that evolved to live and communicate with humans. That’s why dogs are so easy to train compared to other animals.
Animals Make Us Human: Creating the Best Life for Animals
by Temple Grandin and Catherine Johnson
Anyone can teach a dog to sit and shake hands, and most dogs do a lot of self-training as they get older. I know a dog who, every time his owner puts her shoes on to take him for a walk, runs up to her side, sits, and waits quietly for her to put on his collar. When his owner picks up the collar he bows his head. No one trained him to do any of those things. He trained himself.
The reason dogs can train themselves to perform a lot of behaviors is that our social reactions are reinforcing to dogs. To train a cat, you have to give it food treats, but a dog is happy when you’re happy. Over time that dog noticed that his owner acted happy when he waited quietly for his collar, so he learned to wait quietly to make her act happy.
動物が幸せを感じるとき
新しい動物行動学でわかるアニマル・マインド
by テンプル・グランディン, キャサリン・ジョンソン, 中尾 ゆかり (翻訳)