The Russians began by breeding a group of foxes according to one simple rule: they would walk up to a cage and put a hand on the bars. Foxes that slunk back in fear and snapped their teeth didn't get to breed. Ones that came up to the scientists did. Meanwhile, the scientists also raised a separate group of foxes under identical conditions, except for one difference: they didn't have to pass a test to mate.
More than 40 generations of foxes have now been bred in Novosibirsk, and the results speak for themselves. The foxes that the scientists bred selectively have become remarkably doglike. They will affectionately run up to people and even wag their tails.
The article attempts to explore the intelligence of canine creatures and how they were originally tamed by humans.
She will follow a pointed finger to go get a toy that she can't see, and apparently recognizes the names of her different toys ("go get your rope" will get you a rope from her bucket, and "go get your ball" will get you her ball). These weren't things she was ever trained to do, but she seemed to just pick them up over time.
She's almost 12 years old now, and I would estimate that her level of "knowledge" of the world around her (though obviously not with the same ability to learn) is about on a par with a human toddler.
So chimps can't follow finger if it's beneficial for them? Or dolphins or crows?
My friend was afraid that someone might want to hurt her dog by feeding him something nasty, and since there is much more right handed people she taught her dog to avoid treats given with right hand. Dog gladly accepted treats given with left hand.
At first I was amazed that dog can discern between left and right side of human or the world. That's not something that comes easily even for humans.
After the dog refused to take treat lying on the inside of my left hand I turned the hand by 180 deg along wrist-elbow axis and placed treat on top of my hand. Dog accepted the treat without much hesitation. Dog did not understand the concepts of left and right, just relied on placement of the thumb on the human hand he saw.
That's how I circumvented her little security measure and hacked into her dog. ;-)
Because my own child also understood what a pointing finger meant only after what I feel was "lots of training".
Of course a horse is also a domestic animal.
