Newspaper Page Text
. Why we .
love puppies
Why is it that even those who
don't like dogs like puppies?
BY STEVE DALE
WALKING A PIT BULL is an /|H
interesting experience. No
matter how happy-go-lucky gjH||
and friendly that individual ffl ;
dog is, lots of people cross the street to steer
clear. Some people are repelled by pit bulls,
some by large dogs and others by all dogs. But
those concerns go out the window if you happen to
be walking a 14-week-old pit bull puppy, as I recently
did. The little wiggly pup was a people magnet It
turns out that we can’t help but love puppies, even pit
bull puppies. There’s just something about them.
We’re simply hard-wired to be attracted to the lit
tle creatures. After all, their large foreheads and big,
round eyes are reminiscent of human babies. Clearly,
we’re predisposed to care for babies. “We’re a nur
turing species. We need to be,” agrees animal behav
iorist Patricia McConnell. “Our babies require a great
deal of care for many years. When we see these
cues, we can’t help but respond with a rush of
a hormone called oxytocin. We generalize our
feelings to other species including dogs.”
Believe it or not that generalization in scien
tific parlance is called the “aw” factor. W’e res- j
pond with lots of smiles, a softer and higher voice,
and we tend to actually say “aw:”
Having once worked at a zoo, I can confirm
that baby animals who look most like us, the
mammals particularly great ape babies
got lots of “aws.” Snakes, not so many.
Sometimes, this same generalized attraction
occurs when we see adult animals. With their
big eyes, large, roundish heads, pronounced fore
heads and fairly short snouts, adult pandas
elicit the same response that babies do. “After
all, they look like cuddly teddy bears,” says
McConnell, the author of For the Love of a Dog:
Understanding Emotion in You and Your Best
PUPPY WITH BAIL ANO PUPPY PANTING PAT DOYLE, COOBIS
12
USA WEEKEND • Oct 19-21,2007
Mil Mil
thousands of years, we’ve played a role in then- selection
and, naturally, we select features that are most appeal
ing to us. Of course, many dogs were bred for a function
—to herd sheep or retrieve waterfowl,
for example and their fea
tures reflect their jobs. .ajfiijfo.
However, other dogs $9
Friend. “I mean, why do you think teddy
bears are so appealing?”
In his 30 years as a dog show’
, judge and breeder, Carmen Bat
\ taglia, president of the American
L| Kennel Club Companion Animal
K Recovery Program and behav
f ioral scientist/researcher, says he
f has met people who don’t care
for dogs. But he has never met
anyone who doesn’t like puppies.
According to McConnell, it’s no
coincidence that dogs look like they do. For
i j ir
|l§ fJP*™**
& fir
4
Ga., offers the Cavalier King Charles spaniel as an
example. “They have many puppy features, even as
adults,” he says. “There’s the soft expression and those
big eyes. Lots of adult dogs of many breeds have a
perpetual look of innocence, and that’s appealing also.”
McConnell says, to a large degree, we’ve bred all
dogs to retain puppy characteristics, like playfulness,
throughout their lives. Dogs are one of only a few ne
otenous (retaining many child-like characteristics as
adults) species on the planet. (Others include humans,
chimps and otters.) “We find puppies so appealing that
w r e want them to be puppies forever,” she adds.
Still, there’s more that’s appealing about pups,
says Joan Engel, a Boston-based expert on dog
behavior. Aside from those visual cues, they ac
tually smell fresh. And McConnell says some of their
whimpering sounds remind us of baby sounds, and
that’s endearing to us. “Also, puppies make us laugh
and laughter naturally feels good,” Engel says.
“We’re all drawn to what makes us feel good.”
But if puppies do all these great things for us and
trigger an oxytocin burst that can’t be avoided, then
why do some cultures treat puppies unkindly? “No
one really know’s,” Engel says. “I contend the biolo
gy is the same in everyone it’s just that culture
| can be a powerful force. Just as people who are
* afraid of adult dogs are unlikely to fear puppies, I
w’ould bet that young children not exposed to the
cultural norms of those places not as friendly toward
dogs W’ould find that they are naturally charmed
by puppies, but there’s no research on this as far
We're hard-wired
to be attracted
to the Irttie creatures.
uct with a puppy seems to help,” Engel says.
“Puppies can do no wrong.” Well, until they pid
dle on your carpet. E 3
Steve Dale last ivrote about the joys
and challenges of a multi-pet household.
f § were simply bred for our
J' pleasure, and human baby
■ like features seem to be more
evident in these breeds.
Battaglia, who lives in Roswell,
as I know.”
Puppies certainly
do charm us. It’s no
coincidence that they
are often used in TV
and print ads. “As
sociating your prod-