https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PepZPSbvj6A It occurred to researchers that dogs trained in the “Do-As-I-Do” obedience method presented the opportunity to test whether or not a dog is endowed with episodic memory. From Wikipedia: Episodic memory is the memory of autobiographical events (times, places, associated emotions, and other contextual who, what, when, where, why knowledge) that can be […]

http://www.the-scientist.com/?articles.view/articleNo/47373/title/Mice-Display-Human-Like-Sense-of-Body-Awareness/ This research provides further verification of the phenomenon of emotional projection, by which I mean the projection of a feeling of the body’s physical center-of-gravity (p-cog), into an object so that the object feels to the subject as if it is an extension of its own body. This internal/external emotional connection is facilitated by […]

The following article is quoted in full: By Anil Ananthaswamy “Thanks to unconscious processing, most of us instinctively know where our limbs are and what they are doing. This ability, called proprioception, results from a constant conversation between the body and brain. This adds up to an unerring sense of a unified, physical ‘me’.” “This […]

    http://www.whole-dog-journal.com/issues/19_6/features/A-Dogs-Theory-of-Mind_21468-1.html#.V1RHaXToVto.facebook The Whole Dog Journal in the link above provides an excellent summation of a series of experiments which purport to show that dogs are capable of adjusting their behavior by virtue of being aware of another beings’ point of view. I’ve written about this research before but the subject keeps popping up […]

One reason NDT is hard to propagate is that it requires seeing the evidence through an unfamiliar lens, what I call an immediate-moment manner of analysis. Some mistakenly think the shift required is metaphysical, others think it’s mechanical. Some say my interpretations are too simplistic, and then at another juncture they say it’s too complicated. (I […]

I offer the following as an exercise in critical thinking. The New York Times article below illustrates the pretzel knot that modern behavioral analysis is locked in. The problem arises from trying to understand animal behavior as states of intention rather than as states of attraction. This leads to the false dichotomy that if behavior isn’t […]

(This is a very, very long post on NDT theory)   Canine body language revolves around the same question that drives much social research, what is the nature of impulse control? I propose that a primal impulse can only be held in check by an impulse of equal primacy. Otherwise an individual will be in […]

After being stimulated by something, the first step in an act of mental apprehension is the phenomenon of emotional projection. The animal projects its physical center of gravity into the form of what it’s attracted to and thus arrives at a feeling. This is the most conservative statement that can be made about the mental lives […]

This is a classic example of emotional projection. The hound has driven the prey up the tree and longs for it. Note the body position and the vocal behavior that is wholly concordant with the howl. This is the evolutionary antecedent to the howl as emotion is predicated on the prey/predator duality and dynamic. The […]

By now we’ve all seen a video that’s gone viral about the mysterious hold cats have over dogs. One blogger thinks this is due to a decline of intelligence in the modern dog. http://aknextphase.com/?p=1785 And while it’s true that there has been a decline in the physical and emotional constitution of dogs (see the chapter: […]

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/12/04/goose-german-shepherd_n_4386472.html The takeaway sentence in this article is that the goose “stood up for herself.” This means that she reflected the shepherd’s emotional charge back at him, and this resistance is what triggered the dog’s physical memories of flow, i.e. its puppy mind. Then through a process of elaboration wherein both individuals generate traits on […]

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/11/19/science/coldblooded-does-not-mean-stupid.html?ref=science&_r=0 The Neo-Darwinian theory holds that a process of natural selection sifted through a huge genetic pool of slightly variable traits and eventually complex social behavior and the capacity to learn emerged in higher species. Driving this evolutionary process is said to be the need, or “urge” of genes to replicate. In the Neo-Darwinian model […]

“Movement is the only way we have of interacting with the world, whether foraging for food or attracting a waiter’s attention. Indeed, all communication, including speech, sign language, gestures and writing, is mediated via the motor system.” Daniel Wolpert Phd. http://cbl.eng.cam.ac.uk/Public/Wolpert/WebHome To repeat, full emotional conductivity is moving without restriction. This kind of movement is […]

While I do not expect an interesting dialogue to emerge from this post/counter-post exchange with the Unknown Scientist, http://dogbehaviorscience.wordpress.com/2013/07/21/5-tall-tales-from-1-small-mind/ I nevertheless welcome the opportunity to rub my theory up against the mainstream in order to render some important distinctions that can help bring the emotional dynamic into sharper relief and hopefully make the effort worthwhile […]

