# What do domestic animals "see" humans as?
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-domestic-animals-see-humans-as/141142
**Category:** Factual Questions
**Created:** [December 7, 2002, 4:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-domestic-animals-see-humans-as/141142 "2002-12-07T16:49:29Z")
**Posts on this page:** 20
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@effac3d](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/effac3d)
#### Post date: [December 7, 2002, 4:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-domestic-animals-see-humans-as/141142/1 "2002-12-07T16:49:29Z")
Feeder machines?
A large and horribly deformed member of their own species?
Another kind of animal?
I realize to ask what is going through an animals head is pretty pointless.😃
But this question has kind of bugged me for a while.
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### Author:  [@Lobsang](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lobsang)
#### Post date: [December 7, 2002, 5:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-domestic-animals-see-humans-as/141142/2 "2002-12-07T17:17:24Z")
I watched a documentary that said it was the second on your list.
And more recently I watched a documentary that said it was the first and 3rd - (that cats, for example, have evolved ways of taking advantage of humans in order to be fed and looked after - take meowing - it’s supposed to imitate the sounds of a human child or baby - causing the human to want to respond with care of food)
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### Author:  [@Lobsang](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lobsang)
#### Post date: [December 7, 2002, 5:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-domestic-animals-see-humans-as/141142/3 "2002-12-07T17:18:40Z")
my last ‘of’ is supposed to be an ‘or’
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### Author:  [@J\_String](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/J_String)
#### Post date: [December 7, 2002, 5:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-domestic-animals-see-humans-as/141142/4 "2002-12-07T17:21:41Z")
Dogs see you as “family.”
Cats see you as “the help.” 😉
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### Author:  [@SC\_Wolf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SC_Wolf)
#### Post date: [December 7, 2002, 5:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-domestic-animals-see-humans-as/141142/5 "2002-12-07T17:25:11Z")
Given that dogs are pack animals, I’d speculate they veiw their human family through the lens of pack heirarchy to an extent.
Also, there have been studies that note that adult domestic dogs evidence the same sorts of behaviors as adolescent wild canids, leading researchers to believe that domesication has left dogs in a state of eternal youth, from a psycological standpoint.
So to a dog, we’re sort of older pack-siblings who have enough experience to go out on hunts and bring food back to the den for them.
As for cats? I think they see us as “thumbed slaves good for operating the can opener and giving attention on demand.” 🙂
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### Author:  [@Neurotik](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Neurotik)
#### Post date: [December 7, 2002, 5:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-domestic-animals-see-humans-as/141142/6 "2002-12-07T17:27:36Z")
Essentially, to pack animals (dogs) you are a member of the pack. Which is why it always bugs me to see people treating a dog like a human. So many people have trouble with dogs because they forget that it’s a dog and that the dog thinks it is living in a strict hierarchical society and behaves that way.
I have no idea how cats see humans, but I don’t imagine it’s very pleasant.
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### Author:  [@Liberal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Liberal)
#### Post date: [December 7, 2002, 5:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-domestic-animals-see-humans-as/141142/7 "2002-12-07T17:41:00Z")
**Dog:** “These people feed me! They must be gods!”
**Cat:** “These people feed me. They must think I’m a god.”
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### Author:  [@jack\_ss](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jack_ss)
#### Post date: [December 7, 2002, 5:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-domestic-animals-see-humans-as/141142/8 "2002-12-07T17:56:38Z")
My dog sees my roommates as telepathic door openers. Unfortunately, none of are telepathic. He treats me as the Alpha dog, leader of the pack. And yes, at almost 4 years of age he still exhibits puppy behavior (licking, play bows) to almost all people he knows. This leads me to believe that he sees all adult humans as above him in some kind of dog-pack hierarchy. As for children, I haven’t seen him around enough to make any more judgements except that he is even more playful.
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### Author:  [@yabob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/yabob)
#### Post date: [December 7, 2002, 6:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-domestic-animals-see-humans-as/141142/9 "2002-12-07T18:03:01Z")
> [@](#):
>
> \*Originally posted by Libertarian \*
> \*\ ***Dog:** “These people feed me! They must be gods!”
>
> **Cat:** “These people feed me. They must think I’m a god.” \*\*
**Cow:** “Mmmmm. Food.”
**Chicken:** \
“domestic animals” includes livestock as well as pets, though the thought processes of many of those species are probably best described as minimal to nonexistent, at least we hope they are, in many cases. Otherwise, Orwell’s classic “Animal Farm” is more of a treatise than an allegory.
Still, pigs are perhaps the most intelligent of domesticated animals - how do they see the pig farmer?
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### Author:  [@pravnik](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pravnik)
#### Post date: [December 7, 2002, 6:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-domestic-animals-see-humans-as/141142/10 "2002-12-07T18:07:58Z")
Ditto on the dogs see you as an alpha member of the pack. I’ve heard cats can see you as a mother surrogate in some ways, which explains some behavior like kneading of the paws on you while you pet them. Kittens do this to their mothers when they nurse.
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### Author:  [@BioHazard](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BioHazard)
#### Post date: [December 7, 2002, 7:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-domestic-animals-see-humans-as/141142/11 "2002-12-07T19:41:55Z")
Flower In a Pot: Oh no not again!
