There's a reason we call dogs "Man's best friend."
And noted dog expert, author, TV host and psychologist Dr. Stanley Coren will cover that and more when he presents his free talk next Wednesday (April 10) at the Brighouse Library.
So, why do we love our dogs so much?
"Because we made them the 'perfect animal,'" says Coren, reached at his Vancouver home on Tuesday. "Dogs are the first domesticated animal, at least 14,000 years ago. And we've been doing seat-of-the pants genetics in order to change their temperament and behavior, their intelligence and the way they respond to us. So, they have become the perfect pet."
They've also become an increasingly prominent part of the family.
"For a lot of us now, our extended family drift around. I'm here in Vancouver and I've got kids in Philadelphia," Coren says. "So, if I need a little bit of family love I'm not going to get it from them at the spur of a moment."
Plus, the rise in the number of empty nesters has helped draw humans and their dogs closer.
"They (dogs) become the perpetual fair child in our life. And not only that, by human standards they are really low hassle compared to children," Coren says. "We don't have to send them to college, they don't ask to borrow the car, and they don't do drugs."
And while their loyalty to their owners is admired, so is their intelligence. "The average dog has the mental equivalence of a two-year-old human child," says Coren whose research has helped advance that comparison. "And the superdogs, the ones in the top 20 per cent of canine intelligence, are equivalent to a two-and-a-half year old."
For the record, Coren says those "superdogs" include, in descending order, the following canines: border collie, poodle, German shepherd, golden retriever, dobermann pinscher, Shetland sheepdog and Labrador retriever.
And it's that level of canine intelligence which provides an interesting form of interaction between pet and owner, says Coren, adding it elicits our human need to nurture when we speak to them.
"Human beings have a need to nurture. There has to be that feeling that someone really depends on us and cares for us," Coren says.
To register for Dr. Coren's talk, visit any branch of Richmond public Library, call 604-231-6413 or go online at yourlibrary.ca/whatson. cfm. Quote program #200.
