Are our cats and dogs capable of being jealous, offended, envious, and most importantly, loving? To what extent do their behavior and character depend on the emotions of the owners?
How is animal psychology different from human psychology?
Like psychology, animal psychology studies the psyche, not psychology. And this is the first point that many cling to when they say that such a science cannot exist.
How is the psyche of animals different from the human? If we give a very general answer to this very general question: the conditions to which the animal is adapted, in which it lives and feels as comfortable as possible and can act independently.
For an animal
This is a natural (natural) environment. For example, it is much easier for dogs and cats to live in the countryside. In the city, a pet is forced to accept the guidance of a person, because it is dependent on him and is not itself adapted to this environment.
The exception is stray dogs, which were able to survive, but even then in a very limited way, since they still depend on a person (at least on his food waste).
Can animals be jealous, offended, envy, love?
I can only answer yes to the last question. Although here it is necessary to define the concept of what “love” is. When I tell people that yes, animals love too, it’s just that they have a different feeling, they immediately ask me questions: maybe this is affection, a need for protection?
And I do not find what to answer, because there is no mathematically precise definition of what love is, everyone understands it in their own way.
Well, for example, on the Internet they often say: “Your cat is with you only because of the food”…
This is not true. Now I will decipher what love is for them and why they need a person in principle. It’s probably better to start with dogs, because the wolves they’re descended from have a pack concept.
Wolves come together to survive. Together it is easier – it is more convenient to get food, you can protect yourself from enemies, there are some interchangeable functions. Check here for more details about cat products at lovecatstuff.
And this joint activity is the basis on which their relationship, love, feeling of affection for each other, personal recognition is built. Therefore, it is wrong to think that a dog or a cat only needs food and nothing else.
It’s just that their sense of affection is less emotional than a human’s. If we build a lot on emotions, then for animals they are secondary, and joint survival is primary.
The other extreme is to assume that your pet loves you so much that he will give his soul. Those who think so are very often mistaken. For example, if a dog constantly asks for affection, this may be a manifestation not so much of love as of a human-created need for attention.
There was such a case:
The girl got a job, she became very tired, and her cat began to yell loudly at night.
She tried to give him food, but it didn’t help. They began to understand and it turned out that now she pays much less attention to him than before. When the hostess began to stroke him regularly, the nightly concerts stopped.
There are many such cases.
And here the point is not in animals, but in the fact that people have shown that it is so right. But it didn’t help. They began to understand and it turned out that now she pays much less attention to him than before.
When the hostess began to stroke him regularly, the nightly concerts stopped. There are many such cases. And here the point is not in animals, but in the fact that people have shown that it is so right.
But it didn’t help. They began to understand and it turned out that now she pays much less attention to him than before. When the hostess began to stroke him regularly, the nightly concerts stopped. There are many such cases. And here the point is not in animals, but in the fact that people have shown that it is so right.
It is not uncommon to see how a cat is offended when you stroke another cat (and can even enter into a fight with a competitor). If that’s not jealousy, then what is?
Jealousy, envy in a person is all self-doubt and comparing yourself with someone, the conviction: I am worse than this second, potential one. Animals don’t have that. Their relations in the flock are very logically arranged, the roles are very clearly distributed. Fulfilling his role – in his place.
If someone suddenly turns out to be useless, overly aggressive, or there are too many animals in the pack, they can simply be kicked out. And they are expelled, and no one worries at the same time: neither the one who was expelled, nor the one who expelled. And no one compares himself with others left in the pack, for better or worse – he just leaves and adapts to live without this pack or joins another.
Everything is simple,
logical and without unnecessary emotions. In the case you describe, a cat may attack another cat, for example, if she perceives him as a threat to her relationship with her owner.
They do not compare: you love him more than me, they seem to say: you love me too (in the same volume as before). Another explanation: the second cat disrupts the usual way of life. Cats are solitary animals, it is not easy for them to build relationships, and they do not like it.
The stranger is the easiest to drive away, so that everything remains the same. In addition, the cat does not understand: why, why is this cat here when he leaves.
