0:00:02 > 0:00:06There's one animal that has captured the human heart and mind
0:00:06 > 0:00:08more than any other.
0:00:08 > 0:00:11But you don't need to go into the wild to find it,
0:00:11 > 0:00:13or even a zoo.
0:00:13 > 0:00:17Its natural habitat is your living room
0:00:17 > 0:00:20and that animal is the dog.
0:00:21 > 0:00:24Human beings have been living with dogs for over 12,000 years.
0:00:24 > 0:00:28We're closer to them than to any other animal,
0:00:28 > 0:00:30they're part of the fabric of our daily lives.
0:00:30 > 0:00:33But despite our long shared history,
0:00:33 > 0:00:36how much do we really know about our canine friends?
0:00:36 > 0:00:38DOG BARKING
0:00:38 > 0:00:40DOG BARKING
0:00:40 > 0:00:43For over 40 years, Horizon and the BBC
0:00:43 > 0:00:46have been examining the nature of dogs.
0:00:46 > 0:00:49The ears when they are upright like that
0:00:49 > 0:00:51they mean the animal is less aggressive.
0:00:51 > 0:00:53In a bid to better understand the intense,
0:00:53 > 0:00:57and often complex relationship, we have with them.
0:00:57 > 0:00:59DOG BARKING
0:00:59 > 0:01:01Fudge is definitely in charge. I want to be in control.
0:01:01 > 0:01:06He's meant to be my pet and at the moment, he is the master.
0:01:06 > 0:01:09From discovering their origins...
0:01:09 > 0:01:10DOG HOWLING
0:01:10 > 0:01:12DOGS HOWLING
0:01:12 > 0:01:16..to revealing our own role in the dog's evolution.
0:01:16 > 0:01:19Well they've only got little legs and they're a bit deformed as well.
0:01:19 > 0:01:23But this one, for me, is absolute perfection.
0:01:24 > 0:01:28Scientists have tried to decipher dogs' often puzzling behaviour.
0:01:28 > 0:01:29DOG HOWLING
0:01:32 > 0:01:34And have discovered the impact
0:01:34 > 0:01:36of our wildly varying attitude towards them.
0:01:36 > 0:01:38Bad Dogs!
0:01:38 > 0:01:39From one extreme...
0:01:39 > 0:01:43I feel that perhaps there's a whole market of fashionable people
0:01:43 > 0:01:47who are just looking for this type of whimsical, fun approach.
0:01:47 > 0:01:49..to another.
0:01:49 > 0:01:52I'd say he's been down there for days.
0:01:52 > 0:01:57Now can we use what we've learnt to re-examine our thinking about dogs?
0:01:57 > 0:02:00Sometime in the domestication of the dog,
0:02:00 > 0:02:03we've changed the way their brains work.
0:02:03 > 0:02:06And should that change the way we treat them?
0:02:06 > 0:02:08Sit! Sit!
0:02:22 > 0:02:26The origin of dogs and how they became part of our lives
0:02:26 > 0:02:29has always fascinated us.
0:02:29 > 0:02:34But it wasn't until the 1960s, that scientists really began to explore
0:02:34 > 0:02:39how the dog might be descended from a wilder canine ancestor.
0:02:42 > 0:02:46In West Germany at Kiel, scientists are studying domesticated animals,
0:02:46 > 0:02:49animals bred by man for thousands of years.
0:02:49 > 0:02:53Eric Zimen's special study is the dog.
0:02:53 > 0:02:56He's attempting to establish how exactly it originated
0:02:56 > 0:02:59and what has happened to it under domestication.
0:02:59 > 0:03:01He believes the dog is derived from the wolf.
0:03:04 > 0:03:08One proof is to see if it's possible to cross one with the other,
0:03:08 > 0:03:12and here they have successfully mated a poodle with a female wolf.
0:03:15 > 0:03:18Maxi, come here. Come, Maxi!
0:03:23 > 0:03:26Maxi the wolf and Julius the dog
0:03:26 > 0:03:30have been living here now for seven years.
0:03:31 > 0:03:33They have had about 40 children
0:03:33 > 0:03:38and 60 to 70 grandchildren.
0:03:40 > 0:03:42These are the children, the first generation.
0:03:42 > 0:03:46Creatures which look neither like wolf nor poodle.
0:03:47 > 0:03:51As you can see, they have standing ears, they are black colour.
0:03:51 > 0:03:55The ear is from the wolf, the colour is from the dog.
0:03:55 > 0:04:00In behaviour they are in between.
0:04:00 > 0:04:02They are half dogs, half wolves.
0:04:12 > 0:04:16These are the grandchildren, the second generation
0:04:16 > 0:04:19and their inherited characteristics are clearer.
0:04:19 > 0:04:23Some closely resemble poodles.
0:04:23 > 0:04:24Others wolves.
0:04:26 > 0:04:31Unlike the horse and the donkey which produce a sterile mule,
0:04:31 > 0:04:34the fertility of the offspring of the wolf and poodle
0:04:34 > 0:04:37is evidence of the close relationship between the two.
0:04:40 > 0:04:45In the days before DNA testing, the success of this crossbreeding
0:04:45 > 0:04:48was seen as evidence of a strong genetic connection
0:04:48 > 0:04:52between the two species, although it would be another 30 years
0:04:52 > 0:04:55before this was proven conclusively.
0:04:58 > 0:05:02But why would early humans have befriended a wild animal?
0:05:05 > 0:05:07One theory about the domestication of the dog
0:05:07 > 0:05:09is that wolves followed men hunting
0:05:09 > 0:05:12and gradually became involved in man's hunting activities.
0:05:12 > 0:05:16If this is the case, this would be a very natural symbiosis.
0:05:16 > 0:05:18Because dogs possess some features which man lack.
0:05:18 > 0:05:21They have a superb sense of smell which is useful in hunting
0:05:21 > 0:05:24and they can run faster than man.
0:05:24 > 0:05:26Scientists tried to recreate
0:05:26 > 0:05:30what that first contact might have been like.
0:05:32 > 0:05:35This is probably the first time that untamed wolves
0:05:35 > 0:05:38have been harnessed to a sledge.
0:05:38 > 0:05:44Maybe this is repeating what early man did 10,000 years ago
0:05:44 > 0:05:47when he started to socialise wolves.
0:05:47 > 0:05:51He kept them together. He kept them close to his own society.
0:05:51 > 0:05:54In this way, he got them tame, he crossed small and big wolves
0:05:54 > 0:05:58and that way he got different breeds and so on.
0:05:58 > 0:06:02Beginning would have taken a long time, many thousand years.
0:06:07 > 0:06:10To better understand how wolves gradually became
0:06:10 > 0:06:13members of our society, scientists have looked
0:06:13 > 0:06:17to the millions of semi-wild dogs living around us today.
0:06:18 > 0:06:23All over the world, millions of dogs live on the fringes of human society,
0:06:23 > 0:06:27scavenging around our homes and villages.
0:06:30 > 0:06:34They are the canine equivalent of a city pigeon.
0:06:34 > 0:06:37Creatures which we largely ignore, but allow to live among us.
0:06:43 > 0:06:47This way of life is in fact the natural habitat of the dog.
0:06:47 > 0:06:51Most of the world's 400 million still live like this,
0:06:51 > 0:06:56parasites, unobtrusive scavengers who gently exploit us.
0:07:02 > 0:07:05Although its tempting to think of them all as strays
0:07:05 > 0:07:08and escaped pets, and maybe even pity them,
0:07:08 > 0:07:13these village dogs are in fact what the wolves became,
0:07:13 > 0:07:18acting as natural waste disposal teams around our homes and villages.
0:07:18 > 0:07:21By overcoming their instinctive fear of us,
0:07:21 > 0:07:25they found it was easier to take scraps from our campfires
0:07:25 > 0:07:28than to kill food for themselves.
0:07:28 > 0:07:31It seems remarkable that such a simple step
0:07:31 > 0:07:33could turn one animal into another.
0:07:35 > 0:07:40But scavenging was all it took to start a genetic chain reaction
0:07:40 > 0:07:45that began turning the wolf into the dog by bringing us together.
