New book reveals little-known facts about pet dogs

Wednesday, 3 February 2010 19:00

Dogs' behaviour can be puzzling and mysterious - and one expert has revealed a number of interesting quirks.

Cognitive scientist Alexandra Horowitz has published a book entitled Inside of a Dog: What Dogs See, Smell and Know and told the Times that the majority of what humans believe they know about canines is just "theories generated from anecdotes and misapplied anthropomorphisms".

One tidbit was the suggestion that licks really are hello kisses - but for a very specific evolutionary reason.

Apparently, when mother pooches would come back from a hunt, puppies would lick their muzzle to stimulate her to vomit up some half-digested meat for them to eat.

Ms Horowitz also studied neurological activity to determine that the foolproof way to stop a dog with a predatory glint in their eye from chasing someone on a bicycle was to stop.

"The chasing impulse triggered by the visual cells that detected the motion will itself let up," she explained.

Recently, researchers revealed another behaviour quirk - when canines are wagging their tails to the left, it is friendly and when it is to the right, it could be a different message entirely.

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Posted by Rosina