“The world is almost always known through actions”: zoopsychologist - about the perception of animals of the surrounding reality

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- When we talk about the breed characteristics of dogs, you need to understand that in recent decades they have begun to fade, because in cities these animals have long been kept as pets, and not as service or hunting dogs.

And for animals living in houses, the requirements of the owners are quite universal.

And now dogs are selected by breeders and future owners often in accordance with these requirements, although sometimes not purposefully.

At the same time, initially the breeds of dogs were really created to perform various kinds of functions - guard, hunting, shepherd.

Breed prerequisites affect how easy it is to form certain behavioral characteristics in a dog.

For example, hounds were bred to chase game with barks, while greyhounds must do this silently.

Therefore, in hounds, the skill of pursuing game with barking is formed easily, while in greyhounds it is very difficult.

- That is, if the owner wants the dog to have certain

- Not only training plays a role, it is also important how the mother of the puppy behaved, how his ontogeny went (the formation of individual behavior as a result of interaction between the developing organism and the environment.

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The role is also played by whether the mother fed the puppy, how long she fed, whether she was tolerant of her puppies, whether the puppy had littermates - brothers and sisters, when he was transferred to a new home.

It is also important what conditions were in this house - there was a puppy in a group of other dogs, or it was raised in an aviary, or it grew up among people.

All this affects its early socialization and further opportunities to train the animal and form its specialized skills.

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About a dog that is able to interact with representatives of its own and another species, resolve conflicts peacefully, raise its own offspring, etc., they say that it is socialized.

This is already an established term, although there is an opinion that it is not very correct to apply it to dogs.

The ability of a dog not to experience anxiety in the presence of people, to understand the facial expressions of a person, the signals given by him - these qualities are formed in puppies whose mothers themselves were tolerant of humans.

To choose the right puppy, you should look not so much at him, but at his mother, her behavior towards people and towards her puppies.

In the first days after the birth of the cubs, the mother should be with them, lick them, turn them over, warm them, feed them in a relaxed, comfortable position for the puppies.

For example, a dog living in the wild, or just a poorly socialized dog, will become alarmed if people approach it while feeding the puppies.

She may even display displaced aggression towards puppies.

At the same time, a well-socialized dog calmly lets people near him and his cubs.

This is an important point for choosing a puppy who will become a pet - and we are talking about such dogs now.

I will add that for the development of communication skills in a dog, games with peers in puppyhood are very important.

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- Depending on how the early ontogenesis and adolescence passed in such puppies, they may form a different attitude towards a person.

Dogs that were born and spent the first four months of their lives away from people are specific to people, feeling comfortable only at a great distance.

Their ability to socialize in relation to humans is very limited.

To place such dogs in families, to look for their owners is a big mistake.

These dogs will experience constant stress being around people.

They do not perceive a person as their social partner, who can be trusted.

Such animals are called feral.

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- Can a person tame animals of wild, non-domesticated species?

And if the cub of such an animal is born next to people, will it be easier to tame it?

“Contrary to popular belief, a human-raised baby wild animal is more dangerous than an adult wild animal caught in nature.

A human-raised wild animal is always dangerous, especially after the animal has reached puberty.

Many experiments on keeping such individuals in houses are limited to adolescence, the game period, after which the animals sooner or later move to a cage or aviary.

It is impossible to tame a wild animal without selection in many generations, as was the case with domesticated species.

I note that by a tamed animal, I mean one that is safe for people.

There is an explanation for why wild animals raised by humans are more dangerous.

The fact is that one of the functions of the mother is to ensure the emotional stability of the cub, she becomes a figure of attachment, which provides the cub with stress reduction.

It is known that in young mammals, deprived of a mother responsive to their needs, brain structures such as the amygdala and hippocampus are even formed differently.

In the future, such animals are more emotionally unpredictable, unbalanced.

At the same time, they are quite shy, afraid of novelty, and can hardly overcome stress.

And, accordingly, they are unfamiliar with different shades of emotions - only fear or aggression.

- Do animals have psychological disorders, like people do?

- Such as people do not exist, of course.

But neurological disorders occur, phobias can form, and cognitive abilities deteriorate with age.

