Anthropomorphism

The term “anthropomorphism” was coined by the Greek philosopher Xenophanes when describing the similarity between religious believers and their gods — that is, Greek gods were depicted having light skin and blue eyes while African gods had dark skin and brown eyes.

ANTHROPOMORPHIZE:  intransitive verb:

To attribute human form or personality to things not human.

The term has been more recently used to describe the humanization of dogs and other animals.  The term needs clarification because, undoubtedly, people on both sides of the issue can use it incorrectly.  For example, we know dogs have feelings, just like people do; they have personalities, just like people do; but putting our feelings and emotions onto them sets them up for failure.  For example:  “My dog gets mad at me when I leave.”  Perhaps he’s sad, lonely or bored, perhaps he is even mad, but automatically thinking the dog is mad because the human left for work might be putting a bigger burden on the dog than he is capable of dealing with. 

Many people are at fault for anthropomorphizing their dogs and dogs in general, particularly if a dog is in duress, at a shelter, older, sick, or at risk.  This is not to say that dogs don’t have feelings or emotions, we’ve already agreed that they do!  However, a dog’s feelings or emotions may not be the same as ours, and trying to make it so puts a dog in a position to fail.  In other words, just because we would be mad at the dog for leaving us, we feel that the dog is mad at us for leaving him.

Furthermore, a dog’s actions or mannerisms can often be misread by comparing them to human actions.  A dog might act in a way that appears to be positive in human-form, yet it might be negative in dog-form and vice-versa.  It’s best to judge dogs as dogs should be judged and not burden them with what we “think looks like something else.”  

Saying that a dog is sad because he sees people walking by his kennel and because his eyes look sad is anthropomorphizing the dog.  The dog might be sad, he might be resting, or he might just be tired or bored.  Since we don’t know the dog, putting our emotions or personality onto him (because that is how we feel or how we would want him to feel) is not beneficial for the dog in any manner.  Furthermore, coddling a dog that we think is afraid, or baby-talking to him (because that is what we would do to a human baby), sets them up for failure.  Dogs who are coddled when acting removed or in distress will not benefit from this action.  Dogs learn and communicate as dogs do, not as humans do.  If we wish to help dogs learn and grow, we must teach them in a way that they understand.  This is where we need to remove the human element of anthropomorphizing the dog.

Anthropomorphizing the dog is giving him human personality or traits ― things he is not familiar with and is unable to deal with.  Telling your dog that “It’s OK, don’t worry, be good, don’t do that, etc.” does not give a dog the tools to deal with the stressful situation he might be facing.  Remember that by simply talking to the dog and trying to verbally explain something to him may set him up for failure.  Dogs generally don’t communicate verbally, rather through body language and energy.  So the fact of trying to explain and verbally communicate is in itself anthropomorphizing the dog.

Dogs Don’t Talk

However, teaching the dog through reward and clear direction that certain behaviors are positive, and others are negative will set him up for success.  Remove the veil of anthropomorphism and help the dog learn, then you can learn from his behaviors without putting false characteristics onto the dog.

As an example, dogs don’t shake hands to greet people; dogs don’t pray before meals; dogs don’t bow to greet us.  We teach them these things in an attempt to humanize or anthropomorphize them.  Dogs greet by sniffing.  How ridiculous would it be if we would start sniffing dogs in order to make our interactions with them more balanced?  Yet this is a key example of anthropomorphizing a dog.  If we teach a dog to shake hands and he shakes our hand, that does not mean, “Look, he’s shaking my hand to say hello.”  He’s giving you his paw because the cue of you kneeling in front of him or putting your hand out is what he learned to put his paw in your hand.  

Separating our preconceived ideas that dogs need to be more like humans in order to be accepted is unfair.  We need to accept that dogs are dogs, and we need to bridge the gap of communication through understanding, not assumptions.  One of my favorite examples is people who refer to dogs as fur babies or fur kids.  

A great example of anthropomorphizing dogs is people who give dogs food without work.  Dogs live to work and are much happier receiving something, whether it is food, reward or affection, after performing a task.  Asking a dog to sit or down or stay before feeding them is one great tool to respect the dog for being a dog.  Asking him to “work” or perform a task in order to gain reward goes a long way in breaking the anthropomorphic wall between dogs and humans.

My dog pees on the tires of my car.  Why does he do that?  Because he probably smells another dog peed on them before or because he is “marking them.”  It’s not because he doesn’t want me to leave.

My dog sits in my suitcase when I pack.  He doesn’t want me to leave.  Or maybe he just likes sitting in a smaller confined area that is new to him?  Perhaps he is getting in the line of action because I am actively interacting with the suitcase and not him!

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Video: Anthropomorphism