Mens Journal

leptic seizure or soothe a person with severe

anxiety. Larson also believes that dogs have

taught us about compassion. “I don’t think

anyone with a turtle thinks their turtle

makes them a better person” he says.

Along with elevating our humanity dogs

have also helped us def ine masculinity says

psychologist Chris Blazina a professor at

NewMexicoStateUniversity.“Manymen

exhibit ‘normative male alexithymia’ which

is the diff iculty of dialing into your feelings

and being able to express them” he adds.

“Contemporary psychology says we are all

hard-wired to make attachments throughout

our lifetime but these men feel they are an

exception. The American ideal of masculin-

ity — the cowboy the sailor Henry David

Thoreau — is based on the idea of self-suf-

f iciency the sense of isolation being proof

positive that you are a mature man.” In the

company of dogs however men let down

their emotional walls which allows them to

form attachments without fear of judgment.

Through his research Blazina who

recently co-editedMen and Their Dogs: A

New Understanding of Man’s Best Friend has

come to believe that dogs are covert thera-

pists able to process human emotion like

we do. “Dogs exhibit something called the

left gaze bias” he says. They look to the right

side of our face which is less able to hide the

strong emotions that reveal themselves in

micro-expressions (subtle versions of what

poker players know as a “tell”). “They only

do that with humans not with other dogs

or animals” Blazina says. “They are attuned

to us respond to our upsets and soothe us.”

Blazina speaks from personal experi-

ence conveyed in his poignant memoir

When Man Meets Dog. Years ago he suffered

from Ménière’s disease an inner-ear aff lic-

tion that causes a loss of hearing and bal-

ance. “My dog Sadie would jump up on the

bedandliebesidemewhenIhadepisodes”

he recalls. “The vertigo was so strong that I

would throw up until I passed out with my

head in the toilet. I was unmarried then and

the thought that came to my mind was ‘Who

would take care of Sadie if I died?’ That is one

of the better parts of being a man: taking care

of those we love and letting them take care of

us. That relationship changed the quality of

my life. Sadie’s single-minded devotion was

like no other connection I’ve had and there

is something incredibly uplifting about it.”

TheendresultforallofusBlazinasaysis

that dogs become a reprieve from the cultural

burden of being the macho stock characters

webelievewehave tobe.“Inthepresenceofa

dog we love we become more whole men.”Q

Though it may be hard to imagine dogs

working as on-site technicians in hospitals

and airports or serving as personal can-

cer detectors in the home their increased

presence in health care settings is a testa-

ment to their steadfast bedside manner. “In

every case where empathy is important you

will see dogs present more and more”

Haworth predicts. “If I had to deliver a can-

cer diagnosis to someone it would be really

nice to have a pet sitting on his lap. Dogs

aren’t motivated by eff iciency. They don’t

have to run off to their next patient. They’re

happy to hang out with you.”

SOME ACADEMICS GO A STEP further still.

They argue that dogs are not only benefi-

cial to human health but also an essential

component of our very existence on this

planet—thatwithouthuman-caninekin-

ship and the co-evolution of the two species

theworldwouldnotbewhatitistoday.Dogs

were the f irst domesticated animals dat-

ing back at least 15000 years says Greger

Larsonabiologistinthearchaeology

department at the University of Oxford.

“Without dogs” Larson says “you don’t have

other domesticated animals and plants. You

don’t have civilization.” Dogs became essen-

tial workers hunting game and protecting

the agriculture and livestock that allowed

the human race to f lourish.

“Dogs evolved from a subpopulation of

wolves that had a special temperament not

fearful or aggressive that enabled them to

get close to humans and their resources”

says Hare. “Dogs changed genetically to

become more like us psychologically. They

evolved to pay attention to and care about

you.” A pet dog is a member of the family

and we see one almost as we do our own chil-

dren. It’s no wonder Hare says that dogs

of all breeds have contributed more to our

understanding of human psychology than

any other species has.

That understanding goes both ways.

Because they have cohabited with humans

for so long dogs know us better than any

other animal. For example Larson says

you’d never be able to train a cat to sense

when someonewas abouttohaveanepi-

SEPTEMBER 2016 61 MEN’S JOURNAL

“DOGS CHANGED

GENETICALLY

TO BECOME

MORE LIKE US

PSYCHOLOGICALLY.

THEY EVOLVED TO

CARE ABOUT YOU.”

David A. Keeps the director of content

at PetSmart lives in Scottsdale Arizona

with his two rescue dogs Boing and Darla.

INTRODUCING

ASCENT

™

PROTEIN

available at

ASCENTPROTEIN.COM

• 25 grams of protein

in every scoop

• Zero artificial ingredients
  
  
  • Made with native whey