0:07:45 > 0:07:50And it was this discovery of the clear link between dog and wolf
0:07:50 > 0:07:53that was to shape our understanding of dogs for decades.
0:07:53 > 0:07:56Scientists began to look to the wolf,
0:07:56 > 0:08:01to explain all kinds of things about the domestic dog.
0:08:01 > 0:08:03PHONE RINGING
0:08:04 > 0:08:06DOG HOWLING
0:08:07 > 0:08:10Many of our dogs' most puzzling traits
0:08:10 > 0:08:13could be directly traced to their wild origins.
0:08:13 > 0:08:16Some things are obvious.
0:08:16 > 0:08:18It's not difficult to see why your dog buries a bone.
0:08:18 > 0:08:22It represents surplus food, which for this wolf,
0:08:22 > 0:08:24can be buried until another day.
0:08:26 > 0:08:29Most dogs love to play,
0:08:29 > 0:08:33with a compulsive urge to shake things from slippers to old toys.
0:08:42 > 0:08:45And the reason becomes clear as soon as we see
0:08:45 > 0:08:49a wild coyote pouncing on its prey and killing it by tossing it,
0:08:49 > 0:08:51and shaking it to break its neck.
0:08:55 > 0:08:58The dog isn't so much licking the face as the mouth.
0:08:58 > 0:09:01And it's doing that for a very specific reason
0:09:01 > 0:09:04and in a very specific way.
0:09:04 > 0:09:06The young pups try to get their noses and tongues
0:09:06 > 0:09:09inside the corner of the adult's muzzle.
0:09:09 > 0:09:14Species to species and continent to continent, exactly the same gesture.
0:09:15 > 0:09:19In wild dogs and in pets. And the reason?
0:09:19 > 0:09:24The dog wants you or, in the wild, its parent, to regurgitate food.
0:09:34 > 0:09:35Growling is one means of warning.
0:09:35 > 0:09:39And that's just the same with wolves.
0:09:43 > 0:09:46Snarling, curling the lips back to expose the teeth.
0:09:52 > 0:09:57It's all meant to make you back down. And let's face it, it works.
0:09:59 > 0:10:03So there he is, man's best friend, the wolf.
0:10:09 > 0:10:11It all seemed wonderfully simple.
0:10:11 > 0:10:13To understand the true nature of dogs,
0:10:13 > 0:10:17we just needed to look back to their wild wolf ancestor.
0:10:17 > 0:10:20But we were missing something.
0:10:20 > 0:10:24Simply seeing dogs as friendlier versions of the grey wolf,
0:10:24 > 0:10:27was overlooking the most important factor in the dog's development
0:10:27 > 0:10:29and that is us.
0:10:35 > 0:10:37The partnership between hunters and wolves
0:10:37 > 0:10:41proved to be a pivotal moment in the evolution of the dog.
0:10:41 > 0:10:45From that point on, humans started to influence their breeding,
0:10:45 > 0:10:47favouring some animals over others.
0:10:54 > 0:10:57Scientists began to realise that this early contact
0:10:57 > 0:11:01had transformed the evolutionary path of the dog.
0:11:05 > 0:11:08As man brought animals into domestication,
0:11:08 > 0:11:11he was able to control their breeding and adapt it to his own purpose.
0:11:11 > 0:11:14He recognised that like begets like.
0:11:14 > 0:11:17And on this principle, he bred from those animals he found useful
0:11:17 > 0:11:20and weeded out the offspring he didn't want.
0:11:20 > 0:11:24Man would have selected animals that were the most handle-able
0:11:24 > 0:11:27and the most docile.
0:11:27 > 0:11:30As a result a whole series of changes took place.
0:11:30 > 0:11:32And wolf became dog.
0:11:37 > 0:11:39By breeding from the tamest animals,
0:11:39 > 0:11:41human beings were shaping the dog's development.
0:11:44 > 0:11:46But how could this selective breeding
0:11:46 > 0:11:50turn a wild animal into a household pet?
0:11:50 > 0:11:53One unique study has spent 50 years trying to find out.
0:11:59 > 0:12:03A remarkable experiment in Siberia may hold the key to understanding
0:12:03 > 0:12:06how wolves turned into dogs.
0:12:10 > 0:12:1450 years ago, soviet scientists set up a breeding programme
0:12:14 > 0:12:17to try and domesticate silver foxes.
0:12:21 > 0:12:23The scale of the project has opened
0:12:23 > 0:12:26a remarkable window on domestication.
0:12:26 > 0:12:29It's become a focal point for scientists across the world.
0:12:32 > 0:12:36Here, on a farm outside the city of Novosibirsk,
0:12:36 > 0:12:38the experiment still continues today,
0:12:38 > 0:12:41overseen by Dr Ludmilla Trutt.
0:12:43 > 0:12:46The breeding programme began in 1959
0:12:46 > 0:12:50when the first foxes were selected from local fur farms.
0:12:56 > 0:12:59We approached the animals in the cages
0:12:59 > 0:13:01and recorded their reaction to us.
0:13:01 > 0:13:06We could see that some of the foxes showed aggressive behaviour,
0:13:06 > 0:13:10others were frightened but only one percent of them
0:13:10 > 0:13:13showed neither signs of fear or aggression.
0:13:17 > 0:13:21This one percent were selected to become the founding generation
0:13:21 > 0:13:24of a new population of foxes.
0:13:24 > 0:13:29At every generation the selection process was repeated,
0:13:29 > 0:13:32with only the tamest foxes being allowed to breed.
0:13:32 > 0:13:35Within just three generations,
0:13:35 > 0:13:38the aggressive behaviour began to disappear.
0:13:41 > 0:13:45The radical changes came through in the 8th generation.
0:13:45 > 0:13:49When foxes started to seek contact with humans
0:13:49 > 0:13:51and show affection to them.
0:13:52 > 0:13:56The amazing thing was that cubs, who had just started to crawl,
0:13:56 > 0:14:00opened their eyes and started showing affection to humans
0:14:00 > 0:14:04by breathing heavily, wagging their tails and howling.
0:14:06 > 0:14:10This kind of response was a big surprise to us.
0:14:14 > 0:14:16Half a century on,
0:14:16 > 0:14:19the 50th generation of foxes are tamer than ever.
0:14:22 > 0:14:26So within 50 years of our intensive selection process,
0:14:26 > 0:14:30this fire-breathing-dragon has turned into a human friend.
0:14:38 > 0:14:41The Siberian experiment is an accelerated model
0:14:41 > 0:14:46of how dogs might have been domesticated over generations.
0:14:46 > 0:14:49By choosing the tamest animals,
0:14:49 > 0:14:52human beings had created a new species,
0:14:52 > 0:14:55quite distinct from the wolf.
0:15:01 > 0:15:05We might have bred our dogs to be tamer than their wild ancestors,
0:15:05 > 0:15:08but there were some aspects of the wolf
0:15:08 > 0:15:10we were actually rather keen to preserve.
0:15:10 > 0:15:12Ever since the early hunters
0:15:12 > 0:15:16exploited the wolves' superior speed and sense of smell,
0:15:16 > 0:15:20humans have improved dogs' natural skills through breeding.
0:15:20 > 0:15:21And put them to work.
0:15:27 > 0:15:30At first, the dogs' natural instincts were exploited,
0:15:30 > 0:15:34as they were given jobs that harked back to their wolf heritage,
0:15:34 > 0:15:36hunting and herding livestock.
0:15:38 > 0:15:43Now among wolves, we know that they will often set an ambush.
0:15:43 > 0:15:47That one half of the pack will take up position and very lie still
0:15:47 > 0:15:54while the others work round and drive the quarry into the waiting ambush.
0:15:54 > 0:15:57And that is precisely what a sheepdog is doing.
0:15:57 > 0:16:03Using this natural quality we can see in the wild animals.
0:16:05 > 0:16:08But it wasn't a case of one dog fits all.
0:16:08 > 0:16:12Breeders soon realised they could breed for particular skills,
0:16:12 > 0:16:15creating a fleet of canine specialists.
