Issue Date: October 21, 2007
Why we love puppies
Why is it that even those who don't like dogs like puppies?
By Steve Dale
Walking a pit bull is an interesting experience. No matter how happy-go-lucky and friendly that individual dog is, lots of people cross the street to steer clear. Some people are repelled by pit bulls, some by large dogs and others by all dogs. But those concerns go out the window if you happen to be walking a 14-week-old pit bull puppy, as I recently did. The little wiggly pup was a people magnet. It turns out that we can't help but love puppies, even pit bull puppies. There's just something about them.
We're simply hard-wired to be attracted to the little creatures. After all, their large foreheads and big, round eyes are reminiscent of human babies. Clearly, we're predisposed to care for babies. "We're a nurturing species. We need to be," agrees animal behaviorist Patricia McConnell. "Our babies require a great deal of care for many years. When we see these cues, we can't help but respond with a rush of a hormone called oxytocin. We generalize our feelings to other species -- including dogs.
We're hard-wired to be attracted to the little creatures.
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Believe it or not, that generalization in scientific parlance is called the "aw" factor. We respond with lots of smiles, a softer and higher voice, and we tend to actually say "aw."
Having once worked at a zoo, I can confirm that baby animals who look most like us, the mammals -- particularly great ape babies -- got lots of "aws." Snakes, not so many.
Sometimes, this same generalized attraction occurs when we see adult animals. With their big eyes, large, roundish heads, pronounced foreheads and fairly short snouts, adult pandas elicit the same response that babies do. "After all, they look like cuddly teddy bears," says McConnell, the author of "For the Love of a Dog: Understanding Emotion in You and Your Best Friend." "I mean, why do you think teddy bears are so appealing?"
In his 30 years as a dog show judge and breeder, Carmen Battaglia, president of the American Kennel Club Companion Animal Recovery Program and behavioral scientist/researcher, says he has met people who don't care for dogs. But he has never met anyone who doesn't like puppies.
According to McConnell, it's no coincidence that dogs look like they do. For thousands of years, we've played a role in their selection and, naturally, we select features that are most appealing to us. Of course, many dogs were bred for a function -- to herd sheep or retrieve waterfowl, for example -- and their features reflect their jobs. However, other dogs were simply bred for our pleasure, and human baby-like features seem to be more evident in these breeds.
Battaglia, who lives in Roswell, Ga., offers the Cavalier King Charles spaniel as an example. "They have many puppy features, even as adults," he says. "There's the soft expression and those big eyes. Lots of adult dogs of many breeds have a perpetual look of innocence, and that's appealing also."
McConnell says, to a large degree, we've bred all dogs to retain puppy characteristics, like playfulness, throughout their lives. Dogs are one of only a few neotenous (retaining many child-like characteristics as adults) species on the planet. (Others include humans, chimps and otters.) "We find puppies so appealing that we want them to be puppies forever," she adds.
Still, there's more that's appealing about pups, says Joan Engel, a Boston-based expert on dog behavior. Aside from those visual cues, they actually smell fresh. And McConnell says some of their whimpering sounds remind us of baby sounds, and that's endearing to us. "Also, puppies make us laugh -- and laughter naturally feels good," Engel says. "We're all drawn to what makes us feel good."
But if puppies do all these great things for us and trigger an oxytocin burst that can't be avoided, then why do some cultures treat puppies unkindly? "No one really knows," Engel says. "I contend the biology is the same in everyone -- it's just that culture can be a powerful force. Just as people who are afraid of adult dogs are unlikely to fear puppies, I would bet that young children not exposed to the cultural norms of those places not as friendly toward dogs would find that they are naturally charmed by puppies, but there's no research on this as far as I know."
Puppies certainly do charm us. It's no coincidence that they are often used in TV and print ads. "Associating your product with a puppy seems to help," Engel says. "Puppies can do no wrong." Well, until they piddle on your carpet.
Steve Dale last wrote about the joys and challenges of a multi-pet household.
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