经济学人下载:狗狗,人类最好的朋友

Dogs are not like nicely brought-up wolves, says the author, nor are they much like people despite their extraordinary ability to enter our lives and our hearts. This is not to deny that some dogs are very clever or that they are capable of feeling emotion deeply. But their intelligence is different from ours. The idea that some dogs can understand as many words as a two-year-old child is simply wrong and an inappropriate way of trying to measure canine intellect. Rather, their emotional range is more limited than ours, partly because, with little sense of time, they are trapped almost entirely in the present. Dogs can experience joy, anxiety and anger. But emotions that demand a capacity for self-reflection, such as guilt or jealousy, are almost certainly beyond them, contrary to the convictions of many dog owners.

根据布拉德肖的看法，狗并不是精心调教大的狼，也不怎么像人类——尽管他们能如此走进我们的生活，走进我们的内心。当然不否认有些狗非常聪明，善于体会人类的感情。但狗的智力和我们是不同的。有人说一些狗能理解的词汇数量可以同一个两岁小孩一样多，这种看法根本就是不对的，狗的智力也不能用这种方式衡量。实际上，狗的情感范围相比人类是很有限的，这部分是因为狗没有时间的概念，因此几乎就生活在当前。狗确实能够体会高兴、焦虑和愤怒，但和很多狗主人所想的完全相反，有些情感如内疚或嫉妒等需要自省能力，这些情感是几乎完全在狗的体验能力之外的。

Mr Bradshaw believes that it is difficult for people to empathize with the way in which dogs experience and respond to the world through their extraordinary sense of smell: their sensitivity to odours is between 10,000 and 100,000 times greater than ours. A newly painted room might be torture for a dog; on the other hand, their olfactory ability and their trainability allow dogs to perform almost unimaginable feats, such as smelling the early stages of a cancer long before a normal medical diagnosis would detect it.

布拉德肖觉得，关于狗有一点人们很难理解，即狗靠其灵敏的嗅觉来体验周围世界并作出反应：狗的嗅觉灵敏度是人类的1万到10万倍。让狗呆在新粉刷的房屋里可能对它就是巨大的折磨；另一方面，狗的嗅觉敏锐度和高度可训练性让它们能够做到几乎无法想象的事情，例如早在医学诊断结果出来之前，狗就可以嗅出早期癌症。

The latest scientific research can help dogs and their owners have happier, healthier relationships by encouraging people to understand dogs better. But Mr Bradshaw is also fearful. In particular, he deplores the incestuous narrowing of the gene pool that modern pedigree breeders have brought about. Dogs today are rarely bred for their working abilities (herding, hunting, guarding), but for a very particular type of appearance, which inevitably risks the spread of physical and temperamental abnormalities. Instead, he suggests that dogs be bred for the ideal behavioural traits associated with the role they will actually play. He also worries that the increasing urbanisation of society and the pressures on couples to work long hours are putting dogs under huge strain. He estimates that about 20% of Britain’s 8m dogs and America’s 70m suffer from “separation distress” when their owners leave the house, but argues that sensible training can teach them how to cope.

最新的科学研究鼓励人们去更加了解狗，从而使狗与主人之间的关系更加健康愉快。但布拉德肖也有担忧，他尤其反对现今为保证狗种纯正而让狗近亲繁殖，导致狗的基因库缩小。如今狗种培育很少是注重其为人们做事的能力（如放牧、打猎、看门等），而是为了让其具有特定外形，这不可避免地可能导致一些生理和性情上的畸形现象随繁殖而扩散。布拉德肖认为，狗种培育时应注重保留与其扮演角色相关的优点。他还担心随着城市化发展，人们工作时间增长，狗也会面临巨大压力。据他估计，英国800万和美国7000万只狗中，约有20%在主人离开时表现出“分别忧郁症”症状，不过他认为合理训练会让狗们知道如何应付分别。

"Dog Sense” is neither a manual nor a sentimental account of the joys of dog-ownership. At times its rigorously research-led approach can be slightly heavy going. A few more jolly anecdotes might have leavened the mix. But this is a wonderfully informative, quietly passionate book that will benefit every dog whose owner reads it.

《狗的心灵世界》既非养狗手册亦非养狗之乐的温情系列。书中有的地方引用大量研究结果，读起来可能还有些费劲，如果书中再增加些趣事的话可能会让内容轻松一点。但不管怎样，本书是一本内容充实、充满热情又不失宁静的好书，读读这本书会让你的爱犬幸福无比的。