# So I'm Thinking About Getting My Son A Dog For Christmas

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-im-thinking-about-getting-my-son-a-dog-for-christmas/606326>\
**Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\
**Created:** [December 15, 2011, 7:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-im-thinking-about-getting-my-son-a-dog-for-christmas/606326 "2011-12-15T19:39:22Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 2\
**Page:** 6

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**Author:** ![Alice\_The\_Goon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ed8c4c/32.png) [@Alice\_The\_Goon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alice_The_Goon)\
**Post date:** [January 12, 2012, 6:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-im-thinking-about-getting-my-son-a-dog-for-christmas/606326/101 "2012-01-12T06:19:44Z")

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**Sailboat** , it’s totally working! Milo has completely stopped biting me. Not so much my son, because he’s not been consistent about it, but he will start and so it should be completely resolved in a day or two. I started it last night, and as of right now, no biting at all. It’s wonderful to be able to pet him freely without random nips unexpectedly. Yay! He’s so smart. He also learned to sit last night and can still do it.

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**Author:** ![Sailboat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sailboat/32/461_2.png) [@Sailboat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sailboat)\
**Post date:** [January 12, 2012, 2:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-im-thinking-about-getting-my-son-a-dog-for-christmas/606326/102 "2012-01-12T14:20:51Z")

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Yeah, I was pretty surprised by how quickly it worked when I tried it.

IMHO it works because dogs have empathy; they recognize when they’ve hurt you and sent you away.

On that note, I recently read (I think in the sometimes-frustrating book _A Small Furry Prayer_) that at least one researcher has proposed that the subspecies of chimpanzee we call “humans” may have learned our ethical system (or at least, the ethical system we aspire to, rather than the one we actually practice) from dogs. A wolf pack’s altruism and cooperation is very different from the scheming, gossiping, adultery, casual betrayal and mob mentality one sees in a typical chimpanzee troop or condominium association.

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