0:16:15 > 0:16:19The Springer was in fact a dog that could get into cover,
0:16:19 > 0:16:22could search out and flush the game.
0:16:22 > 0:16:25It worked like a pack of wild dogs each one of which
0:16:25 > 0:16:29would be doing the same sort of searching.
0:16:38 > 0:16:41One of the more recently developed gun dogs is the Labrador.
0:16:41 > 0:16:44It was originally bred in Newfoundland by the fishermen.
0:16:44 > 0:16:46Has a particularly thick coat
0:16:46 > 0:16:49and can work in icy waters for long periods.
0:16:49 > 0:16:51It was trained to swim ashore from fishing boats
0:16:51 > 0:16:53carrying a mooring rope between its teeth.
0:16:53 > 0:16:56Its modern function is a simple extension of this,
0:16:56 > 0:16:59to retrieve game after it's been shot.
0:17:06 > 0:17:09The basset hound has a very fine sense of smell
0:17:09 > 0:17:12and man has used it for hunting.
0:17:12 > 0:17:14When the hounds are being brought together,
0:17:14 > 0:17:19they bark in chorus and this is comparable
0:17:19 > 0:17:23to the communal howling of wolves before they set out.
0:17:25 > 0:17:31The dog's abilities were being harnessed, to enhance our own.
0:17:31 > 0:17:34I love to see the dog being an extension of myself.
0:17:34 > 0:17:38It gives me four fast legs and a nose
0:17:38 > 0:17:42and I can extend myself and put myself anywhere, through that dog.
0:17:45 > 0:17:48And dogs did everything asked of them so well,
0:17:48 > 0:17:52that as time went on, their job description expanded.
0:17:53 > 0:17:57Some dogs were bred to be canine superheroes.
0:17:57 > 0:17:59Here's a chap who is clearly in difficulties.
0:17:59 > 0:18:02Just see the speed at which the dog is swimming out
0:18:02 > 0:18:05towards the drowning man.
0:18:05 > 0:18:08While others were used for their ferocity.
0:18:08 > 0:18:09DOG BARKING
0:18:09 > 0:18:13The very use of dogs as security guards offends some people,
0:18:13 > 0:18:15but if they're properly trained and handled,
0:18:15 > 0:18:19they're a very practical deterrent to would-be criminals.
0:18:19 > 0:18:24Dogs' intuition could even be used to replace our own senses.
0:18:27 > 0:18:31All over the world, dogs were being trained to do jobs
0:18:31 > 0:18:35that people couldn't or wouldn't do themselves.
0:18:37 > 0:18:40From the Avalanche rescue dogs of the Swiss Alps.
0:18:45 > 0:18:49To the Husky sled teams of Canada's far north.
0:18:53 > 0:18:55In Namibia, this puppy has been bred
0:18:55 > 0:18:59to protect goats from wild predators,
0:18:59 > 0:19:01once he grows up.
0:19:05 > 0:19:07And in almost every world conflict,
0:19:07 > 0:19:12dogs have earned their stripes on the battlefield.
0:19:12 > 0:19:15These dogs are being trained by the Americans in Vietnam
0:19:15 > 0:19:18to recognise, pursue and attack the Viet Cong.
0:19:24 > 0:19:30The Russians even sent dogs to conquer the final frontier.
0:19:30 > 0:19:33These are Russian space dogs going through their training.
0:19:33 > 0:19:37And it's a rigorous training that they need a hard one indeed.
0:19:37 > 0:19:40They've got to get used to those tremendous speeds
0:19:40 > 0:19:42which they will gather as they go up into the skies.
0:19:42 > 0:19:46And this is one of the ways in which they've been trained to do that.
0:19:46 > 0:19:49Look at that.
0:19:49 > 0:19:51And here one in its special harness
0:19:51 > 0:19:54is being swung round and round at a tremendous pace,
0:19:54 > 0:19:58again, to learn to stand those tremendous forces
0:19:58 > 0:20:02which are bound to be exerted on it as it goes up into the air.
0:20:09 > 0:20:14The Soviet Union has launched a second earth satellite.
0:20:14 > 0:20:18The satellite is carrying a dog as experimental passenger.
0:20:19 > 0:20:23Sadly, Laika the space dog never made it back to Earth
0:20:23 > 0:20:26but she was a true pioneer.
0:20:28 > 0:20:32The extent of our impact on dogs is undeniable.
0:20:32 > 0:20:35Through breeding we created dogs tame enough to live with us
0:20:35 > 0:20:37and useful enough to work for us.
0:20:37 > 0:20:39But our influence didn't stop there.
0:20:39 > 0:20:42It turns out there's a curious by-product
0:20:42 > 0:20:45to all of our messing with dog evolution.
0:20:45 > 0:20:48In selecting dogs based on their abilities or good nature,
0:20:48 > 0:20:51we've actually changed their physical characteristics.
0:20:57 > 0:21:00Horizon has looked at the remarkable impact
0:21:00 > 0:21:04human selection has had on dogs' appearance.
0:21:05 > 0:21:08The dog shows more diversity of size, shape and colour
0:21:08 > 0:21:11than perhaps any other species.
0:21:11 > 0:21:14Before Darwin, it was believed that each breed of dog
0:21:14 > 0:21:17had always existed separately and that no evolution had taken place.
0:21:17 > 0:21:20Darwin thought that various breeds of dog
0:21:20 > 0:21:22were the result of accidental mutations
0:21:22 > 0:21:24which had been artificially preserved by man.
0:21:24 > 0:21:27Today, we know that they are simply the result
0:21:27 > 0:21:31of generations of selection and careful breeding.
0:21:31 > 0:21:35What's happened is that a great variety of characters
0:21:35 > 0:21:39have been selected and preserved by man, whereas in the wild,
0:21:39 > 0:21:43animals showing these characters would never have survived.
0:21:43 > 0:21:46Very often of course, this peculiarity is associated with
0:21:46 > 0:21:50the animal being sick or diseased in some way
0:21:50 > 0:21:52or crippled slightly.
0:21:52 > 0:21:56The chance of a predator catching such an individual is greater.
0:21:56 > 0:22:00And so the predators tend to pick out slightly unusual animals
0:22:00 > 0:22:01and take them.
0:22:03 > 0:22:06Toy Yorkies!
0:22:06 > 0:22:08Pedigree stuff only!
0:22:08 > 0:22:11Once man has taken a few individuals from the wild,
0:22:11 > 0:22:15and starts breeding them, he of course is protecting them
0:22:15 > 0:22:19and he can select anything peculiar that crops up.
0:22:19 > 0:22:23And ultimately, of course, in the case of the dog,
0:22:23 > 0:22:27he was able to select the most bizarre kinds of breed,
0:22:27 > 0:22:29concentrating these curious features
0:22:29 > 0:22:31that might have cropped up in the wild
0:22:31 > 0:22:36but would never have survived, more and more into a given breed of dog.
0:22:36 > 0:22:39Outsized or Labrador Retriever.
0:22:39 > 0:22:44As time went on, some dogs were being bred solely for appearance.
0:22:44 > 0:22:48And every time a puppy was chosen for its curly tail or soft coat,
0:22:48 > 0:22:51it was another step towards the diverse range of dogs
0:22:51 > 0:22:53that exist today.
0:22:54 > 0:22:57From the Shih Tzu to the St Bernard,
0:22:57 > 0:23:00every modern dog breed has been created by us.
0:23:05 > 0:23:08Dog lovers now had the tools to create the dogs
0:23:08 > 0:23:10they found most appealing.
0:23:11 > 0:23:14Which had some interesting consequences.
0:23:17 > 0:23:20These dogs have been selectively bred over the centuries
0:23:20 > 0:23:22to make them more and more baby like.
0:23:22 > 0:23:25Their faces have been flattened, their eyes enlarged,
0:23:25 > 0:23:29their bodies more rounded and their coats softer to the touch.
0:23:29 > 0:23:32The result is a perfect child substitute whenever,
0:23:32 > 0:23:35and for whatever reason, a human infant is absent.
