Paws in hands
At the moment it seems that the future of dogs and humans is tightly coupled. Although there are no data, it is likely that the human population boom has also been paralleled by a huge increase in the dog population. A very crude estimate would put the size of the dog population somewhere between 0.5 and 1 billion individuals. A large part of the human economy, including veterinary medicine and the production of dog food, is devoted to the support of dogs. Sharing the environment not only means social contact but also that both species are exposed to the same negative effects, like air pollution. Thus it is not so surprising that humans and dogs share many diseases, including not only cancer and various inherited eye diseases but also certain forms of psychiatric conditions. Ageing affects both the human and the dog population.
Similarly, recent changes in the human living, which include lessening of social contacts and leading a very individualistic lifestyle, affect not only human relationships but also our relationship with dogs. Despite arguments that animals should be allowed to live a full life in 'nature', many dogs are prevented from living a natural life in human communities because they spend most of their time alone or at the end of a leash. In families where adults have little time to provide a socially rich environment for their children, dogs will also lack such experience.
In this sense the job of dog ethologists is the same as that of teachers and child psychologists: using all means available to teach humans in modern societies to keep up family life, which has always been essential for providing the appropriate social environment for both our children and our best friends.
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