BBC 2 Wednesday 9pm The Secret Life of the Dog

Discodog

Horizon: The Secret Life of the Dog
Wednesday 06 January
9:00pm - 10:00pm
BBC2

1/6

How many times have you heard a besotted dog owner gush, "Oh, he understands every word I say"? And you've thought, "Barking mad." But according to research, domesticated dogs really can tune in to our emotions and communicate with us like no other animal can. A few - such as border collie Betsy - are as intelligent as a two-year-old human, a statement you might not be too impressed by until you discover that Betsy understands more than 300 words and can follow a sophisticated instruction about an abstract concept that some toddlers might struggle to comprehend. Confirmation of the various ways that dogs are wonderful, clever and life-enriching come faster than a greyhound chasing a rabbit. There is, for instance, a hormone released in mothers that helps them bond with their baby. The same hormone is present in dog owners after they've stroked their hound. But two remarkable experiments - one involving the rearing of wolf cubs, the other a 50-year project breeding Siberian silver foxes - reveal that simply cuddling and loving your canine is not enough to domesticate it. It's all in the genes.

toadfly

Cant wait! :D

padi89

Heads up for this program, looks interesting.

Paul91

am watching it now - tis very good - Collie in Austria was fantastic - knows 300 words!

andreac

Very interesting programme

star-pants

Merged as there was a thread in AnimalWelfare already

SarahSassy

It was very good. Martin Clunes is also doing a very good documentary, think its on ITV at lunchtime on Wednesdays. He is tracing the history of the dog and how they got to be domesticated - its all down to the wolf and then dingos... Its very good.

The Paws

aww...i missed that! maybe might get repeats?

Paul91

from what they said seems man choice the least aggressive wolfs to domesticate and this correlated to the most "puppy like" features - did you see the size of the Irish Wolfhound! magnificent

Whispered

I missed it. Can anyone fill me in?

Paul91

helena.ryan wrote: »

I missed it. Can anyone fill me in?

i recorded it on sky plus - if i can work out my dvd recorder i could send you a copy?

one of the most interesting bits for me is that dogs recognise facial expressions - which makes sense, you ever get mad when pooch digs up your favourite plant and without saying or doing anything your dog curls up into his/hers bed - it's from the look on your face

lightening

Anyone catch this? Looking at studies regarding dogs and our relationship with them. A real in depth look at when and how the two main pack, daylight hunting carnivors got to be in cahoots with each other. They covered a case study where scientists took on puppies and then pure wolf cubs. The end results should put any of the usual "where can I get a wolf? They look so cool and the chicks will dig it". So hopefully it will be on youtube.

Whispered

Paul91 wrote: »

i recorded it on sky plus - if i can work out my dvd recorder i could send you a copy?

If you could that would be great. thanks

iguana

This show is repeated again tonight on BBC HD and next week very late at night.


Broadcasts

1.
Wed 6 Jan 2010
21:00
BBC Two (except Northern Ireland (Analogue), Wales (Analogue))
2.
Thu 7 Jan 2010
23:30
BBC HD
3.
Fri 15 Jan 2010
02:20
BBC One

The Paws

Thanks for that iguana...I will set my alarm for that....

Discodog

Is is available here:

http://tinyurl.com/y9psbnp

star-pants

Just watched the first episode as I missed it yesterday.
Fascinating! and also just proves everything I knew dogs were :P
But really really interesting to see all the research, even with the wolves and foxes.

joyce2009

Discodog wrote: »

Is is available here:

http://tinyurl.com/y9psbnp

big thank you ..that was great to watch..:)

Discodog

star-pants wrote: »

Just watched the first episode as I missed it yesterday.
Fascinating! and also just proves everything I knew dogs were :P
But really really interesting to see all the research, even with the wolves and foxes.

As far as I know there is only one episode. I believe that the 1/6 refers to it being the first of a 6 episode run of Horizon.

There is so much more that they could cover. The discovery that dogs can detect breast cancer in women by smell. Even more amazing are the "Assistant" dogs for the disabled. Emergency workers noted that whenever they were alerted by an assistance dog it was never a false alarm. So they installed a button in some houses that the dog could reach & trained the dogs to push it - this would automatically dial the emergency services.

The dogs perception of knowing that something wrong was 100% correct & one woman who had collapsed upstairs owed her life to her dog.