Dogs are men's best friends? Not necessarily

Although the proverb "Dogs are a man's best friend" has been repeatedly mentioned by kings, poets and philosophers, a new study suggests that it was women who first created the connection between dogs and humans thousands of years ago, according to the British "Daily Telegraph" website.

In the first anthropological study on the relationship between dogs and humans, researchers at Washington State University noted that the relationship between dogs and women "may have a greater impact on the relationship between dogs and men than the relationship between dogs and men."

The researchers say men may have kept dogs for hunting or grazing, but women named them and put their affection into them like humans do today.

Although dogs are among the oldest and most commonly domesticated animals, few anthropological studies have directly focused on the relationship between humans and dogs.

Anthropologists at Washington State University consulted earlier research papers on 144 ancient communities around the world. There is evidence that these communities have kept dogs. In the Human Relations Regional Archives Research Project database, researchers found thousands of references to dogs from ethnographic archives.

The report notes that in the first human settlements that associated dogs with women, people named them, allowed them to sleep indoors with people, and mourned when they died.

In addition, this connection also makes dogs more easily trained, and because they are used more for hunting, their "usefulness" to humans has also increased.

The study's lead author, Jamey Chambers, a phD student at Washington State University, said: "If there is some kind of special relationship between dogs and women, then humans are more likely to see dogs as a kind of person." ”

"They are more likely to be integrated into family life and treated as objects of care, and in general, people value them more," she said. ”

Chambers said: "We found that the relationship between dogs and women may have a greater impact on the relationship between dogs and humans than the relationship between dogs and men. (Compiled by Liu Baiyun)

Source: Reference News Network