They can smell cancer, covid19 and contraband. Just simply amazing animals.
Tail-wagging in juvenile wolves and foxes was selected for in adult dogs. Their acutely sensitive hearing and olfactory sense complements our eyes etc.
I figure dogs were pretty impressed with our take-downs and were glad to share the spoils, and vice versa. Throw in a warm fire and you got yourself a friend.
[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wolves_as_pets_and_working_ani...
in the sense of domesticating meaning training, I wouldn't call what you can do with a wolf "perfect". Don't leave the baby alone with them.
Except that half of what we eat and drink is toxic to dogs. Our job is to block the dogs natural tendency to kill themselves. A true symbiotic relationship.
Humans are complex critters.
airport staff usually hate it, but you can always play dumb and be like "doggie was hungry"
I don't think they are cleaning, but eating that food.
> the alert you to danger
They alert when they are scared and looking for your help.
> they will fight off bears or other attackers
Not really. Some trained breeds are powerful enough. But smaller and non-trained dogs will run for their lives.
> They can smell cancer, covid19 and contraband.
No. They can be trained to smell them, though. They just happen to have a strong sense of smell like many other animals.
Still helpful
> They alert when they are scared and looking for your help.
Never owned a guard dog, I see. My dog has almost zero reason to be scared of anything, she's massive and strong. She lets me know when anything suspicious happens nearby
> Not really. Some trained breeds are powerful enough. But smaller and non-trained dogs will run for their lives.
Well, obviously. My Pyr can take a small bear, or at least her dad did with no problem.
> No. They can be trained to smell them, though.
They can already smell them, they can be trained to alert us to those smells.
Do you just not like dogs?
No, I have a dog and had dogs since ~10. I just don't have that emotional attachment that makes me see them as these amazing fairy-tale creatures. They are just animals with a human bond.
Also a huge dog doesn't make me feel any safe. Unless you are living in a jungle or war is breaking out in your neighborhood, you don't need a massive dog that can take a bear. Some dog breads are too powerful and can hurt real humans. These are still animals after all and can be unpredictable and harm others[1].
1: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_fatal_dog_attacks_in_t...
The bond can get very strong, and pairing that effect with a dog's unique ability to read human intent and emotion can lead to a very strong relationship.
You're generalizing very strongly here. Many large dog breeds are LGDs, which are generally non-aggressive, to say the least. The most common dog injuries are from Pitbulls and Rottweilers, which have unique temperaments and aren't particularly large.
I live in a poor suburban area. My large dog is an active deterrent to would-be criminals, and she's very gentle and lazy. Based on your verbiage, I'd assume you'd prefer I have a special license to own her?
However my dog is definitely not alerting solely out of fear. He can be aggressive towards strangers in certain situations, and I'm totally confident he would confront an intruder. Though alerting is already enough to warn them and warn us too, even if he didn't.