Living with humans has taught dogs morals, say scientists

I wish my dog would get some morals and stop chewing on my shoes....bad penelope!

I wonder who teaches the leg-humpers?

i'm offended by the implication that dogs are savages and are somehow improved upon when taught human "morals" , which are supposed to be soooo great .

I am not sure whether humans are the right role-models when it comes to morals, especially when it comes to the way we are treating animals. Furthermore, dogs have very strong social structures and rules when they are living in packs, so it is not as if we have to teach them anything to begin with.

My dog shits on my pillow if I'm gone for more than 4 hours. Sometimes *under* my pillow. How is that moral?

Interesting. Tame the savage beast withe another savage beast. It's like science fiction but not.

adaptation, you have 1,500 years and maybe 22-23 human generations and 100 dog generations living together they're going to embrace eachothers characteristics after co-existing for so long. you thought you were training your dog, he was actually training you.

what are morals and who should define them?

To add on to what tanyetta said: Define learning. Are the dogs being conditioned to do or not do certain actions or are they actually learning? What's the difference?

In Dog we trust

I always thought it was the other way around. I aspire to be as selfless, brave and compassionate as my dog.

From my observation dogs generally get along great with other dogs that look different from them.

We humans cant stand people that even go to a different church....God forbid they are a different ethnic group.

My dog posts all my "I hate humanity and we're useless, yet here I am being preachy" messages for me.

I taught my dog some morals like don't poop in the house and not bite little kids faces

Cats, on the other hand, are just assholes.

My cat has declared jihad on my dog and annexed the kitchen depriving Mr. Piddles access to critical resources (aka: puppy chow)

The UN, as usual, refuses to take any decisive military action to resolve this humanitarian crisis.

Cats cannot be negotiated with.

While force is always the last resort, I had no choice but to use arms (and hands) to pick up Chairman Meow and place him in the bedroom thus restoring democracy to the kitchen.

Pavlov's dog must have been a genius.

I strive to be a cool as my dogs think I am.

Try This:

Lock your dog in one trunk and your girlfriend in another trunk. After one hour open the trunks and see which one is happy to see you.

Just kidding... don't ever lock your dog in a trunk

dogs eat there own feces....hmmmmm.....dont really know anybody who does that.

"They say the fact that dogs' play rarely escalates into a fight shows the animals abide by social rules"

Those aren't 'social' rules, they're pack rules. Most animals engage in play which rarely escalates to fighting.

I think this is a bunk study which could have been put together by anyone, considering how closely dogs and humans have been living for quite a while.

Dogs and wolves could teach humans a lesson or two on morals...

i like dogs.

Screw apes,... it will be Planet of the Canines/Felines!
But seriously,... we are teaching them things they would never learn, they can ascertain, they recognize, they emulate their human housemates, they are on the brink of using tools, some can "speak",... et cetera.
This may actually be an evolutionary jump for "pet" breeds. If they survive our self-destruct epoch,... the pet population may be able to use our lessons to further their own evolutionary agenda.

Just keep your paws off me, you damn dirty dogs & cats!

yes i'm sure wild dogs would feel horrible about ripping someone to shreds. i'm sooo releived that this is the top story here, above the iraq pullout date one. it says a lot for us humans.