0:23:36 > 0:23:40These pets weigh the same as babies and are held like babies.
0:23:40 > 0:23:43The interactions with these dogs contain
0:23:43 > 0:23:45many of the elements of ordinary maternal care.
0:23:45 > 0:23:49And the intensity of the loving involved is similar.
0:23:49 > 0:23:52And when these owners talk to their dogs,
0:23:52 > 0:23:55even the high-pitched voice is the same.
0:24:05 > 0:24:09Breeding dogs for their appearance may go back as far as ancient China,
0:24:09 > 0:24:14but it wasn't until the late 19th century that it really took off,
0:24:14 > 0:24:19as dogs became a stylish status symbol for the new middle classes.
0:24:22 > 0:24:25The trend for fashionable dogs was matched by a growing passion
0:24:25 > 0:24:28for dog shows, the most famous of which was Crufts.
0:24:30 > 0:24:33Strict rules were developed
0:24:33 > 0:24:36about the ideal physical features for each breed on show
0:24:36 > 0:24:41and the breeders strove to create evermore perfect examples.
0:24:48 > 0:24:52Crufts honed in on the popular appeal of the domestic dog
0:24:52 > 0:24:57and stayed a national obsession for years to come.
0:24:57 > 0:25:03Who's it going to be? He's pointing to the black standard poodle.
0:25:04 > 0:25:06But by the 1970s,
0:25:06 > 0:25:09scientists were becoming uneasy
0:25:09 > 0:25:12about some aspects of the dog show circuit.
0:25:19 > 0:25:22There's a sinister side to dog breeder's desire
0:25:22 > 0:25:26to show off how clever he is at meddling with genetics.
0:25:26 > 0:25:28The bulldog is a classic example.
0:25:28 > 0:25:29Its crumpled, squashed face
0:25:29 > 0:25:32took years of selective breeding to achieve.
0:25:32 > 0:25:35The intention being to shorten the nose to enable the animal to breathe
0:25:35 > 0:25:39at the same time as clinging onto its quarry with its teeth.
0:25:39 > 0:25:43But the folds on a bulldog's face make it prone to skin disease.
0:25:43 > 0:25:46It in fact often does have difficulty breathing.
0:25:46 > 0:25:49And sometimes its lower jaw sticks out so far it can't bite properly.
0:25:52 > 0:25:56Chihuahuas are classified by breeders as toy dogs.
0:25:56 > 0:25:59It's a very apt description of how they treat them.
0:25:59 > 0:26:02They've been bred to have disproportionately big heads and eyes
0:26:02 > 0:26:04to make them look more appealing.
0:26:04 > 0:26:07A veterinary expert, Dr Phyllis Croft...
0:26:07 > 0:26:10Regrettably, it's become very fashionable
0:26:10 > 0:26:17to exaggerate this skull shape and many Chihuahuas have skull bones
0:26:17 > 0:26:21which have not actually met at the top of the head
0:26:21 > 0:26:23and this is considered quite a good point
0:26:23 > 0:26:25from the showing point of view.
0:26:28 > 0:26:32Scientists suspected that selecting for appearance
0:26:32 > 0:26:35and limiting the gene pool to pure-bred dogs
0:26:35 > 0:26:38could be increasing the risk of genetic abnormalities.
0:26:40 > 0:26:43And since that early Horizon aired in the 1970s,
0:26:43 > 0:26:47the issue has become even more controversial.
0:26:47 > 0:26:50The dogs are falling apart
0:26:50 > 0:26:55and the number of genetic problems are increasing at a frightening pace.
0:26:55 > 0:27:01Welcome to Crufts Best in Show 2008!
0:27:01 > 0:27:05The cause is very simple. It is competitive dog showing.
0:27:05 > 0:27:07That is what has caused the problem.
0:27:10 > 0:27:15When I watch Crufts what I see in front of me is a parade of mutants.
0:27:15 > 0:27:18It's some freakish, garish beauty pageant
0:27:18 > 0:27:22that has nothing to do with health and welfare.
0:27:25 > 0:27:29The show world is about an obsession about beauty
0:27:29 > 0:27:33and there's a ridiculous concept that that is how we should judge dogs.
0:27:33 > 0:27:37So Best in Breed means you happen to be closest
0:27:37 > 0:27:40to this thing that's written on a piece of paper
0:27:40 > 0:27:43as what you should look like. Takes no account of your temperament,
0:27:43 > 0:27:46your fitness for purpose potentially as a pet animal.
0:27:46 > 0:27:50And that to me just makes absolutely no sense at all.
0:27:50 > 0:27:55The Giant Schnauzer best in show for 2008. Well done.
0:27:57 > 0:28:00Scientists were able document the physical changes
0:28:00 > 0:28:05that had taken place after years of pedigree breeding.
0:28:05 > 0:28:09100 years ago, the Daschund looked very different.
0:28:09 > 0:28:12Today's dogs have much shorter legs.
0:28:13 > 0:28:16The original shape of the Bull Terrier's head
0:28:16 > 0:28:20was markedly different to today's dog on the right.
0:28:20 > 0:28:23And this is how the change looks from the inside
0:28:28 > 0:28:31And it seems that such physical changes
0:28:31 > 0:28:33can have severe consequences.
0:28:36 > 0:28:38DOG BARKING
0:28:40 > 0:28:42Many Cavalier King Charles Spaniels
0:28:42 > 0:28:46now have skulls too small for their brains.
0:28:46 > 0:28:49The brain is like a size ten foot
0:28:49 > 0:28:54that's been shoved into a size six shoe. It doesn't fit.
0:28:54 > 0:28:57And the result can be neurological damage.
0:28:57 > 0:29:02The scratching started about 18 months ago. Really really sad.
0:29:04 > 0:29:06Kennel Club officials and dog breeders
0:29:06 > 0:29:11insisted that the scale of the problems had been exaggerated.
0:29:11 > 0:29:13The vast majority of dogs that we register,
0:29:13 > 0:29:16and we register over 250,000 dogs a year,
0:29:16 > 0:29:18will live long happy, healthy lives.
0:29:20 > 0:29:25But by 2008, the controversy over pedigree dog breeding
0:29:25 > 0:29:29had become so great that the BBC decided to act.
0:29:30 > 0:29:33Crufts will not be shown on the BBC next year,
0:29:33 > 0:29:36for the first time since 1966, following a dispute over
0:29:36 > 0:29:39whether to allow certain breeds of pedigree dogs into the competition.
0:29:45 > 0:29:49In all the debate around breeding, it's easy to forget the main reason
0:29:49 > 0:29:52that most people have dogs in their lives at all.
0:29:52 > 0:29:54To be faithful companions.
0:29:54 > 0:29:56Throughout the ages and in most cultures,
0:29:56 > 0:30:01dogs stand loyally by our side, offering us comfort, friendship
0:30:01 > 0:30:04and even the odd party trick.
0:30:10 > 0:30:15But why is it that of all the animals humans have domesticated,
0:30:15 > 0:30:18it's dogs that have become our best friends?
0:30:18 > 0:30:21She's there with my slippers first thing in the morning.
0:30:21 > 0:30:24She's part of the family. She IS the family.
0:30:24 > 0:30:28One reason is that dogs seem to have a remarkable ability
0:30:28 > 0:30:30to bond with humans.
0:30:30 > 0:30:32I can't imagine life without her.
0:30:33 > 0:30:36It's why they make such ideal pets.
0:30:36 > 0:30:39He's a nice dog and he's gentle with the children.
0:30:39 > 0:30:43But for some people, having a dog can be life-changing.
0:30:43 > 0:30:48In the 1970s, scientists began to investigate
0:30:48 > 0:30:50how our natural affinity with dogs
0:30:50 > 0:30:54could be utilised as a form of therapy.
0:30:54 > 0:30:58Today, by far the greatest role the dog is called on to play
0:30:58 > 0:30:59is as companion and friend.
0:30:59 > 0:31:02Often helping to make even the loneliest human existence
0:31:02 > 0:31:04at least bearable.