Incomprehensibility
The very incomprehensibility of this situation leads to the fact that emotions accumulate, and the attack can simply be a nervous breakdown. Then it definitely has nothing to do with jealousy and envy too.
The stranger is the easiest to drive away, so that everything remains the same. In addition, the cat does not understand: why, why is this cat here when he leaves.
The very incomprehensibility of this situation leads to the fact that emotions accumulate, and the attack can simply be a nervous breakdown. Then it definitely has nothing to do with jealousy and envy too.
The stranger is the easiest to drive away, so that everything remains the same. In addition, the cat does not understand: why, why is this cat here when he leaves.
The very incomprehensibility of this situation leads to the fact that emotions accumulate, and the attack can simply be a nervous breakdown. Then it definitely has nothing to do with jealousy and envy too.
Why is it dangerous for us to endow animals with our emotions and feelings?
It prevents us from understanding them. The human feeling of love implies that if you love, you cannot harm. And when a person believes that his cat or dog loves him by default, he does not see her nervous conditions at all, which can be dangerous both for a person and for the animal itself.
For example, I had a cat as a child, and it so happened that we systematically brought it up, without knowing it ourselves. I sang, and at some point she jumped on my chest, catching her claws on clothes.
She tried to eliminate the source of the sound, because it was very loud and thin and hit her nerves hard. But we had no idea about the true reason, we had fun, and instead of tempering her nervous system, firstly, we pulled her apart with constant “performances” (for example, showed them to guests), and secondly, formed a habit in her of reacting in this way.
Once I squeaked
And the cat, jumping on me, hit me with a claw in the eye. Everything ended well – both for me and for the cat, although at that time my parents even seriously thought about euthanizing her.
No one expected this from her, although she behaved very logically and very cat-like. And if we did not humanize it, it would be visible.
Animals cannot tell us that we very often violate their boundaries to the limit, bring their nervous system to a state of incandescence. And then there are nervous breakdowns.
On the other hand, it is wrong to think that pets are such fierce animals and cannot be trusted. You just need to understand: they are different.
In principle
Animals experience the same range of emotions as humans, but their social norms are completely different. We can understand them, but they can’t understand us. Once I squeaked, and the cat, jumping on me, hit me with a claw in the eye.
Everything ended well – both for me and for the cat, although at that time my parents even seriously thought about euthanizing her. No one expected this from her, although she behaved very logically and very cat-like. And if we did not humanize it, it would be visible.
Animals cannot tell us that we very often violate their boundaries to the limit, bring their nervous system to a state of incandescence. And then there are nervous breakdowns.
On the other hand, it is wrong to think that pets are such fierce animals and cannot be trusted. You just need to understand: they are different. In principle, animals experience the same range of emotions as humans, but their social norms are completely different. We can understand them, but they can’t understand us.
Once I squeaked, and the cat, jumping on me, hit me with a claw in the eye. Everything ended well – both for me and for the cat, although at that time my parents even seriously thought about euthanizing her.
No one expected this from her, although she behaved very logically and very cat-like. And if we did not humanize it, it would be visible.
Animals cannot tell us that we very often violate their boundaries to the limit, bring their nervous system to a state of incandescence. And then there are nervous breakdowns. On the other hand, it is wrong to think that pets are such fierce animals and cannot be trusted.
You just need to understand: they are different. In principle, animals experience the same range of emotions as humans, but their social norms are completely different.
We can understand them, but they can’t understand us. Everything ended well – both for me and for the cat, although at that time my parents even seriously thought about euthanizing her. No one expected this from her, although she behaved very logically and very cat-like.
And if we did not humanize it, it would be visible. Animals cannot tell us that we very often violate their boundaries to the limit, bring their nervous system to a state of incandescence. And then there are nervous breakdowns. On the other hand, it is wrong to think that pets are such fierce animals and cannot be trusted. You just need to understand: they are different.
In principle, animals experience the same range of emotions as humans, but their social norms are completely different. We can understand them, but they can’t understand us.
Everything ended well – both for me and for the cat, although at that time my parents even seriously thought about euthanizing her. No one expected this from her, although she behaved very logically and very cat-like. And if we did not humanize it, it would be visible.
