Living in the Literal World

Seeing isn't necessarily believing!

Keeping in the Halloween spirit, there’s been an online trend called “Horsemanning.”  Horsemanning is creating an undoctored photograph that looks like a decapitated body with a head next to it.  What makes it entertaining is that observers know that what they’re seeing is not real.  It’s just an optical illusion.  But what if we weren’t sure?  What if we took the photos for exactly what they represented?  That’s how a dog would perceive the picture.

Dogs are literal thinkers that lack gestalt.  In other words, they are incapable of creating a whole picture when given just parts.  For humans, this is the ability to see the picture in a dot-to-dot, for example, before the dots are connected or to know that when someone walks behind a curtain they are behind the curtain.  This is a learned behavior, which is why young children need to connect the dots in order to see the picture and why peek-a-boo is so entertaining for infants.  Dogs never develop this capability to the same extent as people.  So, when Bob the neighbor walks by behind a wall and only his head is visible, dogs do not assume that the rest of Bob’s body is behind the wall.  Bob’s head is a floating head.  Scary.  When a dog buddy goes home and then goes out into the yard behind the fence, it becomes mysterious disembodied dog.  Scary. It only becomes a buddy again when completely viewed.  Some dogs do learn object permanence, which is knowing things exist, even if they can no longer see it.  If they watch a treat being covered by a cup, they assume that the object remains under the cup.

Literal thinking can also apply to clothing accessories, especially costumes.  Dogs that are unfamiliar with people wearing hats, sunglasses, or even roller skates are seeing bizarre “whole” pictures:  humans with oddly extended heads, frighteningly large eyes, or fast noisy feet.  Costumes aren’t costumes but “real,” which is confusing and frightening for dogs and even young children, who have a similar perception of the world.  Dogs familiar with other dogs can suddenly become frightened of the walking hot dog with their friend’s face.  Despite the strong reliance on scent, a dog’s survival skills prioritize unusual over the familiar.

In addition, dogs base their vision of the world on previous experiences.  They might be able to combine previous experiences into novel combinations, but if they haven’t seen an item before or experienced something before, in their minds it doesn’t exist.   For example, if a dog only goes for walks in the neighborhood and on occasional trips to the vet, when you leave the house, in the dog’s mind you, too, are only going to a walk around the block or to the vets.  The scent information you bring home creates a complicated picture because it doesn’t match with the dog’s knowledge base.  Seeing something even slightly different, such as a person who walks differently or who has hair on his face is an oddity first and human only after safety is established.

New experiences can be disturbing unless most
previous new experiences are positive.

Personality and experience dictate how a dog reacts to new items and situations.  Dogs categorize everything into three categories:  Bad/Dangerous, Neutral, or Good/Beneficial.   That’s why it’s so important for puppies to be exposed to many different people and situations in a positive manner.  If their memory bank is full of good or neutral experiences, they are more apt to expect new experiences to also be good or neutral.  Bad experiences would be seen as “abnormalities,” making the dog more confident and willing to try other new situations.  However, dogs that are genetically inclined to be shy, like shy people, might still be more hesitant in new situations, although not as hesitant as a dog that has had predominantly no experience or bad experiences with novelty.

We can help our dogs to become more comfortable around new situations.  Regularly introducing something safe and new to something already comfortable and familiar can make novelty less threatening.  Preventing or intervening when there is a potential “bad” experience in a new situation can not only build confidence, but increase our dogs’ trust in us.  Not forcing our dogs to go beyond their comfort zone can also help bring confidence.  Allowing dogs to advance on their own into new situations while we give encouragement and incentives can create good associations as well. When dogs know they can trust us to protect them and that we “have their back,” “new” can go from scary to an opportunity for discovery. And that’s money in the experience bank!