Can cats experience the same affection as dogs? Does the cat understand who its owner is? These questions are asked by many lovers of furry pets, but few of them know that in the minds of any cat there is no such thing as an owner.
But who are the people in whose apartments they live for them? Now let’s figure it out, and at the same time let’s talk about which of the members of the family in which they live the cats become most attached to.
Who is this person?
As mentioned above, cats have no idea that they might have an owner. But how then do they perceive people? As who?
For a cat, a person is a certain creature that is a cross between a big cat and a surrogate mother, with very illogical behavior. They quite seriously think that they are simply sharing territory with a person, and not living in his apartment.
These animals really feel love for people and a great need to communicate with them (by the way, the result of one study showed that about half of cats will choose the latter between tasty food and interaction with humans).
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Yes, according to the latest research, you can actually talk to animals. The problem is that we, modern people, have ceased to understand them. Our ancestors, like many animal owners today, were able to communicate completely intuitively with their pets and were confident that dogs or horses understood them perfectly. The difficulties began when scientists became interested in the problem. Back in the 17th century, Rene Descartes came to the conclusion that animals are biological automata that cannot have consciousness. They, of course, respond to commands, but purely mechanically, which makes it impossible to “talk” with them. This view was consolidated at the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries, when behaviorism appeared in psychology, according to which the psyche is a set of reactions to various stimuli, and something such as thinking simply does not exist. A serious blow to the idea of communication between humans and animals was dealt by the horse known as Clever Hans. According to its owner, he knew how to solve arithmetic problems. Performances in which Hans tapped out the correct answers to mathematical riddles with his hoof attracted crowds of spectators. Until psychologist Oskar Pfungst proved in 1907 that the animal responded solely to the subconscious body movements of observers. The one who asked Hans a question thus suggested the answer to him. Without contact with observers, the “smart” horse instantly became stupid and could not answer a single question. Since then, our language has come to be considered the exclusive prerogative of Homo sapiens. And if someone said that some animal understands human speech, he was upset with the expression “clever Hans effect.” This story shows how scientists change their minds about the ability to talk to animals. Either they are sure that it is real, or they declare that they were mistaken. This is partly because there are always some enthusiasts who want to understand the language of animals. They roar with lions, howl with wolves, purr with polar bears and snap their mouths with crocodiles. They teach birds - parrots, mynahs or starlings - to repeat different words. Most of these attempts produce modest effects, perhaps because we look so far in vain. Four-legged animals learn words
The answer to the question of the possibility of maintaining a dialogue with animals is literally at our fingertips. It comes from dogs, which have been underappreciated by scientists for decades (probably because they don't have as developed a cerebral cortex as chimpanzees and dolphins). But one day, Professor Julia Fischer from the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology in Leipzig heard about a border collie named Rico, who, as her owners said, could name 70 objects. “I contacted them and they allowed me to visit their home and start working with Rico,” Fisher said. During her research, it turned out that the dog knows not 70, but 200 objects! In a paper that the researcher and her colleagues published in 2004 in the prestigious journal Science, the scientists described how quickly Rico learned new words. It was enough to put several things known to him and one unknown in the room, and then ask him to bring a new one, saying its name, and the dog would unmistakably choose the one required. This means that he understood that since the name was unknown to him, we were talking about a new object. A month later, Rico continued to remember the word better or worse. It was the same kind of fast mapping that little children learn. It was also possible to eliminate the “wise Hans effect”: all the items that the border collie went for were in another room, and the person who asked the questions did not know how they were laid out. Influenced by the work on Rico, John Pilley of Wofford College in America took a dog of the same breed named Chaser and began teaching it human language. In 2011, when she was seven years old, she already knew 1,022 words, including mainly the names of various plush toys, balls and frisbees. Chaser also distinguished between categories of objects. The ability to understand human speech is not reserved exclusively for border coli, although they still occupy first place in this regard. The case of a 12-year-old Yorkshire terrier who learned 120 words is also described. Scientists say that dogs' abilities are related to the process of their domestication. For several thousand years, people have selected animals so that they pay attention to them and obey commands. Therefore, although only a fraction of a percent of genes distinguish a wolf and a dog, the wolf cannot guess the meaning of words. Monkeys do not have such innate abilities either. When we point something with our finger, the dog understands immediately, but the chimpanzee has to learn what we mean. However, not every dog has the same language abilities as Rico or Chaser. Owners and scientists taught these animals words for many months or years, devoting several hours a day to training. Which of us would want to devote so much time to this? Fortunately, it turns out that in order to find a common language with your pets, you can do without this. The mouth is silent, the body speaks
