 In studies where a stranger approach was taken, the wolves exhibited more avoidance behavior compared to dogs, and instances of aggression were more common in pet dogs. Researchers, Friederike Range and Sarah Marshall-Pescini of the Konrad Lorenz Institute of Ethology at the University of Veterinary Medicine in Vienna wrote, “Only in tests involving access to resources did four of 16 wolves consistently show aggression toward humans, while none of the 11 dogs did. Studies using a stranger’s threatening approach found more avoidance behavior in adult wolves than in dogs and more occurrences of aggression in (pet) dogs.” Overall, these findings indicate differences in how the wolves and the dogs react to resource related situations and threatening approaches. The wolves displayed more aggression in resource-related tests and the dogs showed more aggression in response to threatening strangers.Â
Author: Isabella
Unit 3 proposal
For unit 3 I will be writing about the differences between wolves’ and dogs’ behaviors but also how they are alike. I chose this topic because it seemed like an interesting fun topic to learn about these two species that have so much in common but live different lifestyles. The audience that I would like to reach is that of people that just want to know more about animals or maybe they are dog lovers learning more facts about their furry friends. I would like to target this audience specifically because I do think that at times people want to read a fun, interesting article about animals just to expand their knowledge. My first step would be finding a particular point from my research that I would like to go into depth more and build from that for my article. One thing that I am worried about is how creative it would be, for example if it is physically appealing. Another would be I don’t want to make something that was supposed to be a fun article into a boring article about 2 kinds of animals.
Research Question Proposal
 The Research Question that I have come up with is How do dog’s ancestry impact their behavior? For as long as I’ve known dogs have been man’s best friend. We play with them, love them, show them tricks but how did these dogs come from wolves ? Wolves are canines, like dogs today. In the past people would use wolves to help them pull their sleds through all kinds of weather conditions. They would also use them to protect themselves and their family from other dangers in the wild. In the news today there are cases where dogs are attacking their owners and the dog’s owners would have to turn them into the pound for them to be put down in view of the fact of how dangerous they are. I personally love animals, especially dogs. But when I was bout 7 years old I made a huge mistake of moving my aunt’s dog’s bowl, while he was about to eat, to another part of the yard, so that I may go on the swing. I believe he was angered by this so he jumped on top of me before I could’ve moved and bit my face. I had to get stitches to keep my bottom lip intact and have the scar to prove it. For a little while I became scared of all kinds of dogs. Since the accident happened, my parents didn’t allow me to play with or have a dog and it didn’t matter how much I begged or pleaded for my 9th birthday. But what is it that makes dogs act out in such circumstances even when they were well behaved ? I believe it can be traced back to their ancestors. I think by researching how wolves evolved into dogs we can gain an understanding on how dogs were made the way they were and how little things may trigger them. I believe that within this research I will find that dogs’ genetics do affect their behavior since they were wild animals at one point. It is the only logical explanation as to why dogs act out at times in my opinion.
