Preferent Kinship Part 2

'The Future relationship of dog and man'

It causes me to ponder...The purview of the 'expendable'......The mind set of this generation....
...I blame it on the advent of the disposable razor...

Yep, that's what started the whole snowballing effect....

That and the 'virtual' age...

Something is happening to us as we gravitate toward the alluring easier softer road technology prognosticates it's self to be.
...I sense a condition has developed in our social value system that warrants scrutiny...
Like, for example, the outfit that releases new computer operating systems on the market then spends the next few years ironing out an already 'paid in full' product by casually posing 'bug fixes' as,......'updates'...
We have become accustom to jumping in head first and fixing the repercussions 'in the mix'.
In the case of the future relationship of dog and man,....

the repercussions that worry me are not just minor wake disturbances created by the forward progression of a large ship...
It is the ship itself that concerns me,..

and the path of it's navigation..

The virtual pet industry: http://virtualpet.com/
The 'Future of Virtual Pets' link on the site above was written in 1997....
Portions of that document are as follows:
Applications:
We see increased personalization of pets. Just as there are now many kinds of animals and many breeds of each animal used as pets, we think the virtual pet world will mimic the real world in terms of variety.
We see applications ranging from very light weight screen savers to heavy duty full blown virtual reality applications complete with goggles and sensing gloves. To highly developed physical "virtual pets"
We've long envisioned a remote controlled fish or shark that could be driven around in an aquarium by its owner. You could play with the other fish and amaze visitors.
Therapy applications for the mentally handicapped, those in prison, and other will abound.
The military and police might make use of physical "virtual dogs" in security and sniffing applications.
Physical virtual pets could be made to look like anything, including people.
Users:
We see young children being able to learn how to care for a pet before they get a real one. Those in constrained living conditions (hospitals, nursing homes, military duty, prisons, firemen, inner city apartments, college dorms) will be able to have some of the benefits of owning a pet without interfering with their environment. The elderly will have some companionship and something to regularly do. Some of more physical applications (tamagocchi) will allow non computer users to participate.
Physical virtual pets (dog and cat robots) will allow a fuller experience of pet ownership, and as mentioned in the applications section, could actually open a new realm of pet ownership as you control the pet and interact with other animals (real or virtual).

WowWee Robotics RoboPet

I pulled this off the Amazon site....Retail value new 99.00
What's interesting is the review comments from customers who bought it:

This is the ultimate pet. No messes, trainible, and fun! I dont have it, i just saw others playing with it at a store. In that store is the new Robosapien V2. V2 acually made this guy do tricks! And even better, my little brother told it to sit. It sat! I can asure endless hours of playing when he gets it for christmas. Again, GET THIS TOY! IT IS BETTER THAN A TOY!

I tryed this with friends and in stores it is soooooo much fun! I may have pets already but this is east to take care of no messes,no taking it out on walks,or watching after it every mintue! I love my pets so much but I really like this and I would say to any child who doesn't have a pet "This is the one for you,it is easy and fun!".

It's like he is a real dog!!! This toy, I mean pet, is great!! The only problem is that Robo Pet is rather loud, and sometimes when I play with it, my parents get a little mad because it is fun, but it makes a lot of noise, but I don't regret it, even though $80 is an outrageous price for this, but it is still awesome. Soooooooooo, go ahead. Buy it!!!

Looking back at the foundations of the Man and Dog friendship. I feel it is important to remember the benefit Man received at that time were of an enhancement in his basic struggle to survive...As Man developed commerce the versatility of the Dog coupled with the refinement of select breeding allowed Dogs to fill the spots of 'employment' as needed..
Granted pets today are a household item more so than any time in history.
I know many people have an emotional commitment to their animals that rates right up there with the love one experiences with a child.
So, what's the 'bitch' Loosecanon?...(Oh man,...busted by the 'pun' police)
Well it's not so much a bitch as a worry...I know how people 'are'..That's what worries me...The individual is smart...The individual takes the time to be well informed on interested subjects...It's the campaigns directed at the mass conscience of the uninformed that take their toll..

Rural to urbal living:
This huge change in the way Americans live their lives is a result of an economic game plan put into action more than fifty years ago..Relentless pressure has been placed on the backs of the working class.
The goal being to allow big business faster growth, bigger profits, with the end result being more opportunity for the working class in the form of careers, better paying jobs, working for the Corporation their tax dollar support fast tracked to success.....

I don't want to get started on this cuz I am just going to get pissed off.......

Instead, just use the relationship of ancient man and dog as described in Preferent Kinship part 1 as an analogy.....It's a 'win-win' situation..
I'll let you decide who gets to be the 'dog'....

As Americans become urbanized living spaces become smaller...The necessity for 'animal controls' becomes a new career opportunity...
Business is booming, however the working class is finding it harder and harder to 'get by'...This results in less 'quality time' affordable outside of work...
This is not a big deal for the immediate family unit....After all both husband and wife "love our career's" ....And it's so healthy for little Junior to get all those social contact skills at the Child Care Facility five days a week...
But the dog...The damn dog is just never satisfied...
Move over Rover, let Robo pet take over!....

Bottom line:

Give me a Robot Vacuum cleaner...Alright?
A dishwasher or a machine that does laundry, ok...
But don't turn my dog into a Robot...

Preferent Kinship

The earth split in two, and the men and beasts were

separated by a profound abyss..

In the great chaos of creation, birds, insects, and four-legged creatures sought to save themselves in flight-All but the dog.

He alone stood at the edge of the abyss - barking, howling, pleading. The man, moved by compassion, cried, "Come!"