0:31:05 > 0:31:08In America, some psychologists are now using dogs
0:31:08 > 0:31:11in what they call pet facilitated psychotherapy.
0:31:15 > 0:31:19Let me show you my new fur.
0:31:19 > 0:31:22Most of the young adolescents here are chronic schizophrenics.
0:31:22 > 0:31:27Normally such patients are withdrawn, anxious and rarely speak.
0:31:27 > 0:31:29The remarkable thing about this project
0:31:29 > 0:31:31is how open and friendly it all looks
0:31:31 > 0:31:34despite the fact that the normal alternative for these teenagers
0:31:34 > 0:31:37is to be committed within the confines of a mental institution.
0:31:37 > 0:31:39The big difference between Blueberry
0:31:39 > 0:31:42and a conventional institution is the animals.
0:31:42 > 0:31:44Every inmate has a pet dog or cat.
0:31:44 > 0:31:47Richard wouldn't talk,
0:31:47 > 0:31:51withdrew completely into a non-verbal kind of world.
0:31:51 > 0:31:54Then he got his dog and he would talk to the dog for hours on end.
0:31:54 > 0:31:58Then the person who was assigned to treat him brought her dog
0:31:58 > 0:32:03and Richard would talk through his dog to her dog
0:32:03 > 0:32:06and finally she was able to talk to him through his dog.
0:32:06 > 0:32:08And then the dogs were dropped,
0:32:08 > 0:32:11the communication between the dogs was dropped
0:32:11 > 0:32:12and now they talk to each other.
0:32:12 > 0:32:16- You weren't talking to people, do you remember?- Yeah.
0:32:16 > 0:32:18- That was before you got Pogo.- Yeah.
0:32:18 > 0:32:23But what happened when you got the dog? Do you remember?
0:32:23 > 0:32:28I got him. He was a little shy. He barked at Bubba.
0:32:28 > 0:32:30Got into fights with him.
0:32:30 > 0:32:32Oh, that's a big battle.
0:32:32 > 0:32:34Is there a battle between you and Bubba too
0:32:34 > 0:32:37- or just between the dog and Bubba? - Just between the dog and Bubba.
0:32:37 > 0:32:40- Oh. Any idea why?- Jealousy.
0:32:40 > 0:32:44It helped him tremendously because now he talks!
0:32:44 > 0:32:48Now he communicates with a lot of people, not just his therapist.
0:32:48 > 0:32:53Still stilted and frightened and whatnot but much more at ease.
0:32:58 > 0:33:02This study marked a growing recognition of just how beneficial
0:33:02 > 0:33:05our relationship with dogs can be.
0:33:05 > 0:33:08For both our minds and bodies.
0:33:09 > 0:33:13It has been proved that the mere act of simply stroking a dog
0:33:13 > 0:33:16lessens the heartbeat, reduces anxiety.
0:33:20 > 0:33:22Science was finally acknowledging
0:33:22 > 0:33:25what dog owners everywhere already knew.
0:33:25 > 0:33:29Having dogs in our lives brings both practical and emotional benefits.
0:33:33 > 0:33:36And scientists began to pinpoint exactly what it is
0:33:36 > 0:33:40that makes the relationship seem reciprocal.
0:33:42 > 0:33:44Dogs have a natural intelligence
0:33:44 > 0:33:47so can quickly learn what's required of them
0:33:47 > 0:33:50and adapt their behaviour to fit in with us.
0:33:54 > 0:33:57Most people suppose that dogs don't learn very much as young animals
0:33:57 > 0:34:01but actually they can learn a little bit even at birth.
0:34:01 > 0:34:05In this experiment, a young puppy which still couldn't see or hear
0:34:05 > 0:34:08was tested to find if it could learn a simple task.
0:34:08 > 0:34:10Cold air was blown onto its rump.
0:34:10 > 0:34:12No puppy likes the cold
0:34:12 > 0:34:14so after a few whimpers it crawled away to avoid it.
0:34:16 > 0:34:20It faced a simple decision to turn left or right.
0:34:20 > 0:34:22On previous occasions it had found
0:34:22 > 0:34:25that the cold air only stopped when it turned left.
0:34:25 > 0:34:26With little hesitation
0:34:26 > 0:34:29it showed it had learnt the way to avoid discomfort.
0:34:29 > 0:34:35This experiment showed how quickly a dog could adapt to fit in.
0:34:35 > 0:34:39And more recent evidence has revealed the extent
0:34:39 > 0:34:43to which dogs have used their intelligence to communicate with us.
0:34:44 > 0:34:45DOG BARKING
0:34:47 > 0:34:50Scientists used to assume that barking is a random noise
0:34:50 > 0:34:53without any specific information or content.
0:34:55 > 0:34:57However we had a different idea.
0:34:57 > 0:35:01Dogs might tell us something about their emotions,
0:35:01 > 0:35:04anger, happiness, fear, despair.
0:35:04 > 0:35:08So these are basic emotions which I think human might be able to
0:35:08 > 0:35:11recognise in the barking sound.
0:35:11 > 0:35:15To test this idea, Adam and his team acted out a number of scenarios,
0:35:15 > 0:35:18provoking dogs to bark in different ways.
0:35:18 > 0:35:23But when the recordings are played back to people,
0:35:23 > 0:35:26will they be able to match the bark to the emotion?
0:35:37 > 0:35:40DOG BARKING
0:35:40 > 0:35:42That sounds like a dog asking for attention.
0:35:42 > 0:35:44DOG BARKING
0:35:44 > 0:35:46Aw. He's anxious.
0:35:46 > 0:35:50Sad, distressed.
0:35:50 > 0:35:52DOG BARKING
0:35:52 > 0:35:54It wants to be let off a chain or something like that.
0:35:54 > 0:35:56DOG BARKING
0:35:58 > 0:36:00I think that one's playful.
0:36:00 > 0:36:01DOG BARKING
0:36:01 > 0:36:02Excitement.
0:36:02 > 0:36:05DOGS BARKING
0:36:05 > 0:36:09It seems as though they were asking their owner for something.
0:36:09 > 0:36:15Sounds like it may want a ball or toy or something to play with.
0:36:18 > 0:36:20DOG BARKING
0:36:24 > 0:36:26Angry.
0:36:26 > 0:36:28DOG BARKING
0:36:28 > 0:36:30This is the sound that she'd make
0:36:30 > 0:36:33if she saw someone behind the fence, walking along.
0:36:33 > 0:36:35DOG BARKING
0:36:35 > 0:36:38It's a stranger, I think. It's a stranger encroaching on territory.
0:36:38 > 0:36:41DOG BARKING
0:36:42 > 0:36:45The results of McClosey's research are remarkable.
0:36:45 > 0:36:48It's proved there's incredibly strong agreement between people
0:36:48 > 0:36:50about what different barks mean.
0:36:50 > 0:36:52DOG BARKING
0:36:52 > 0:36:53Overall in the study you could say
0:36:53 > 0:36:56that people can discriminate six barks
0:36:56 > 0:37:00and most of them were quite successful in this.
0:37:00 > 0:37:04What's more surprising, is not our ability to interpret the barks,
0:37:04 > 0:37:05but what it reveals about dogs.
0:37:07 > 0:37:11In the natural world, dogs' wild relatives don't really bark.
0:37:11 > 0:37:15Amazingly, it seems that during the course of domestication,
0:37:15 > 0:37:18dogs may have evolved their elaborate vocal repertoire
0:37:18 > 0:37:20especially to communicate with us.
0:37:25 > 0:37:29We tamed a wild animal, we invited it into our homes,
0:37:29 > 0:37:33we bred it to work for us, protect us and become our best friend.
0:37:33 > 0:37:36In the process we created dogs that were clever,
0:37:36 > 0:37:39that were loyal and could even communicate with us.
0:37:39 > 0:37:41It sounds like the perfect relationship
0:37:41 > 0:37:43And yet all too often it's not.
0:37:43 > 0:37:47Sometimes our relationship with dogs can become fraught.
0:37:47 > 0:37:50But is the problem with them, or with us?
