Inside of a Dog_ What Dogs See, Smell, and Know - Alexandra Horowitz [110]
Finally, just as we have highly sensitive areas—the tip of the tongue, our fingers—so too does the dog. There is a species level to this—no person likes being poked in the eye—and an individual level—I might be ticklish on the bottoms of my feet, while you aren't at all. You can easily do a tactile survey and map your own dog's body. Not only are the favored and prohibited places to touch different, but the very form of contact is crucial. In a dog's world repeated touching is different than constant pressure. Since touch is used to communicate a message, holding a hand in one place on a dog's body conveys that same message writ large. At the same time, full-body contact is preferred by some dogs, especially young dogs, and especially when they are the initiators of the contact. Dogs often find places to lie down that maximize contiguity of body with body. This might be a safe posture for dogs, especially as puppies, when they are entirely reliant on others for their care. To feel light pressure along the whole body is to have assurance of your well-being.
It is hard to imagine knowing a dog but not touching him—or being touched by him. To be nudged by a dog's nose is a pleasure unmatched.
AT HELLO
Early in my life with Pumpernickel, I got a full-time job and she got a classic case of separation anxiety. Mornings as I prepared to leave the house after our walk, she began to whimper, shadow me from room to room, and, finally, vomit. I consulted with trainers who gave me very reasonable guidelines to reduce her stress at separation. I followed all known commonsensical procedures, and before too long Pump returned to a healthy mental and physical state. But there was one dictum I didn't follow. Don't ritualize your departure and later return, they advised; don't celebrate your reunion. I refused. Her snuffly, nosed greeting, our heaping together on the floor in a joyous commemoration of togetherness, was too good to let go.
Lorenz called the greeting between animals after being apart a "redirected appeasement ceremony." That nervous excitement one might feel on suddenly seeing someone else in one's den or territory could lead to two different results: an attack of the potential stranger, or a redirection of the excitement into a greeting. His idea was that there is very little difference between the attack and the greeting, besides a few subtle alterations or additions. Between mallards, one of the birds he studied extensively, two individuals meeting each other engage in a rhythmical "ceremonial to-and-fro movement" that could become aggressive, but for the male mallard, the drake, lifting his head and turning it away. This leads to a mutual ceremony of pretending to preen each other, and the greeting is complete: another fight inhibited.
The greeting among humans is similarly ritualized. We look each other in the eyes, wave hands at each other, hug or kiss once or twice or thrice depending on one's native country. These all may be redirections of an uncertain feeling upon seeing someone else. What is more, we may smile or chuckle. Nothing is more reassuring of the good intent of another person than laughter, Lorenz proposed. This paroxysm of noise is surely most often the expression of joy, but it might also be an eruption typical of alarm reformulated