A study shows that dogs have the ability to interpret and predict human behaviour due to thousands of years evolving together with humans.
A research predicts that future generations of dogs will become much “smarter”, and that they will be able to perform basic chores like retrieving newspapers, without being told due to their increased cognitive abilities.
As dogs get to know particular humans, they pay more attention to them and this may mean they can read, and even predict human behaviour with more efficiency as familiarity grows.
That a dog is a man’s best friend was famously summed up by American lawyer George Vest in a trial in Missouri in 1870.
The case was about a dog named Old Drum, which was shot dead by a farmer. The dog’s owner sued the farmer for compensation. Vest, who acted for the dog’s owner, brought the jury to tears and won the case with these stirring words:
“The best friend a man has in this world may turn against him and become his enemy. His son or daughter that he has reared with loving care may prove ungrateful.
“Those who are nearest and dearest to us, those whom we trust with our happiness and our good name, may become traitors to their faith…
“The people who are prone to fall on their knees to do us honour when success is with us may be the first to throw the stone of malice when failure settles its cloud upon our heads.
“The one absolutely unselfish friend that a man can have in this selfish world, the one that never deserts him and the one that never proves ungrateful or treacherous is his dog.”
Member Login
