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This feels like one of those things that’s kind of a confirmation of existing common knowledge. If you have dogs, you are probably very aware that dogs know certain words and develop expectations around routinely used words and actions. For example, running through a list of words my dogs know and gauging their reactions will tell me exactly what they want nine times out of ten.
Dog boops. “Food?” … “Water?” … “Outside?” Tilt “You want outside?” Dogs stampede to door
It’s kind of wild how much they understand of vocabulary, but add in the way they read faces and body language, it’s frankly amazing.
I find this of cats too.
I know a lot of people think they’re aloof and dumb, but my cats know their names, each others names, and several words. You can tell because they hear it and try to ignore it, but their tail wags giving away that they do know what you’re saying.
They can also pick up really specific sounds, like if I pick up two small plates they run over hopping in giving them wet food. Not one plate, not three, not large or medium, only two small ones.
Recently there was an article stating they do know their names after all, but to most owners it seemed obvious.
Cats have names for each other, and you. They ignore those too, but they are distinct sound sequences.
Yeah. Cats are really, really good at making it clear they understand when you’re calling for them and they’re choosing not to respond. I figure it’s fair; there are plenty of people I wouldn’t cross a room to talk to, either
Yeah true. We teach our dog a name for every new toy and she loves it when you ask her to find them.
My last dog understood and reacted to more words than most toddlers I’ve met.
My German Shepherd knows the names of about 10 different toys. I can tell him “go get the cactus/pineapple/red bone/donut/basketball/blue ball (his favorite)/etc.” and he’ll even drop what’s in his mouth to get the right toy.
I can ask him: “Where is [person]/[toy]?” and he’ll run all over the house, upstairs and downstairs, to find them. He loves hide and seek.
People underestimate the intelligence of dogs and animals in general.
Edit: Here’s a writeup on animal intelligence, cognition, and culture. (I have ads turned off and do not benefit in any way from my blog.)
Edit 2: My current dog hasn’t mastered the open-ended question yet, but my previous GSD understood the question “What do you want?” I train them by asking it, and then presenting them with options I name (e.g., to play, go out, a walk, treat, water, etc.).
Sometimes I’d ask, and my dog would lead me to an empty water bowl. Sometimes he would go grab a toy. Other times he was bored and indecisive, and would test things like going up to his treats. Sometimes I would say “No… you don’t need them…” And he’d do a little amused wag before leading me to something else. I really miss him…
But it would blow people’s minds to see that he was capable of comprehending that question and understood so many options. Dogs are smart as hell and we literally coevolved with them and domesticated them from wolves. They understand human body language far better than any other species, including great apes. Dogs are incredible.
That was an amazing read! Thanks for writing and sharing it. Two things that struck me are
PTSD has been documented in canines who served in the military. [1] Additionally, it is believed that dogs are capable of suffering from autism
I’m on the spectrum so the fact that dogs can be autistic is really interesting, and it’s unsurprising about the PTSD, given the fact that they can have really bad anxiety and trauma if they experience their owner dying
You have a fascinating blog which I’m going to bookmark and explore, cheers for the share!
Thanks, I’m glad you liked it!
I haven’t posted anything new in a while because grad school is keeping me busy. But I’m sure I’ll post more in the future.
Your studies are more important right now, and I’ll look forward to when you start to post again 👍
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This is the mad thing, autism and ADHD must have an advantage otherwise it wouldn’t be showing up in people today, and also if humans have selectively bred herding dogs for hyper focus, being less socially inclined etc these are useful/desirable qualities (and hereditary too, fuck Andrew Wakefield for the MMR nonsense)
Whenever I go out into the countryside or even just a park, if there’s an interesting bug/beetle hidden in the grass I’ll find it. I can scan for visual differences very quickly (colour, texture, shiny surface, movement, a faint noise out of place) these things would have been useful from a hunter gatherer point of view…it’s just a massive shame that the modern world is not made for autistic/ADHD people
Sorry for any word salad, but this is a topic (special interest, no less) that really interests me, and thanks for the information!
Something that I find cool as a biochemist is how there are traits that are good for a community that may not be good for individuals. The most straightforward example of this genetically, is sickle cell anemia.