And the dog hurled himself across the chasm to join them. Two front paws caught the far edge. The dog would certainly have been lostforever had man not caught him and saved his life.
-Mythology of 'the people'-

Through out my childhood years, and subsequently, the entire course of my life, there has always been a dog in the family...
This common link in my life has been so much a 'staple', it was not until recently, I realized just how taken for granite that unbroken chain has become...
This tradition is without doubt, an extension of my Father's side of the family..
The Hathaway's are outdoors folk...Fishing, hunting, camping, naturalists..
My Mom's parents,The Foley's, were....'art deco'....Spotless...Foley homes were always perfectly arranged inside and out...Like a food advertisement for a fancy restaurant...
... NO pet's allowed...
I guess the same Foley 'policy' applied to my Dad as well...
While courting my Mother he was driven off the Foley property time after time via a power nozzle attachment on their squeaky clean green garden hose.
Anyway, knowing my Mom's heart of gold, I can imagine her secretly wanting a pet while she was a youngin', but never confronting her parents....
Like a little girl living in Brooklyn who dreams of owning her own pony..
My parents' dogs were technically not allowed inside the house..There was always one of those little 'dog houses' provided however..Usually tucked in a far corner of the back yard..
I bet Mom used to scrub the dog house down once a week and I just never saw her do it....
We lived in western Washington State for a time. During those years our Golden Retriever made out fairly well..Do to the general dampness of the climate 'Buck' was allowed his own place just inside the back door. There was a definitive border marked by the unfinished sub flooring of Buck's room and the finished kitchen floor it interfaced...
Buck spent most days outside by his own accord..
Nights however were a constant battle of wills..All through the preparation and consumption of dinner, Buck would periodically inch his way into the kitchen until scolded.... back to his room.. Then the whole process would start over..
I developed a tangible imagery of the term 'give em' an inch and they'll take a mile' from good ole Buck..
When it comes to pet dogs ... It starts like this........

...And if not kept in check,..........ends up like this.....

A short history....

Modern day Mitochondria* DNA sequences support the hypothesis that wolves
were the ancestors of dogs...

However most dog sequences belong to a
divergent monophyletic clade* sharing no sequences with wolves...The sequence
divergence within this clade suggests dogs originated somewhere around 100,000
years ago..
A German burial site, Bonn-Oberkassel dating 14 thousand years ago is the oldest do date showing dog and man joined together...
America Danger Cave in Utah has a dog burial site that dates 11 thousand years ago..
China, 7,000b.c. and Sweden 5,000b.c....
The general scientific consensus is domesticated dogs appear approximately 13 thousand years ago...
* Mitochondria: An organelle containing enzymes responsible for producing energy.
*Clade:A group of biological taxa or species that share features
inherited from a common ancestor.

Dog attributes:

Dogs hear sound waves across the Hz frequency range far better than humans...Generally speaking, four times better than people..
This would account for my dog 'Buster' whining and carrying on at home, a full minute before I actually pull into my driveway..
My Grandson Shane advises me it's because Buster can 'smell' me coming a mile away...
Where in the world does this kid get the sarcastic wit from?....Anyway his remark provides a perfect segway to another dog attribute...

Sense of smell...
Human's have about 5 million smell sensitive cells...
That's plenty to get by on...Most of what we taste enjoying a meal is actually 'smell cell' based..
I may stand to be corrected here, however, I remember picking up some tidbit of information indicating our taste buds are generally sensitive to sweet and sour..
Point be, the rich bouquet and subtle distinctions of flavor are a result of our sense of smell.
Dogs have almost 220 million smell sensitive cells..
It is generally accepted that dogs use airborne scent to track recent targets, and ground scent to track older targets, as ground scent lasts much longer.. Dogs are smart!

Predators are quick learners in the natural world. The ability to survive prescribes a heightened awareness and the ability to react to fresh situations..This includes a keen sense of interpreting body language and sound..

Why Man and Dog stuck together:
I believe the corner stone foundation block of Man and Dog relationship lies in a mutual alliance of basic values...In a nut shell, both believe in the concept of "friends with benefits."
Some 12,000 years ago man realized the potential of befriending wolves and their descendents...Using canine attributes as a tool, man honed his skills as a hunter and tracker of game..The 'win win' situation is established when Man feeds Dog for Dog's services...The Dog is fine with it...Better than chasing down some ADHD rabbit..Plus the Man's food is better...

Three thousand years later Man is domesticating animals for his needs..Dog's versatility pays off cuz now he has two jobs...Can hunt and can be trained to protect Man's domesticated animals as........

...Guard dog!!!!!!!

About 1,500 B.C. Man begins to breed dogs with the intention of promoting certain dog's prevalent characteristics...Such as...

Or.....Everybody loves a clown!

Everybody loves a hero!!!!

By 1,400 A.D. dogs had become fashionable as pets....

(Note: I realize the pics are not an accurate depiction of the time line they are slotted in...As fortune would

have it, both my digital camera and my 'time machine' were in the shop all week..)

Today there are about three hundred and fifty,........one,......different breeds of Dogs! .....(Now that's got to make some folks nervous).....

As a member of the animal kingdom I have observed and tried to recognize ways to open lines of communication with........
I must admit do to the vast amount of knowledge required, proficiency in my lifetime is out of the question..
I have resigned myself to one 'communicative' goal in everyday interaction with animal life...

.......Present myself as a friend....

And so finally I am almost done with this blog....Hallelujah !!
However, There is one other matter that I feel I must address...

'The Future relationship of dog and man'

Part two of Preferent Kinship will probe the demands today's society places on individuals and how 'finding time' in our lives forces us to prioritize our daily activities...As this relates to our pets...How far down the list are our pets becoming prioritized?..Why are virtual pets and robotic pets becoming more popular? Are men and women becoming desensitized to the 'real' world, and is the 'virtual' world becoming the real world?....Where does that leave our relationships with our animal friends?