Tuesday, December 28, 2010

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


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