My theories on behavior were sparked by a dog picking up newspapers

The idea for this blog came along quite by accident. My next-door neighbor had just gotten a new pup, a Vizsla. Early one morning we both came out at the same time to get our newspapers. As it turned out his dog had run out and picked up all the newspapers in our cul-de-sac, my neighbor was in the process of putting the newspapers back in each of our driveways, he was a little embarrassed by his dog’s behavior. To me it was very funny watching him trying to keep his dog from doing her “job” as a retriever, retrieving newspapers.

The Vizsla is a wonderful hunting dog. The American Kennel Club considers the Vizsla a part of the sporting dog group. They were bred for field activities and even today participate in hunting and field activities. Well for my neighbor, his dog is a house pet; in the last 100 years dogs have gone from working animals to house pets. It is very hard for a working dog to get past hundreds of years of breeding to now sit quietly and keep the family company.

Dogs were bred for hunting, protection and herding animals. Domestic dogs started out as workers, helping man. Many years’ later dogs became companions and lap dogs and some were bred for that purpose.

In looking at human behavior I began to realize how much we are affected by this same history. As humans we have been walking around the earth for thousands of years. In the last few centuries we have become more “modern” or “civilized” or have we?  Man started as a hunter and woman started as a gatherer, but why? Does this account for our current behavior? Are we more like early man than we would like to admit? Does a lot of this behavior live on in our subconscious?

I think we still behave like Early Man, and in reading this blog I think you will come to appreciate my point of view, it passes the common sense test. I am a Baby Boomer; which influences my perspective on life, which I don’t think is all that bad. I am not an anthropologist by training but in writing this blog I have learned a great deal about behavior and about myself.

The Kitchen Table Anthropologist

Words of wisdom on relationships

Men and women still have a hard time understanding each other not just on a first date but thought out the course of a relationship.

Man and women are of course different animals. For thousands of years men have been hunters and women have been gatherers. Yes maybe we don't exactly hunt and gather as we did as cave people but our behavior still supports this reality.

When it comes to relationships today if all you remember about the opposite sex is this, you will have a much greater insight into your significant other.

Men think women won't change and they do

Women think men will change and they don't

Think about it; understand it and it will improve your relationship with the opposite sex.

The Kitchen Table Anthropologist

Myths on sex - top nine

Myths on sex - top nine

I ran across this on-line article on the top nine sex myths and had to post a link. I think it is right on.

http://www.foxnews.com/health/2010/12/08/sex-myths-need-know/

Good reading, enjoy

The Kitchen Table Anthropologist

New discovery - cavemen DNA linked to people today

When you are driving and think the person in front of you is acting like a Neanderthal you may be right. For anyone who has been reading this blog my theories are: our behavior is still tied to our days as cavemen and cavewomen. Yes our technology has advanced but has our behavior? I think not.

This just in, scientists in Germany at the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, have decoded fragments of 40,000 year old DNA found in Neanderthal skeletons in Croatia and discovered that some of the genetic material exists in people walking around today. Anthropologists previously believed that early humans, who lived in prehistoric Europe and the Middle Ease until about 30,000 year ago simply died out, but the latest finding show that interbreeding must have taken place. And here we are today related to early man.

Yes folks, that is a Neanderthal driving in front of you talking on their cell phone and ignoring traffic all around them.

The Kitchen Table Anthropologist