Your anxious dog might be a pessimist

[boingboing]

Originally published at: https://boingboing.net/2024/07/29/your-anxious-dog-might-be-a-pessimist.html

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[anon61221983]

Via Gail Sherman…

[Purplecat]

Optimistic dogs think the bowl is half full.
Pessimistic dogs think the bowl is half empty.
Cats think the servants are slacking and trying to starve them when they can see the bottom of the bowl.

[FGD135]

[RickMycroft]

Or maybe it’s you?

Stress in humans can affect how optimistic dogs feel, research suggests

Also from the University of Bristol, but it doesn’t sound like the same paper.

[anon33176345]

Esme (quite old Border Terrier) correctly predicted that there would be two puppies and two adolescent dogs visiting yesterday, she made the decision to stake out the best bit of shade where her snoozing wouldn’t be interrupted by pesky youngsters. All youngsters will be tuckered out for a week. Esme gets a choice of breakfasts to steal.

[Purplecat]

@RickMycroft

Also from the University of Bristol, but it doesn’t sound like the same paper.

The idea that they’ve got two rival groups of canine psychologists in the same department, conducting a furious research war and trying to refute each other’s conclusions is quite funny.

[Steve_L]

Hopefully it’s not a dog-eat-dog department

[euansmith]

She lived so close to the school that between classes she could hear her dog howling from home.