Animals cannot tell us that we very often violate their boundaries to the limit, bring their nervous system to a state of incandescence. And then there are nervous breakdowns.
On the other hand, it is wrong to think that pets are such fierce animals and cannot be trusted. You just need to understand: they are different.
In principle, animals experience the same range of emotions as humans, but their social norms are completely different. We can understand them, but they can’t understand us.
Although she behaved very logically and very cat-like. And if we did not humanize it, it would be visible. Animals cannot tell us that we very often violate their boundaries to the limit, bring their nervous system to a state of incandescence. And then there are nervous breakdowns.
On the other hand, it is wrong to think that pets are such fierce animals and cannot be trusted. You just need to understand: they are different. In principle, animals experience the same range of emotions as humans, but their social norms are completely different. We can understand them, but they can’t understand us. Although she behaved very logically and very cat-like. And if we did not humanize it, it would be visible.
Animals cannot tell
Animals cannot tell us that we very often violate their boundaries to the limit, bring their nervous system to a state of incandescence. And then there are nervous breakdowns.
On the other hand, it is wrong to think that pets are such fierce animals and cannot be trusted. You just need to understand: they are different. In principle, animals experience the same range of emotions as humans, but their social norms are completely different.
We can understand them, but they can’t understand us. Those pets are such fierce beasts and cannot be trusted. You just need to understand: they are different. In principle, animals experience the same range of emotions as humans, but their social norms are completely different.
We can understand them, but they can’t understand us. That pets are such fierce beasts and cannot be trusted. You just need to understand: they are different. In principle, animals experience the same range of emotions as humans, but their social norms are completely different. We can understand them, but they can’t understand us.
Is it true that in the process of domestication, children’s signs appearing in animals (including in behavior)? How are domestic animals different from wild ones?
There is such a theory that, indeed, domestication goes along the path of prolonging children’s sensitive periods, and the beast does not fully grow up. There is something in it, but there is still much to be explored.
In fact, if a domestic dog behaves like a puppy, then it will inevitably have mental problems. Most likely, she will turn out to be too dependent on a person, which means she will be dependent, stupid and insecure. Domestic animals differ from wild ones in the nature of adaptation – in that they accept the guidance of a person much more easily, but this does not mean that they do not grow up.
Among dogs of different breeds, there are huge differences in the ability to understand a person and voluntarily obey his will. For example, German Shepherds grazed cattle in very difficult conditions – they had to protect it from both animals and people, and at the same time interact with the shepherd. This is a complex activity that requires the development of moderate independence, the ability to obey and the ability to understand people.
In the process of selection, such qualities have developed, and now the shepherd dog is considered one of the smartest and most trainable breeds. And in the case of the Cane Corso, I have to go to meet him more, because he understands me worse than a shepherd dog.
At what level of domestication is the fox now?
She is still very far from dogs and cats. Manual foxes are distinguished by the fact that in the process of selection they have formed a certain type of reaction to a person – wag their tail and roll over onto their backs.
These are childish behaviors. When an adult animal behaves like this, it fawns, and the beast, not very self-confident, fawns. Tame and aggressive foxes have very different psyches. Aggressive are very stable, have a strong nervous system. In manual attention is unstable, and the psyche is too mobile. These animals are very excitable and vain.
At the same time, it is easier to find a common language with them, some of them (especially blacks, who have been domesticated for longer) have a noticeable desire to trust a person, and relationships can be built on it. This is really the base for domestication, but here you have to work with their unstable nervous system.
By the way, I think that many breeds of dogs have gone down this path of loosening the psyche: love for everyone, an unstable nervous system, increased excitability, outward friendliness, but problems inside. Most likely, this is because they are not bred for any specific purpose, but for beauty.
What is the essence of the methodology of adaptive zoo psychology, and how does it fundamentally differ from traditional methods of training?
The fact that this is not training in principle. Adaptive zoo psychology does not mean suppressing the animal, but studying its needs for what they are, and trying to find a compromise solution. When an animal exhibits some kind of abnormal behavior, the trainer tries to get the animal to react differently.