Sickle cell anemia is a genetic disease that results in blood cells having a sickle shape, and a lower oxygen carrying capacity. It’s a recessive condition, which means you need to have inherited the sickle cell trait from both your parents to have sickle cell anemia. If you have inherited the trait from only one parent, then some of your blood cells are sickle shaped, but you’ve got enough regular blood cells that you’re considered just a carrier of the sickle cell trait. I had a friend who learned she had the sickle cell trait when she was a high level athlete, because that was a context where her blood’s somewhat reduced oxygen carrying capacity was relevant. She might’ve never known otherwise.
Something interesting though is that the parasite that causes malaria struggles to take hold in sickled blood cells - someone with full sickle cell anemia has like a 90% risk reduction for severe malaria [citation needed]. This means that in places where malaria is common, such as sub-Saharan Africa, the sickle cell trait offers a selective advantage against malaria and is thus more prevalent in these areas.
People with full sickle cell disease (inherited from both parents) still suffer from the various health problems associated with the condition, which leads to lower life expectancy, especially in areas that are most heavily hit with malaria. However, people with one copy of the sickle cell gene experience some of the protective effect against malaria, without the significant health impact of full sickle cell disease.
[Caveat, It’s been a while since I learned this, medical prospects and practice, especially around the risk of malaria, has likely changed somewhat since then]
In practice, what this means is that all in all, it’s probably not a net advantage to have sickle cell disease, even in an area with high malaria rates. However, it is beneficial for people to have the sickle cell trait. If two people who both had the sickle cell trait had a child, there is a 25% (1/2 * 1/2) chance the child would receive two sickle cell traits and have sickle cell disease, a 50% chance they’d be a sickle cell carrier, and a 25% chance of not carrying any copies of the sickle cell trait. A trait can be good when it’s circulating in a community, even if that trait can cause a pretty severe disease.
I find this interesting because it’s a real, grounded example of how diversity makes communities stronger. I think about this a lot when it comes to autism and ADHD. I wonder to what extent we might be “canaries in the coal mine”, so to speak, unable to fit into a broken system and helping to illuminate how broken it is. A concrete example of what I mean is how a common autistic story is making extended family unhappy when resisting giving them a hug or a kiss goodbye. I used to run away and my mum would tell me off for being rude. Looking back in hindsight, I’m like “lol, so autistic of me, the benefits of hindsight”, but I’m also thinking “wow, the way we teach consent to children is fucked up, I’m glad for the ways in which being autistic has made me resistant to some of these things”
Something I love that has shaped my views on this a lot is this paper by Rosemarie Garland-Thompson, about “misfits” and disability theory. It’s fairly readable, by the standards of most academic papers, but it’s still pretty chonky, so I can share with you some of mt favourite snippets if you’d like
This is a really fascinating comment, I’m aware of sickle cell being a problem, but it’s surprising that there may be an advantage to having it. I’ve opened up the link in a new tab (one of the many) to read later
diversity makes communities stronger.
This is so important, not just from an autism perspective, I think I read once, long ago on the internet, that having a gay sibling would be a benefit for the non gay siblings offspring, in the same way that the grandmothers being around to help find extra food, provide care would mean a greater chance of survival
There has to be an evolutionary reason/explanation that gay people exist, and the fact that other animal and bird species will have same sex partnerships (and rear an abandoned egg to fledged juvenile in the case of the gay zoo penguins)
I also love the ‘canaries in the coal mine’ analogy, I think that the more people discover they are neurodiverse the better.
I only found out as an adult, and if I hadn’t seen the Chris Packham documentary and met another autistic woman I’d still be none the wiser (and struggling massively)
I’ve really enjoyed reading your comments, I’ll check out the link and post later on when I come back from work!
you want mentats? that’s how we get mentats.
I had to look this up, I had no idea what mentats are.
I only wish that my autism presented like this, I’d love a super memory. I can remember that I’ve read something once long ago, but it’s vague, and also my maths is appalling…I do love that autism is a spectrum and that we’re all unique in our presentation
My dog knows the word “words.” It means “Person is getting ready to say things that I understand, I should pay attention.”
Annnnd water is wet!