😉
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### Author:  [@BioHazard](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BioHazard)
#### Post date: [December 7, 2002, 7:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-domestic-animals-see-humans-as/141142/12 "2002-12-07T19:45:05Z")
sorry, I couldnt help myself.
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### Author:  [@MC\_Master\_of\_Ceremonies](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MC_Master_of_Ceremonies)
#### Post date: [December 7, 2002, 7:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-domestic-animals-see-humans-as/141142/13 "2002-12-07T19:50:48Z")
Apparently, after being domesticated for 30,000 years, dogs have evolved so that they can read human expressions and understand what their master is trying to communicate to them. This can even be seen in young puppies suggesting that they have evolved to such a state where they can understand some human gestures from birth.
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### Author:  [@Eats\_Crayons](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eats_Crayons)
#### Post date: [December 7, 2002, 8:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-domestic-animals-see-humans-as/141142/14 "2002-12-07T20:00:21Z")
> [@](#):
>
> \*Originally posted by Libertarian \*
> \*\ ***Dog:** “These people feed me! They must be gods!”
>
> **Cat:** “These people feed me. They must think I’m a god.” \*\*
It also depends on how you treat them and train them.
Cats that live in groups (like prides of lions) do have a heirarchal system. The rule at our house has always been: “Never feed the cats first thing.” If the first thing you do when you come home is feed the cats, and the first thing you do when you get up is feed the cat – the cat thinks “As soon as they see me, they feed me. I am boss cat! They serve me.”
So if you establish yourself as “boss cat” you are just a weird, tall two-legged cat, at the top of the food chain.
They also behave better when they think you are “boss cat” because your commands actually mean something. If you’re “boss cat” and your cat hops up on the table, when you say “No! Bad cat!” the cat will jump of the table right away. If you’ve let the cat think it’s the boss, when you yell “No! Off the table!” the cat will look at you as if to say “So what are you gonna do about it?”
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### Author:  [@Super\_Gnat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Super_Gnat)
#### Post date: [December 7, 2002, 9:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-domestic-animals-see-humans-as/141142/15 "2002-12-07T21:21:57Z")
> [@](#):
>
> \*Originally posted by MC Master of Cermonies \*
> \*\*Apparently, after being domesticated for 30,000 years, dogs have evolved so that they can read human expressions and understand what their master is trying to communicate to them. This can even be seen in young puppies suggesting that they have evolved to such a state where they can understand some human gestures from birth. \*\*
Cite?
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### Author:  [@Lobsang](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lobsang)
#### Post date: [December 7, 2002, 9:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-domestic-animals-see-humans-as/141142/16 "2002-12-07T21:24:19Z")
> [@](#):
>
> \*Originally posted by Super Gnat \*
> \*\*Cite? \*\*
Cite?
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### Author:  [@pravnik](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pravnik)
#### Post date: [December 7, 2002, 9:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-domestic-animals-see-humans-as/141142/17 "2002-12-07T21:30:40Z")
I’ll back up **MC Master of Ceremonies** to the extent that I heard a report on NPR about a study on dog intelligence that more or less found what he asserts. Dogs, even puppies, were better than chimpanzees at interpreting human gestures. The authors posited it was a natural selection thing; dogs that figured out what we wanted (and maybe more imprtantly, didn’t want) were more likely to contribute to the gene pool. I’ll try to google around to see if I can find the article.
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### Author:  [@clairobscur](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/clairobscur)
#### Post date: [December 7, 2002, 9:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-domestic-animals-see-humans-as/141142/18 "2002-12-07T21:53:29Z")
> [@](#):
>
> \*Originally posted by SC\_Wolf \*
> \*\*.
>
> Also, there have been studies that note that adult domestic dogs evidence the same sorts of behaviors as adolescent wild canids, leading researchers to believe that domesication has left dogs in a state of eternal youth, from a psycological standpoint.
> \*\*
I read about that too, but I also read that there would be similar evidences concerning humans as compared to other primates. We would retain juvenile traits too.
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### Author:  [@Larry\_Mudd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Larry_Mudd)
#### Post date: [December 7, 2002, 10:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-domestic-animals-see-humans-as/141142/19 "2002-12-07T22:04:48Z")
[Dogs Best Friend](http://www.nytimes.com/2002/12/05/opinion/05BUDI.html) (NY Times)
> [@](#):
>
> A new study on dog intelligence, carried out at Harvard, now finds that dogs also have evolved a particular ability to pick up on human gestures. It is an ability other species notably lack. When the Harvard researchers tried to teach chimpanzees that the way to find a hidden snack was to notice which of two bowls the human experimenter looked at, pointed to, or tapped on, the chimps seemed mostly mystified. Dogs aced the test. Even puppies that had had minimal contact with people did well on this test; wolves, however, did not.
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### Author:  [@KenP](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KenP)
#### Post date: [December 7, 2002, 11:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-domestic-animals-see-humans-as/141142/20 "2002-12-07T23:23:09Z")
About ten years ago, I saw a movie (can’t remember which one) which took a dog’s point of view. The dog referred to people as “the ones who can make stones fly”. Maybe that’s how they see us.
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