Aren’t you related to wolves? Why are you sitting in my lap?
Being 5’6” and an apex predator, I understand that pigeons, rats, squirrels, and every other animal I encounter in Brooklyn will bolt when they see me coming. Dogs, on the other hand, are almost 100% likely to run up and sniff my crotch on the regular.
If you’ve ever wondered why dogs are so much friendlier than pretty much anything else in the world, here is the simple answer: over thousands of years, we’ve selected dogs that are friendlier/smaller/softer, and consciously mated these dogs with other small cuddly friendly dogs. This is called selective breeding, and it’s the way we created Pomeranians and Teacup Chihuahuas from ancient and terrifying wolves.
The more complex explanation for dog’s characteristic friendliness has to do with the genetic makeup we wound up selecting for: In 2009, scientists at UCLA discovered that domesticated dogs differed genetically from wolves in a gene sequence near a gene called WBSCR17. The genes deleted in the domesticated dogs were similar to the genes deleted in humans who have a disease called Williams-Bueren syndrome. People affected with this disease have elfin features, are unusually uninhibited, and willing to approach complete strangers and converse at great lengths. This doesn’t mean your dog has Williams syndrome, but it may mean we have selected for something quite similar to this disease in our dogs.
Main idea of this passage? Your dog is genetically predisposed to lack an appropriate concept of “stranger-danger.”
Cute aphorism? Lose some genes, gain a man’s best friend.