In one experiment, dogs were taught to recognize symbols. The boxes were marked with them: when the dog wanted something, she put her paw in the appropriately marked compartment (and never used compartments without symbols). The only thing that remains unclear is why one of the dogs only occasionally put its paw in the box with the inscription “pet me.” It turned out that this depended on the experimenter who was working with her that day. If she liked him, she asked to be petted, and if not, she did not put her paw in this compartment. This was further proof that dogs communicate with us, although not always in the way we imagine. Scientists have concluded that dogs not only listen to words, but also monitor facial expressions and body position of a person. It even turned out that animals look with great attention at the left side of the face, which shows emotions more strongly. In other words, for quadrupeds, body language may be much more important than articulated language. It often happens that owners actually talk to their dogs, but not in the way they think they do. A classic example is a woman who was doing agility training with her dog. This sport involves the animal, following the owner's commands, overcoming an obstacle course. The woman gave all the commands using her hands, and her pet showed excellent results until she cut her hair. Then the dog stopped understanding her: it turned out that he read commands not from his hands, but from the movement of his hair. Over many centuries of living among people, dogs have learned to understand us very well. It is we who have forgotten how to perceive the signals that they send to us. It should also be remembered that for a dog the most important source of information is smell. Using his sense of smell, he senses our mood and emotions, understanding whether we are happy or afraid. People cannot control their smell, but they can control sounds and visual impulses. Therefore, we should reinforce our commands with gestures, then they will become clearer to the animals. Dogs can also understand a lot from the context of events. If we, for example, say “it’s time to go to bed,” the animal pays attention not only to the words: after all, it always sees us in the evening in pajamas and with the night light on.
These additional impulses may be even more important. If we say “it’s time to go to bed” during the day while wearing a raincoat, the dog may not understand us at all. Even when the dog responds correctly to our command, he does not always understand it the same way as we do. “What does “sit” mean to a dog? says animal behaviorist Patricia McConnell. For us, this is the body position that we call sitting. But if you command a sitting dog to “sit”, it will lie down, since this command means for it to get closer to the ground, to become lower.” Why do you need these emotions? Intonation, rhythm of speech, and the emphasis we place on this or that part of the phrase are also very important. “Dogs, when listening to human speech, pay attention to the melody and mood in order to anticipate what will happen next,” says Professor Julia Fischer. Therefore, when talking to animals, it is important to pay more attention not to what is said, but to how it is done. If you want to be understandable to your dog, you must learn to control your emotions and not allow them to freely break through your words. Our mood, nervousness or tension can affect the way we talk to an animal. The command “calm down” or “faster” should always be pronounced the same way: only then will it mean the same thing to the dog. A word pronounced differently will change its meaning for our pet. Good mutual understanding between animals and people requires training. But first of all, training is required by a person who often has not learned to hide his emotions at all before. You should also carefully observe your animals: they often want to tell us something, but we do not attach importance to the signals coming from them. For communication to be successful, you must begin to capture the emotions of four-legged animals as well as they feel ours. So it may take time and effort to establish contact. Both parties must also have corresponding inclinations. Dogs have them because for a thousand years there has been a selection process in which those animals were selected that read human emotions and carried out commands. A group of animal psychologists from the University of Warsaw, Maciej Trojan, performed two types of skits in front of dogs in one of their studies. Some people helped each other, and some did not. Then the scientists checked which experimental participants the animals preferred: it turned out that they diligently avoided egoists and chose the company of altruists. Translator from animal to human
This means that dogs understand our behavior better than we thought. A similar situation may occur with other pets. It is possible that they are just waiting to be spoken to. Of course, a cat, cow or pig was not selected in the context of following human commands, like dogs. But already, for example, horses or donkeys should have understood well what their owner wants, and there are chances that someday scientists will show us how to find a common language with these animals. Such knowledge can be put to absolutely practical use thanks to new technologies: data collected by animal behavior researchers can be turned into computer algorithms. This is what Hungarian scientists from Eötvös Loránd University did, for example: some time ago they developed a program that classifies dog barking and assigns a specific meaning to it. You can also easily find mobile apps online that translate English expressions into cat meows. It is enough to record such a program on your phone and then communicate with your pet, its creators advertise their product. But what is the relationship between science and entertainment here? It’s difficult to say, but it seems that we will have to wait a little longer for the appearance of an electronic translator from human to animal. In 2010, Google announced that it already had such an application. On a smartphone, it was enough to select from a long menu (which included, for example, a horse, a hamster, a duck and even a turtle!) the type of animal and then record its voice to listen to the translation. In the video advertising the program, one could see how the grunt of a pig was replaced by the phrase “new man, smells good,” and the neighing of a donkey, which was being scratched behind the ear, turned out to be a confession of “I love you.” And although it later turned out that all this was just an April Fool’s joke, the video is still very popular on the Internet, which shows how much we want to talk to animals like humans.
