Anthropomorphism is when human beings assign attributes that are thought of as being exclusively human to non-human beings or objects. What does this have to do with dog training? Much more than you may realize.
We have to be careful when describing our pets and what motivates their behavior. As humans we tend to assume that other living things (minimally) that we feel close to, share our same feelings, motivations and experience. This may be so on some level. On another level, it may not be.
At some point in history it was considered anthropomorphic to say that dogs feel pain. We know now that they certainly do feel pain. Sometimes, claiming something anthropomorphic is just a way of perpetuating abuse.
Sometimes we become anthropomorphic to explain our dog’s behavior because we have no other explanation and then attempt to change our dog’s behavior based on that anthropomorphic explanation. This is where it mucks up the waters when you are training your dog.
People often say that their dog knows what they did wrong because they hang their head or tuck their tail. A dog that is displaying this body language is showing appeasing behaviors. It is a way for dogs to attempt to dispel a potential escalation in aggression, whether it is from you or another dog. A recent study shows that dogs have a physiological response to increased levels of testosterone in their human counterparts. Perhaps the dog is able to detect hormonal changes in the body when we are angry because they had an accident on the rug or they tore open the garbage while we are gone or maybe they are just responding to our body language. Either way, we need to take a step back when explaining our dog's behavior and make sure that we are not assuming that our dogs experience the world the same way we do.
Two great books that explore this concept and how it affects our relationship with dogs are Inside Of A Dog by Alexandria Horowitz and Culture Clash by Jean Donaldson.
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