If a normally friendly dog ​​begins to behave abnormally, becomes anxious or aggressive, then you should first find out if there are any physical health problems.

And if this is not the case, then you should already contact a behavior correction specialist.

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The problem is that in most cases, correcting the problematic behavior of a pet requires work with the owners.

But situations are not uncommon when the owners subconsciously do not want to change their behavior towards the pet, although they turn to a specialist for help.

- As it happens with children, because child psychotherapy also involves working with the whole family ...

- Yes, this is called triangulation, when the interaction between two members of the group is carried out through a third figure.

As for dogs, a well-socialized dog perfectly reads our non-verbal, tension, postures, facial expressions, gestures ...

- It is clear that animals cannot mentally operate with abstract symbols, like a person, but what emotions and feelings are available to them?

Feelings and emotions are divided into primary and secondary.

The primary ones are fear, aggression, the joy of relief, pain ... All mammals have them.

Negative emotions arose in the early stages of evolution.

And positive basic emotions are richly represented in animals that live in groups, they serve to maintain interaction within the group.

And the more complex the structure of such a group, the more diverse the shades of emotions.

And secondary emotions, such as jealousy, guilt, envy, are unique to humans.

All of them are connected with those criteria of morality, ideas about good and evil that are accepted in human society.

Animals, unlike humans, always live in the here and now, they cannot mentally travel through time like we do.

Therefore, they react to the behavior of the owners at the current moment.

Plus, animals are not able to demonstrate the wrong emotions that they experience.

- Sometimes they compare the psychology of dogs and very young children.

Is it correct to talk about similarity?

- Not.

Such associations come from the subconscious, because many people treat pets like children.

It has been noticed that pet owners sometimes even change the pace of speech, tone, when they turn to pets, the speech is similar to the one that is usually used when communicating with children.

And that's why they try to attribute the qualities of children to dogs, but this is not true.

We must remember that the dog is still a member of the species Canis familiaris, and understand that it can have its own needs and its own "views of what is good and what is bad."

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 - Without anthropomorphism - attributing human motives, desires, morality, etc. to animals, most people would simply lose the motivation to have a pet.

Indeed, in this case, the same dogs do not perform any practical functions, do not help graze cattle, do not protect, etc. On the other hand, due to total automorphism in the perception of pets, often the needs of animals are not fully satisfied.

Of course, dogs can adapt to different conditions.

However, people who keep pets should remember that although we all live in the same physical world for all, representatives of each biological species are only able to perceive and interact with some part of this common world.

In science, this is called "umwelt" - the world that surrounds you.

For example, dogs have a much better sense of smell than humans.

And for her, a walk is not only a visual impression, but also an olfactory one.

A dog can sniff for a very long time some objects that are unaesthetic from a human point of view, this is important for her.

And the owners usually in such cases pull the dog on a leash, not realizing that she lives in a slightly different world.

Their physical capabilities play a very important role in shaping the perception of certain types.

For example, people perform many manipulations with their hands.

And the limbs of dogs provide completely different opportunities - for digging, jumping, running ... The world is almost always known through actions, through movement, this forms psychological perception.

Therefore, in order to understand how representatives of a particular animal species perceive the world, one should pay attention to what actions they can perform.

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At the same time, the spectrum of perception of the world - umwelt - is limited not only by specific features, but also by the ontogeny of a particular individual.

That is, for example, if a puppy is taken away from its mother early, deprived of games with peers, placed in an empty apartment, not taken out for walks, then in the future this will significantly limit the part of the world around it that it can master.

And vice versa - the rich opportunities for the development of behavior provided to puppies at an early age, allows you to expand their "psychological worlds" in the future.

I can give you an example - shepherd puppies, who were trained to look for explosives, were allowed at the age of 10-12 weeks to go with her to the "service".

And when the puppies grew up, it turned out to be easier to teach them to look for explosives than ordinary dogs of this breed.

So the mother, by her activity, outlines the zones and objects that matter.

And a dog whose umwelt is limited, who has spent his whole life in a lady's purse, will not be able to raise puppies with a rich perception of the world, even if we specifically develop them.