We are trying to understand why the animal behaves this way and whether it is possible to satisfy its need in another way. Somewhere it is necessary to correct his nervous system, somewhere – to change his lifestyle. This is not adaptation to the beast, this is the maximum help to him to adapt to the conditions in which he lives.
Adaptive zoo psychology proceeds from the laws of nature.
There is simply no abnormal behavior there, because it is contrary to the laws of survival – for example, all pugnacious ones are expelled from the pack. In Conrad Lawrence’s book “Aggression (the so-called “evil”)”, the following idea is expressed: the more natural weapons an animal has, the more developed a braking mechanism is in it, so that these weapons are used only for their intended purpose and nothing else.
The scientist compares pigeons placed in a small enclosed space with wolves and lions in the same conditions. It turned out that the pigeons severely maimed each other in a state of nervous breakdown, while predators were more restrained in a state of stress. Dogs and cats also have natural inhibition, so if they fight, this indicates some kind of problem with their psyche.
My dog Firin of the Cane Corso breed came to me at the age of one and a half years with a convulsive syndrome. The former owners wanted to euthanize him. With the help of the method of adaptive zoo psychology, it was possible to achieve that he became very calm, does not fight, does not run away, can contact other dogs, and most importantly, he does not have convulsive seizures, although I have never used anticonvulsants.
But for this
I had to change my lifestyle, and teach him to adapt and react differently. I did not force, did not use whips and gingerbread, but changed my attitude to what was happening, and as soon as this happened, I saw a bunch of opportunities to help my dog.
By the way, this technique is applicable not only to dogs, but also to cats, foxes, wolves and even humans. I didn’t use whips and gingerbread, but changed my attitude to what was happening, and as soon as this happened, I saw a bunch of opportunities to help my dog. By the way, this technique is applicable not only to dogs, but also to cats, foxes, wolves and even humans.
I didn’t use whips and gingerbread, but changed my attitude to what was happening, and as soon as this happened, I saw a bunch of opportunities to help my dog. By the way, this technique is applicable not only to dogs, but also to cats, foxes, wolves and even humans.
To what extent do the emotions of the owner affect what the animal will be like in the end? Is it possible to say that a person with certain behavioral characteristics can bring any dog to the point that it becomes aggressive?
Not so clear
The dog depends not only on the owner; it also has its own data: genetics, breed, history until the moment it got to this person. Depending on this, the degree of such problems will be expressed in different ways.
However, yes, people can say: I had no problems with anyone, only with this dog. But when you start to understand, it turns out that they were exactly the same, only manifested to a lesser extent. Animals are not able to understand and digest our emotions, to delve into their causes, and if our emotions are outrageous, animals begin to experience even more.
For example, there was such a case: one mongrel had convulsive seizures, they happened with a certain frequency (once a month or two). In those days when he had seizures, the dog was very afraid of everything, tossed about, ready to break out of the apartment, and at other times was quite calm.
When they began to understand, it turned out: just during the periods of these attacks, the hostess had incredible psychological overload, which was expressed in depression, a sense of fear of life.
That is, the dog was so connected with the owner and dependent on her that it had a strong effect on her, she seemed to panic: if you are so scared, what will happen to us then? Although, of course, this is not the case in all cases.
How to apply adaptive zoo psychology to a person who does not know the laws of animals so well?
In fact, many of the principles of adaptive zoo psychology are intuitive. When you start talking to people in detail, they say: in principle, that’s what I thought, and that’s what I did.
Trust your intuition and at the same time learn to understand the animals. Because real trust is based on understanding. Being deceived about animals is dangerous both for a person (especially if the animal is serious), and for the animal itself. What is a compromise?
This is when two beings, between which there is a certain distance, go to each other, to something in common, and mutual understanding is just possible in the middle. Thanks to working with dogs, I myself became more confident in myself, overcame many of my fears, learned to better understand the world.
You can’t change nature. If it’s pouring rain, you can’t make it stop pouring, but you can take an umbrella. So here. It is useless to subjugate animals,
Hi, I am Adam Smith, Admin Of TechSketcher, Creative blogger and Digital Marketer.