Humans Are Dogs As Social Facilitators

Humans Are Dogs, Dogs are Human: Current Literature, Media, and Real Observations Framing Dogs as Social Facilitators and Actors

Introduction

In much literature that has been produced, the identification of dogs as social actors conscious of their own decisions and actions is deemed null instead prompting the idea of dogs as objects, machines, or beings controlled by innate instinct and incapable of real communication that humans project their own humanness upon. (Sanders 2009) With the modern popularity of animal rights and animal welfare organizations across the western world, as well as expanding into countries such as Indonesia despite pushback based around cultural norms, the questioning of the functions of dogs in society comes into consideration

In this case, dogs labeled as social facilitators and actors, no longer seen as machines guided by innate functions with no will, means dogs

In many cases, dogs are removed from social interaction due to their lack of a constructed language and more reliance on gestures, but this ignores the fact that despite no shared language that communication is still a valid option between human and dogs. (Sanders 2009) While many would argue that dogs become accustomed acting in a particular way based on repetition of expected action after a particular method of communication, my observations exhibit that dogs can develop more nuanced understandings of communication between human and dog. In one case, my roommate entered our apartment to the excitement of my dog, AJ, who immediately jumped off the couch to greet him. Other than the infantilized voice of my roommate greeting her, he asked “Do you love your dad?” immediately prompting AJ to run back towards me jumping onto my lap. Ignoring the intimate implications of this moment for now, AJ obviously understood who I was and was prompted to return to me by the communication from my roommate. While AJ had heard people refer to me as her dad, her act of returning to me and showing me affection showed a sense of understandings about what our relationship was despite divides in ability to communicate. In other cases, AJ