0:37:54 > 0:37:57100 years ago most dogs had a job,
0:37:57 > 0:38:01space to roam about in and a clear role in life.
0:38:01 > 0:38:05But since then, the number of working dogs has steadily decreased,
0:38:05 > 0:38:10while the population of jobless city dogs has exploded.
0:38:11 > 0:38:17So it was hardly surprising that we began to see dogs as a problem.
0:38:17 > 0:38:22In 1975 Horizon examined the downside of the urban dog boom.
0:38:24 > 0:38:28Today after thousands of years of growling co-existence with man,
0:38:28 > 0:38:31the dog, once our alleged best friend, is on trial.
0:38:33 > 0:38:36Few realise that however bouncing with an illusion of health,
0:38:36 > 0:38:38however loveable and innocent looking,
0:38:38 > 0:38:42any dog can be infected with not one but over forty diseases
0:38:42 > 0:38:44all of which can be passed to man
0:38:44 > 0:38:47by either the dog itself or its droppings.
0:38:47 > 0:38:51Few smile when they step in part of the 500 tonnes of faeces
0:38:51 > 0:38:54excreted every day on Britain by our dogs.
0:38:55 > 0:38:57Frame the poop, freeze it,
0:38:57 > 0:38:59I don't care if you wear it around your neck,
0:38:59 > 0:39:01but you're going to get it off the streets!
0:39:03 > 0:39:05This is rabies.
0:39:05 > 0:39:09Without vaccination a bite from a rabid dog means certain death.
0:39:09 > 0:39:11This dog is dying.
0:39:11 > 0:39:15Similar deaths await us if rabies ever gets to Britain.
0:39:15 > 0:39:18Already it's on the French border and moving towards us
0:39:18 > 0:39:19at about 20 miles an year.
0:39:23 > 0:39:26Dogs were falling out of favour with society.
0:39:28 > 0:39:32And one by-product was a marked increase in dog abuse
0:39:34 > 0:39:37and neglect.
0:39:37 > 0:39:40It makes me feel angry.
0:39:40 > 0:39:43There's absolutely no excuse for animals being left
0:39:43 > 0:39:45or living in conditions like these.
0:39:50 > 0:39:53I'd say he's been down there for days.
0:39:53 > 0:39:54Do you reckon? He's freezing.
0:39:54 > 0:39:57And cos he's not been able to get up and get away,
0:39:57 > 0:40:00- the rats have been nibbling at him. - You're joking.
0:40:02 > 0:40:05And there was a steady rise in cases of dog abandonment.
0:40:07 > 0:40:11We're handling about 300 dogs coming in a week.
0:40:11 > 0:40:13Very few are claimed.
0:40:13 > 0:40:15Less than a quarter of all the strays
0:40:15 > 0:40:19and we're having to put down about 150 odd a week.
0:40:22 > 0:40:26But the rise of the urban dog had also created another,
0:40:26 > 0:40:28entirely different, extreme.
0:40:28 > 0:40:32Mr Spencer, I gather that Butch is only 18 months old.
0:40:32 > 0:40:35- Don't you think this is a bit early for him to start smoking?- Oh, no.
0:40:38 > 0:40:43For some people, dogs had become extensions of themselves.
0:40:43 > 0:40:46Snowball, Snowball come here.
0:40:46 > 0:40:50She loves to lay on the bed and she really is so sweet and nice
0:40:50 > 0:40:53that I think I spoil her a little.
0:40:53 > 0:40:56But she really is a member of the family
0:40:56 > 0:40:59and as so she's entitled to all the rights and prerogatives
0:40:59 > 0:41:01as any member would be.
0:41:01 > 0:41:03DOG BARKING
0:41:03 > 0:41:05Amber thinks she's a human.
0:41:05 > 0:41:08If I sit in the bath, she'll actually jump in with me.
0:41:12 > 0:41:18And for others, the dog had become the ultimate accessory.
0:41:18 > 0:41:21They go to a special beautician for a full pampering of the nails,
0:41:21 > 0:41:23the hair cut, then the it is blow-dried.
0:41:23 > 0:41:27Just like us ladies really. They love to be pampered.
0:41:27 > 0:41:30I think people who are fashionable
0:41:30 > 0:41:32are looking for ways to spend money for their pets,
0:41:32 > 0:41:35they're trying to pamper their pets.
0:41:35 > 0:41:37And while they're wearing beautiful fashions
0:41:37 > 0:41:40and expensive accessories, it only makes sense that
0:41:40 > 0:41:43someone of that sort would want quality things for their animals.
0:41:45 > 0:41:49Good afternoon Doggy Do salon. Can I help you?
0:41:51 > 0:41:54Q-tip, what happened to you?!
0:41:54 > 0:41:56Q-tip needs some help. She's a mess.
0:41:56 > 0:41:57Oh, my God!
0:41:57 > 0:42:00- She's dirty, she needs a bath. - You know what?
0:42:00 > 0:42:03I know. I think what we're going to do to Q-tip,
0:42:03 > 0:42:05we're gonna give her a cute little puppy cut.
0:42:05 > 0:42:10And what I would do, basically, I want us to leave her full and fluffy
0:42:10 > 0:42:12but give her some shaping, there's got no shape to her.
0:42:12 > 0:42:14She looks like a little rag mop.
0:42:15 > 0:42:17Q-tip, say, "Bye-bye, Mommy."
0:42:17 > 0:42:20Give Mommy a little kiss.
0:42:22 > 0:42:26This over-indulgence rarely worked out well for the dogs.
0:42:29 > 0:42:32But whether we were killing them with kindness or with cruelty,
0:42:32 > 0:42:38the result was the same, a huge increase in bad dog behaviour.
0:42:38 > 0:42:40DOGS GROWLING
0:42:40 > 0:42:43Stop! Stop it.
0:42:44 > 0:42:48She's wee'd on the car-seat, she's wee'd on the bed,
0:42:48 > 0:42:50she's wee'd on my mother.
0:42:50 > 0:42:55She's very disobedient, she doesn't respond to commands very well.
0:42:55 > 0:42:57We got a letter from our landlord, basically saying unless
0:42:57 > 0:43:00we stopped the dog from barking, they would evict us from the property.
0:43:00 > 0:43:02DOG BARKING
0:43:02 > 0:43:05The less consistent we were in our treatment of dogs,
0:43:05 > 0:43:10the more problems seemed to arise, in our homes...
0:43:10 > 0:43:12He's chewed that.
0:43:12 > 0:43:16I can't get into bed I have to sleep on the sofa.
0:43:16 > 0:43:19It is quite embarrassing as Fudge is humping in the corner.
0:43:19 > 0:43:21..and on the streets.
0:43:21 > 0:43:23DOGS BARKING
0:43:23 > 0:43:25Once they've started I just cannot control them.
0:43:25 > 0:43:29It's all my strength to just hold them back.
0:43:29 > 0:43:33The behaviour of our dogs seemed impossible to understand.
0:43:33 > 0:43:35It's just completely embarrassing.
0:43:35 > 0:43:37It's just people staring at you,
0:43:37 > 0:43:39thinking, "Why have you got a mad dog on a lead?"
0:43:41 > 0:43:43Home!
0:43:46 > 0:43:49Dog owners were increasingly searching for new ways
0:43:49 > 0:43:52of controlling their wayward pooches.
0:43:52 > 0:43:55But some experts believed that in order to manage our dogs,
0:43:55 > 0:43:58we needed to look at the roots of their bad behaviour.
0:43:58 > 0:44:01And the key to that lay with our old friend, the wolf.
0:44:07 > 0:44:11It seemed that almost every aspect of dogs' bad behaviour
0:44:11 > 0:44:15could be explained by examining the wolves' social structure.
0:44:16 > 0:44:20I think the greatest problem that people have
0:44:20 > 0:44:22is that they seem to fail to realise
0:44:22 > 0:44:24that what they're really dealing with is
0:44:24 > 0:44:27an animal that thinks of itself in terms of a pack.
0:44:27 > 0:44:32It thinks of the human family as its pack
0:44:32 > 0:44:34and it is a member of that pack.