InoSMI materials contain assessments exclusively of foreign media and do not reflect the position of the InoSMI editorial staff.
Who do cats feel affection for?
Contrary to all people's ideas about the independent behavior of cats and their waywardness, furry pets are capable of experiencing great affection for people. True, out of all family members, they, as a rule, choose only one object of love.
This animal feels love for someone who shows his tenderness and affection, paying attention to the pet in his free time. As practice shows, most often a cat's favorite is not the one who feeds it, but the one who plays with it most often. They simply love entertainment.
Cats
Even though they often seem aloof, it turns out that cats actually have a positive attitude towards us. A new study has found the first compelling evidence that cats are sensitive to human emotional gestures and can read facial expressions.
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How to understand that a cat loves you
How to understand which of all family members the cat chose as his favorite? To do this, pay attention to exactly whom the animal likes to knead and on whose lap it spends the most time.
The thing is that cats are very sensual creatures, even adults are capable of showing childish emotions. A loving cat treats the object of his affection as a mother, so if the animal loves to crush you with its paws, know that it perceives you as a mother cat. Near the person to whom the animal feels affection, it can sit for hours and “communicate” in a language that only it understands.
When a kitten appears in the house, your task is to show your best side as quickly as possible, since sympathy in these animals arises very quickly. By the way, if the relationship between you initially does not work out, be prepared for the fact that in the future it will be quite difficult for you to direct it in a different direction.
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Can cats and dogs learn to understand each other?
But everything is not so hopeless. A cat and a dog may well learn to understand each other, and therefore live together.
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Scientists conducted a study (Feuerstein, Terkel, 2007) and found that if a kitten and puppy met in childhood, then in 77% of cases dogs and in 90% of cases cats correctly interpret the body language signals of a representative of another species, even if these signals are opposite to their own . That is, both cats and dogs in childhood are quite capable of mastering a “foreign language” and learning to understand each other.
It is more difficult for an adult dog and cat to learn to understand a member of another species, but this is also possible if they have the chance to safely get to know, observe and interact with each other.
And your task, if both a cat and a dog have settled in your house, is to create the necessary conditions for this.
Separate accommodation
I had to place animals in my two-room apartment for the whole month: the cat in the living room, Bonya in my bedroom. I gave each one a tray with stuffing, bowls for food and water, and took turns playing and interacting with them.
Peach walked around the apartment, lay wherever he liked, and often watched for his neighbor under the bedroom door. But my beauty always felt that a stranger was nearby, she remembered the fear she experienced, so she only grumbled threateningly and did not leave the room.
Now I was no longer faced with the task of making friends with animals...
The lesson was good!
Desire to play
The cat can ambush and “hunt” your legs or “box” your hand with its hind paws. To prevent this behavior, dedicate plenty of time to active play every day. In dogs, an invitation to play is playful bending: the animal jumps from side to side and at the same time falls on its front paws, the tail and ears are raised, the pupils are dilated. The pet can also jump on the owner with its front paws and bark loudly and abruptly. Another indirect invitation to play can be... damage to property and a toilet in the wrong place while you are not at home. Animals do this not out of harm, but out of boredom. Be sure to leave toys. For cats, this could include puzzle toys that encourage them to forage for food. And you can put something soaked in your scent in your dog’s bed.
Trust and sympathy
Signs of a calm, relaxed state in cats: eyes are round, ears are set vertically; in dogs, the ears are relaxed, the mouth is slightly open, and the tail is in a neutral position (slightly raised). This means that the animal is in a good mood and you can try playing with it or petting it. If the cat blinks slowly, constantly looking into your eyes, consider this a declaration of love. The same applies to situations when an animal “tramples” your stomach or chest with its front paws (kittens usually do this to stimulate milk production in the mother cat) or brings prey (a mouse or a bird) into the house. An indisputable sign of sympathy is that a cat purrs when you pet it. But if purring is heard even when the animal is alone, this may be a sign of stress. In order to leave a scent mark on the owner, the cat rubs its muzzle and tail against you, and “butts” you with its forehead.
For dogs, the owner's scent also plays a key role in establishing friendly contact. In the area of the palate, dogs have a so-called vomeronasal organ, which is responsible for the sense of smell - which is why it is so important for the animal to lick the owner’s hands. Also, the dog needs to be in contact with a person he trusts all the time - so the pet may come up and nuzzle you from time to time, and turn around during a walk to catch your eye.
