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from U.S. News &
World Report, October 30, 2000
Pets and Their Humans
by Stacey Schultz
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 It was a simple stroke of luck that
brought Pasha together with Chris Behrens. The Australian shepherd mutt,
born on a dog-breeding farm near Athens, Ga., had been passed from owner
to owner and was up for sale again in 1993. Twenty dollars later, she
was on her way to Virginia and her new life with the 27-year-old farm
worker. "She has almost a supernatural ability to know what I want
her to do," he says. "She is very loyal and protective of me."
Now the two live in Seattle, where Pasha walks cheerfully by Behrens’s
side without a leash and waits patiently by the door if he goes into a
store. The dog’s attachment is touching, even flattering, but Behrens
is sure it reflects insecurity. "She has a very expressive face,
and when I pack to go on a trip, I can tell she is worried."
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 Skeptics
would say that Behrens is reading too much into his hound’s behavior.
But pet owners disagree. Not only do they believe their animals feel emotions;
they say they know what their dog or cat feels based on even the slightest
adjustment in head, eyes, tail, or mouth. "When she wants to go outside,
she shakes her head with her tongue out," says Lydia Nichols, a 30-year-old
from Washington, D.C., talking about Delilah, her 31/2-pound Yorkshire
terrier. "When she wants to be picked up, she squats down, and when
she’s trying to get my attention, she’ll make a sneezing noise."
Most dogs
(and cats) communicate in more predictable ways, and animal behaviorists
tend to agree that the more than 62 million dogs and over 64 million cats
in the United States have owners who are generally good at reading their
behavior. But the tendency to project the thoughts, motivations, and desires
of people into animals can sometimes lead humans to the wrong conclusions
about Fido’s feelings. "Dogs that are treated as furry little
people who ought to love and be grateful to us for the muffins [we bake]
and the little birthday hats they are forced to wear, are not happy dogs,"
argues Stephen Budiansky in his new book, The Truth About Dogs.
"They invariably suffer the consequences of our unrealistic expectations."
Instead, Budiansky argues, both owners and pets do better when people
understand animals to be the creatures they are, a dog descended from
wolves or a cat descended from, well, wildcats.
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“Pets and their Humans” by Stacey Schultz from U.S. News & World Report, October 30, 2000. Copyright © 2000 by U.S. News & World Report. Reprinted by permission of the publisher.
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