0:44:37 > 0:44:41Studies of wolves had shown them to be pack animals,
0:44:41 > 0:44:44led by a dominant alpha male with a strict pecking order
0:44:44 > 0:44:46passed down through the pack.
0:44:49 > 0:44:53In all kinds of ways, the pack continually explores challenges
0:44:53 > 0:44:57and reinforces the hierarchy, not by actual fighting,
0:44:57 > 0:45:01but by posturing and signalling, raising the hackles for instance,
0:45:01 > 0:45:03to appear more frightening.
0:45:07 > 0:45:13The erect tail, a signal of dominance, so too the erect ears.
0:45:13 > 0:45:16By contrast, cringing is of paramount importance.
0:45:16 > 0:45:19And there are many appeasing postures.
0:45:19 > 0:45:22Here the submissive wolf, puts its tail between its legs
0:45:22 > 0:45:23and lowers its head.
0:45:23 > 0:45:28Junior ranking animals have a great need for constant appeasement.
0:45:28 > 0:45:31And this wolf, on the back, belly exposed,
0:45:31 > 0:45:34the posture is one of total submission.
0:45:35 > 0:45:42Scientists thought that dogs behaved the same way,
0:45:42 > 0:45:46forming packs with one dog taking the dominant role of pack leader.
0:45:48 > 0:45:52Some of the early experiments put this theory to the test.
0:45:52 > 0:45:56To find out how readily dogs accept discipline and respect dominance,
0:45:56 > 0:45:59the research team tried a simple experiment.
0:45:59 > 0:46:01The equipment was a bone.
0:46:01 > 0:46:04The subjects, two dogs who hadn't met before.
0:46:04 > 0:46:06DOGS BARKING
0:46:10 > 0:46:13Very quickly, one dog achieved dominance
0:46:13 > 0:46:17and the underdog wandered off in an attempt to forget its humiliation.
0:46:19 > 0:46:22Just to prove that although the two dogs were very equally matched
0:46:22 > 0:46:25and that one had now become dominant, the bone was given to the underdog.
0:46:34 > 0:46:37DOGS BARKING
0:46:39 > 0:46:42Again, the top dog quickly reasserted himself,
0:46:42 > 0:46:45leaving the underdog to pretend it didn't really mind.
0:46:45 > 0:46:49It indulged in a series of frantic displacement activities.
0:46:52 > 0:46:55And top dog wasn't going to let him forget who was dominant.
0:46:57 > 0:46:59DOG BARKING
0:47:00 > 0:47:02The bone was almost forgotten
0:47:02 > 0:47:06now that the pecking order had been sorted out.
0:47:06 > 0:47:08DOGS BARKING
0:47:08 > 0:47:11Finally the underdog, to avoid further attacks,
0:47:11 > 0:47:13signalled submission by lying on his back.
0:47:17 > 0:47:22Scientists believed that the natural urge for dogs to follow a leader
0:47:22 > 0:47:25was the key to controlling them.
0:47:25 > 0:47:28It seemed that this instinct was so strong,
0:47:28 > 0:47:33it could even explain how apparently harmless pets could turn lethal.
0:47:34 > 0:47:36DOGS BARKING
0:47:36 > 0:47:40In 1986, they examined the death of an elderly woman
0:47:40 > 0:47:44who was savagely attacked by this group of domestic dogs.
0:47:44 > 0:47:49People couldn't believe that such small dogs were capable of killing.
0:47:49 > 0:47:52So they recreated the events that led to the attack
0:47:52 > 0:47:54and recorded the results on video.
0:47:54 > 0:47:58One possibility was that there was a medical cause.
0:47:58 > 0:48:02But none of the dogs had brain damage or other significant diseases
0:48:02 > 0:48:05and they didn't seem to be thin or hungry.
0:48:05 > 0:48:08It seemed that more clues to the cause lay
0:48:08 > 0:48:11in the behavioural dynamics of the pack.
0:48:11 > 0:48:12The more dogs there are,
0:48:12 > 0:48:16the more likely they are to attack and become aggressive.
0:48:16 > 0:48:19Certainly a single dog can injure somebody and kill somebody.
0:48:19 > 0:48:22But dogs are pack animals and if one starts to do something,
0:48:22 > 0:48:25they all will do it and they will all get more excited about it.
0:48:25 > 0:48:29DOGS BARKING
0:48:29 > 0:48:31And this is partly a pack-facilitated behaviour.
0:48:31 > 0:48:33Dogs, canines, hunt in packs
0:48:33 > 0:48:37and after they bring down the prey in a pack, they usually eat it.
0:48:37 > 0:48:40DOGS BARKING
0:48:42 > 0:48:46The idea that dogs were pack animals had a radical impact
0:48:46 > 0:48:49on a growing national obsession, dog training.
0:48:50 > 0:48:54The science suggested that to control our dogs,
0:48:54 > 0:48:56we needed to gain the upper hand.
0:48:56 > 0:48:58The reason the dog can be trained
0:48:58 > 0:49:01so much more easily than the cat, for instance,
0:49:01 > 0:49:05which is just as intelligent, is because it is a pack animal,
0:49:05 > 0:49:11it has a leader and the domestic dog has accepted man as the pack leader.
0:49:11 > 0:49:15Dog owners had to become top wolf.
0:49:15 > 0:49:20And those that didn't, were apparently inviting trouble.
0:49:20 > 0:49:23The owners will tell you that they never hit dogs,
0:49:23 > 0:49:25they never discipline dogs.
0:49:25 > 0:49:29In other words, the dog has a completely unnatural situation.
0:49:29 > 0:49:31It is expecting to be disciplined.
0:49:31 > 0:49:35Now once the dog begins to realise that it's not going to be corrected,
0:49:35 > 0:49:40it's not going to be disciplined for jumping the dominance order
0:49:40 > 0:49:45then it will begin to take advantage of that situation.
0:49:47 > 0:49:51Dominating your dog became the basis of most training methods,
0:49:51 > 0:49:56gaining a cult following in the 1980s with Barbara Woodhouse,
0:49:56 > 0:50:02who had no problem demonstrating who was pack leader in her dog school.
0:50:02 > 0:50:06Close, bring her round, jerk if she doesn't come.
0:50:06 > 0:50:08Jerk, back. She's gone.
0:50:08 > 0:50:11Now this one needs another go because she pulled.
0:50:11 > 0:50:15Come on, Sheba. Close.
0:50:15 > 0:50:19Do you hear the click? And then she walked quite nicely.
0:50:19 > 0:50:21Do you see?
0:50:21 > 0:50:25This approach remained the leading theory in dog training for decades.
0:50:25 > 0:50:27Sit.
0:50:27 > 0:50:29Some of the exercises we're going to do to start with
0:50:29 > 0:50:33are what we call rank reducing exercises.
0:50:33 > 0:50:36Really you've got to establish who's the boss in this household.
0:50:36 > 0:50:39And at the moment, it isn't you.
0:50:39 > 0:50:44Although he's a bull terrier and only about 16 weeks old,
0:50:44 > 0:50:46he still has wolf ideas in his head.
0:50:48 > 0:50:51This is a dominance exercise.
0:50:51 > 0:50:52Using strict discipline..
0:50:52 > 0:50:55No! Leave it!
0:50:55 > 0:50:59- Pull, pull, pull...- Keep going.
0:50:59 > 0:51:03..and punishing those dogs who tried to dominate their human leaders...
0:51:03 > 0:51:04DOG BARKING
0:51:04 > 0:51:06No!
0:51:07 > 0:51:09..seemed to get results.
0:51:11 > 0:51:13Leave it!
0:51:13 > 0:51:14Oh.
0:51:14 > 0:51:17Sit.
0:51:24 > 0:51:27But now, the concept of treating your dog
0:51:27 > 0:51:29as though it's a pack animal,
0:51:29 > 0:51:32just a tamer version of the grey wolf, may be overturned altogether.
0:51:36 > 0:51:41Dog behaviour expert John Bradshaw has undertaken research
0:51:41 > 0:51:44which challenges the dominance training method.
