# Humans really ARE cursorial hunters.
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/humans-really-are-cursorial-hunters/663625
**Category:** In My Humble Opinion
**Created:** [July 16, 2013, 1:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/humans-really-are-cursorial-hunters/663625 "2013-07-16T01:42:30Z")
**Posts on this page:** 11
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@Cheshire\_Human](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cheshire_Human)
#### Post date: [July 16, 2013, 1:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/humans-really-are-cursorial-hunters/663625/1 "2013-07-16T01:42:30Z")
We evolved to chase our prey until it gets too tired to run. My mutt escaped my mother. I followed him for over a mile, even though I have a bad leg with plenty of metal in it. I followed that fucking mutt, limping the entire way, but the mutt could only stay a _little_ way in front of me, until he couldn’t. Fucking mutt. Don’t try to out-walk us humans. We’ll _get_ you, eventually. That said, I love my dog. I’m just a bit pissed at him, tonight. But I caught the bastard, anyway.
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### Author:  [@Glazer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Glazer)
#### Post date: [July 16, 2013, 2:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/humans-really-are-cursorial-hunters/663625/2 "2013-07-16T02:14:51Z")
You should try training him. It’s much easier than chasing him down. One quick Here Boy! Sit! Good Boy! And Bob’s yer Uncle.
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### Author:  [@Arrendajo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Arrendajo)
#### Post date: [July 16, 2013, 2:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/humans-really-are-cursorial-hunters/663625/3 "2013-07-16T02:28:44Z")
Naw, it does a dog good to be chased down by a human every once in a while.
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### Author:  [@Learjeff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Learjeff)
#### Post date: [July 16, 2013, 2:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/humans-really-are-cursorial-hunters/663625/4 "2013-07-16T02:45:57Z")
Wow. Slow pup! Actually, you just have a dog that didn’t want to get very far away.
I had a dog that I could walk in the woods without a leash, normally. Then I tried taking her XC skiing. Not sure why it was different, but within seconds she was in the next county. Fortunately, she eventually came to our calls. But no way I could have followed her without being able to track her (and even with the snow, and me on skis, that wasn’t on).
I do believe we can outrun a dog if we can track it, in the long run, and if we’re in very good shape. But they can run so fast for just a few minutes, if they put enough distance we can’t find them, no way.
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### Author:  [@ZipperJJ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ZipperJJ)
#### Post date: [July 16, 2013, 4:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/humans-really-are-cursorial-hunters/663625/5 "2013-07-16T16:19:42Z")
You were doing it wrong. My dog will walk ahead of me as long as she can see me. If she gets to where she can’t see me and I give her a holler, she comes running back.
Since he could see you, the mutt thought you guys were just on a nice stroll together!
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### Author:  [@Tikkimouse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tikkimouse)
#### Post date: [July 16, 2013, 9:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/humans-really-are-cursorial-hunters/663625/6 "2013-07-16T21:07:12Z")
Being gimpy myself, a technique I’ve used a couple of times is, after following the dog for a few minutes, I bend over, point to something on the ground and say, " What’s this?" The pooch comes to investigate and I grab him and put his collar back on. Of couse, you can’t do that too often or he’ll get wise.
Also, I don’t attempt to run. Muttley will think he’s playing a game of Keep Away From the Human, staying 10 or 20 feet out of your reach. That’s just annoying if you’re the Human he’s keeping away from. (The dog gets mega points if he can annoy you, so keep calm. Humans don’t get any points, however, no matter what we do. The game just doesn’t work that way.)
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### Author:  [@Cheshire\_Human](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cheshire_Human)
#### Post date: [July 16, 2013, 9:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/humans-really-are-cursorial-hunters/663625/7 "2013-07-16T21:35:37Z")
> [@Glazer](#):
>
> You should try training him. It’s much easier than chasing him down. One quick Here Boy! Sit! Good Boy! And Bob’s yer Uncle.
We just got him as a rescue from an abusive home a couple of months ago. And he’s 7 years old, so there’s the ‘old dogs, new tricks’ bit. We’re still working on the training. He sometimes comes to the dog-whistle, but I didn’t have it in my pocket at the time. Oh, well, chase the dog. ☹
ETA: I wasn’t really looking for advice, I was just commenting on my amazement at what I could do, despite my gimpy leg that I was still in PT for this time last year, and still couldn’t walk a mile on (until yesterday). And it’s the human evolution as cursorial hunters that made it possible.
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### Author:  [@redtail23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/redtail23)
#### Post date: [July 16, 2013, 9:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/humans-really-are-cursorial-hunters/663625/8 "2013-07-16T21:46:09Z")
My little beastie can easily outrun me - hell, she’d leave me (on my bicycle) far behind if I didn’t have her on a leash.
BUT if I take her out for a long walk at a brisk pace, without letting her stop and muck about, I can wear her little tail out.
If she was really trying to escape, I’d have to have some sort of mad tracking skillz to find her after the initial dash, though.
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### Author:  [@Cheshire\_Human](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cheshire_Human)
#### Post date: [July 16, 2013, 10:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/humans-really-are-cursorial-hunters/663625/9 "2013-07-16T22:49:34Z")
Too late to edit. He’s also learning hand signals. My mother’s last three dogs would all respond to hand signals you’d probably never notice, so they’d come and sit by my foot, even though they wanted to kill you. Getting them to stop growling at you, on the other hand…
This guy has gotten to the point where he’ll respond to a blatantly obvious ‘sit’ hand signal, but will sometimes willfully ignore it until it’s obvious to him that we mean it, and won’t let him get away with ignoring it. Gotta get him to obey that one, reliably, before we start introducing new ones.
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### Author:  [@Cheshire\_Human](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cheshire_Human)
#### Post date: [July 16, 2013, 11:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/humans-really-are-cursorial-hunters/663625/10 "2013-07-16T23:00:10Z")
> [@redtail23](#):
>
> If she was really trying to escape, I’d have to have some sort of mad tracking skillz to find her after the initial dash, though.
Unfortunately for Deuce, I _do_ have mad tracking skillz. A couple of times he _did_ dash through the brush. I went around and tracked him from where he came out. He wasn’t trying to get away, _per se_, but he _was_ trying to stay far enough ahead that he’d still be free to wander, without me catching him. Sorry mutt. That was never in the cards. Fear my mad cursorial hunting skillz!
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### Author:  [@dropzone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dropzone)
#### Post date: [July 17, 2013, 1:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/humans-really-are-cursorial-hunters/663625/11 "2013-07-17T01:18:42Z")
Had a Cocker who would stay 50 feet in front of me. I think it was because Cockers don’t have all of the gundog instincts bred out of them and she was looking for things for me to shoot. She’d sure get annoyed that I never shot anything she pointed at. She didn’t understand that the neighbors would object to me shooting robins in their front yards.