Domesticated animals : $b Their relation to man and to his advancement in civilizationShaler, Nathaniel Southgate
History
Domesticated animals : $b Their relation to man and to his advancement in civilization
Shaler, Nathaniel Southgate
Domestic animals
estate, has been due to human intercourse and the long and effective
concomitant selection of good from bad. It is hardly too much to say
that a large part of our human nature has been transferred into the
descendants of this ancient wild beast. The sense of property, a great
part of human affections, many of the attributes which constitute the
gentleman, have been passed over to him.
In considering the effects arising from the intercourse of man with the
dog, we should not overlook the development of human sympathy which has
come about through this relation. The fact that the dog has been made by
far the most sympathetic of the lower animals, is due to the affection
which men for thousands of years have given to him. In his intercourse
with this creature, man first learned to develop his altruistic motives
beyond the limits of his own kind. With this extension of his affection
must have begun the growth of that large motive, which is the most
distinguishing feature of our modern life, which leads us to go forth in
a loving manner to the living beings about us, not only to our flocks
and herds but to the life of the unsubjugated realm as well. Thus, in a
way, we may look upon the dog as affording the first steps on the path
of culture which was to lift man from his primitive selfishness to the
altruistic state to which he has attained.
Great as has been the work of man upon the dog--it deserves, indeed,
to be ranked high among all the accomplishments of his culture--there
is reason to believe that if he but go forward with understanding in
the ways which have hitherto led him blindly to his success, the
final result may be very much more perfect than that which has been
attained. It is on this account that I feel it fit to make a strong
protest against the system our breeders pursue. Except in the case of
dogs used in sport and for herding sheep, the sole effort appears to
be to create breeds which shall exhibit peculiarities of form which
are mere extravagances, and move the real lover of this noble animal
to indignation. In these preposterous and unseemly tasks no care is
taken to continue the mental development on lines which have been
established by long use. Still less is there any effort to essay the
development of the intelligence in ways which are clearly open to us,
and which afford possibilities of lifting this species to a yet
nobler companionship with our own kind.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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