I didn’t attend either the conference linked below or log onto its streamed content Society for the Promotion of Applied Research in Canine Science (SPARCS). but Eric Brad wrote a good overview of his experiences there– http://lifeasahuman.com/2013/pets/dogs-the-best-friend-we-hardly-know/ Since I’m familiar with the work of the various speakers I feel qualified to make the following comments. […]

http://www.wimp.com/throwstick/ Does this dog need its head examined, or does this video reveal something profound about the nature of information? Modern ethologists, behaviorists and many trainers argue that dogs and wolves organize into social structures according to a rational calculation relative to gaining control over resources. Supposedly dogs compute a cost/benefit analysis, while taking in […]

I started this section on body language in order to explain what’s going on in a You Tube clip of an interesting interaction between a Rhodesian Ridgeback and a Malinois. While brief, the video is rich with dynamic. In fact there’s so much going on that it’s necessary to do some theoretical backfilling before going […]

Learning To Bark Is A Wave Alwynne writes an excellent blog about her dog “Cholula” which among other themes documents the trials and tribulations of teaching a dog to speak on command. http://sweetslugabed.com/blog/2012/10/09/cholula-shows-her-speak/ What’s interesting about the bark-on-command is that some dogs get it instantly whereas for some dogs it can take a long, long…………long, […]

Also on Dog Star Daily is an article by Roger Abrantes on how to resolve the controversies about training methods. http://www.dogstardaily.com/blogs/dog-training—lets-end-fighting Abrantes divides the debate into the moralistic, the naturalistic, and the scientific camps. However what’s missing is an understanding of flow, a serious omission given that flow is the organizing principle of  nature. I suggest we […]

Olympic athletes do it, lovers do it, and now we know even Hermit Crabs do it. What is it they all do? Emotional projection, i.e. extending a sense-of-self beyond the limits of their body. “Abstract A flexible body image is required by animals if they are to adapt to body changes and move effectively within […]

What is body language? http://www.coffscoastadvocate.com.au/story/2012/07/13/horse-training-methods-questioned/ This article demonstrates how interpreting behavior in the absence of a model leads to a defective conclusion. I’m not speaking here about what is the right way to train a horse, the researchers might be right that one shouldn’t scare a horse with a plastic bag, drive it around a […]

http://www.physorg.com/news/2011-01-infants-ascribe-social-dominance-larger.html I believe that the interpretation of this experiment is a case of leaping to a foregone conclusion. I temper this however with the acknowledgment that social dominance is indeed possible between human beings because human beings are capable of comparing one moment or one point-of-view to another. Thus it takes a certain amount of […]

I’ve noticed that reforming problem dogs is getting harder. Why? Because dog owners are now well-trained, and one of the most influential trainers in the education of the modern dog owner is Ian Dunbar, in particular, his concept of “bite inhibition.” Ian Dunbar: “I shall repeat over and over: teaching bite inhibition is the most important […]

In this video an important development occurs within the mind of the sable GSD. He can feel emotional leverage, in other words he feels grounded into the other dog and connected to his “self” and therefore because he’s in hunger circuitry, Newton’s second law of motion is enabled, i.e. every action has an equal and […]

Adam asks: “Also, is eye contact from the object of attraction onto the dog, required for this phenomenon of emotional projection?” It’s not required as a two way deal, but the dog fixates on the eyes of what it’s attracted to because this gives it direct and instant access to its own body’s physical center […]

Some Interesting Science: http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2011/04/110428070237.htm   “Scientists from the Max Planck Institute for Biological Cybernetics in Tübingen, Germany recently reported in the journal PLoS ONE that although the physical laws governing object stability are reasonably well represented by the brain, you are a better judge of how objects fall when you are upright than when you […]

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/05/03/science/03firewalker.html?_r=1 The above is an excellent story which in my view details how through emotional projection (the stronger the bond the more the individual “lets go” and releases into the vicarious experience of watching what another, with whom they’re bonded, is experiencing.) Then, the hearts become synchronized so as to establish a common beat. Emotion […]

Mother dog adopts kittens

Here are some good examples on Youtube of advanced forms of emotional projection and emotional center of gravity. Persistence Hunting The Barefoot Professor Kevin: What’s profoundly compelling to me is watching these hunters get into an almost musical rhythm as they synchronize with the movements of their prey, they pick up the cadence and I […]