0:51:46 > 0:51:48There are essentially two reasons why
0:51:48 > 0:51:51that kind of punishment based training is flawed.
0:51:51 > 0:51:55One is that we got the wolf pack structure wrong.
0:51:55 > 0:52:00It was thought, big wolves controlled little wolves by aggression
0:52:00 > 0:52:03and that was the way to control dogs, that you needed to be the big wolf
0:52:03 > 0:52:06and that the dog has to be the little wolf,
0:52:06 > 0:52:08otherwise the whole thing doesn't work.
0:52:08 > 0:52:14The idea came from studies of wolves in wildlife parks and in zoos.
0:52:14 > 0:52:16What the scientists didn't realise at the time was
0:52:16 > 0:52:19they'd put together a load of wolves that didn't know each other
0:52:19 > 0:52:21and weren't related to one another,
0:52:21 > 0:52:25so had no incentive for getting along with one another.
0:52:25 > 0:52:27So you had these artificial packs
0:52:27 > 0:52:30where the biggest, strongest wolves controlled the weaker ones.
0:52:30 > 0:52:32Now in the wild, the weaker ones would have left
0:52:32 > 0:52:34and probably done quite well on their own
0:52:34 > 0:52:38but in zoos they couldn't leave, the bars were in the way.
0:52:38 > 0:52:42We now know that wolf pack structure is not based on aggression.
0:52:42 > 0:52:46It's based on family ties, where far from being subordinate,
0:52:46 > 0:52:49the younger members of the pack stay on as volunteers,
0:52:49 > 0:52:53they stay on to help their parents raise the next generation of cubs.
0:52:53 > 0:52:56So that part of the whole story of dominating your dog
0:52:56 > 0:52:59has really been swept away.
0:53:02 > 0:53:06The second reason why the science behind the dog pack idea is flawed
0:53:06 > 0:53:08is that when you put dogs on their own,
0:53:08 > 0:53:11when they're allowed to do their own thing
0:53:11 > 0:53:13with minimal interference from people,
0:53:13 > 0:53:15they don't form wolf type packs.
0:53:15 > 0:53:20We've done a study on dogs in an animal sanctuary,
0:53:20 > 0:53:23dogs that are unhomeable but have essentially been allowed to
0:53:23 > 0:53:26live their lives as dogs, with minimal contact with people.
0:53:26 > 0:53:29If they were still thinking like wolves,
0:53:29 > 0:53:33the hypothesis is that they should have set up a wolf pack,
0:53:33 > 0:53:36that the biggest and strongest, or maybe just most aggressive dogs
0:53:36 > 0:53:39should dominate the other ones in the group.
0:53:39 > 0:53:41But what we found was something really quite different.
0:53:41 > 0:53:44That there wasn't a wolf pack structure at all.
0:53:44 > 0:53:47Dogs formed relationships with one or two others in the group
0:53:47 > 0:53:49that they would tend to hang around with
0:53:49 > 0:53:52and they were based on play and affection
0:53:52 > 0:53:54and just basically doing things together.
0:53:54 > 0:53:57So you don't get this pack structure,
0:53:57 > 0:53:59this single pack structure based on aggression.
0:54:02 > 0:54:05Sometime in the domestication of the dog,
0:54:05 > 0:54:08we've changed the way their brains work.
0:54:08 > 0:54:12What we think has happened is that family structure has been replaced
0:54:12 > 0:54:16in the dog's mind with a much greater tendency to bond towards people.
0:54:18 > 0:54:20The best method for training dogs is essentially
0:54:20 > 0:54:23to tap into that natural affection that dogs feel for you.
0:54:25 > 0:54:31The average dog is born with a very strong tendency to love people.
0:54:31 > 0:54:34You can tap into that simply by rewarding the behaviour you want
0:54:34 > 0:54:36with attention, with a game,
0:54:36 > 0:54:39with food if necessary, if that's the kind of dog it is
0:54:39 > 0:54:42and ignoring the behaviour you don't want.
0:54:43 > 0:54:46Reward-based training isn't a new concept.
0:54:46 > 0:54:50It came from behavioural psychology studies
0:54:50 > 0:54:53and has been competing with the dominance theory of dog training
0:54:53 > 0:54:55for over 20 years.
0:54:55 > 0:54:59Just have a little game with him, with it. A little tugging game.
0:54:59 > 0:55:01We don't use choke-chains these days.
0:55:01 > 0:55:06We try and do it all with praise and incentive and titbits.
0:55:06 > 0:55:11Good boy. That's it. Good boy. Notice the praise coming in straight away.
0:55:11 > 0:55:13Big fuss. Big fuss!
0:55:14 > 0:55:17Good boy. Good boy.
0:55:17 > 0:55:19Amber. Good girl.
0:55:19 > 0:55:25And the trainers who use this method boast impressive results.
0:55:25 > 0:55:28- Good boy!- Smashing!
0:55:28 > 0:55:30Go!
0:55:33 > 0:55:35Fantastic, well done.
0:55:35 > 0:55:37Good boy!
0:55:37 > 0:55:40Sit. Food. Good girl.
0:55:40 > 0:55:42DOGS BARKING
0:55:42 > 0:55:45I think the situation where reward based training
0:55:45 > 0:55:47has really showed its worth
0:55:47 > 0:55:50in a situation where perhaps you might imagine it wouldn't
0:55:50 > 0:55:54is in the military. To sniff out guns and bombs and so on.
0:55:54 > 0:55:57The reward that's used is a game with the handler
0:55:57 > 0:56:00once its actually found what it's supposed to find.
0:56:00 > 0:56:04Good boy. Ready?
0:56:04 > 0:56:07That shows you just how much dogs value our company.
0:56:07 > 0:56:10They'll do anything, pretty much,
0:56:10 > 0:56:12for the reward of playing with a human being.
0:56:15 > 0:56:17The military will use a training method
0:56:17 > 0:56:20that's simply the most effective because human lives depend upon it.
0:56:20 > 0:56:23And what they found is that reward based training
0:56:23 > 0:56:25actually produces a more effective dog,
0:56:25 > 0:56:30a more effective piece of kit than a dog trained with punishment.
0:56:30 > 0:56:33That's why they've adopted it. It's not for any sentimental reason.
0:56:33 > 0:56:35And that's the kind of reward-based training
0:56:35 > 0:56:36that really impresses me the most.
0:56:36 > 0:56:40Good boy! Who's a good lad!
0:56:40 > 0:56:43Domestication has changed the dog irreversibly
0:56:43 > 0:56:46and so the whole idea that we need to understand the wolf
0:56:46 > 0:56:50and it's the only way to understand what dogs are thinking,
0:56:50 > 0:56:52science says that's wrong.
0:56:59 > 0:57:02Science has not only shown us how
0:57:02 > 0:57:05the dogs' wild heritage has left its mark.
0:57:06 > 0:57:09In a word, the dog is all wolf.
0:57:09 > 0:57:12But how the impact of human beings on the dog
0:57:12 > 0:57:16has been perhaps even more profound.
0:57:17 > 0:57:19In a world of dwindling resources
0:57:19 > 0:57:22when so much wildlife is under threat,
0:57:22 > 0:57:25dogs, by collaborating with us,
0:57:25 > 0:57:28have become an incredible evolutionary success story.
0:57:28 > 0:57:31Come on, girl. Out you go.
0:57:31 > 0:57:34So as obvious as it sounds, it seems like
0:57:34 > 0:57:37the best thing we can do for dogs, is to treat them like dogs.
0:57:38 > 0:57:41Because they're not wolves
0:57:41 > 0:57:43but then again they aren't miniature people either.
0:57:43 > 0:57:48We've played a key role in creating clever, funny, loyal companions
0:57:48 > 0:57:52with an inbuilt desire for our love and our affection.
0:57:52 > 0:57:56It's our job to make sure we give it.
0:57:56 > 0:58:00SONG: "Dogs Are Everywhere" by Pulp
0:58:08 > 0:58:11Subtitles by Red Bee Media Ltd