How Dogs Became Man's Best Friend | Free Documentary Nature

dogs [Music] they are playful fun-loving and most of all they are loyal [Music] thousands of years ago they entered into an emotional pact that is still Unbroken [Music] humans and dogs make a truly perfect team I'm working with somebody who's really much much cleverer than me their phenomenal senses make them an essential team partner and with their gifted sense of smell they can even try to detect diseases in their early stages in the end they saved my life for some a dog becomes their last hope in life it's really like having my best friend in the world right here in the cell with me you know what I mean like sometimes I don't want to talk to anybody else but I always want to hang out with my dog their ability to read and communicate with us makes the dog truly unique in the animal world your dog is smarter than you think but why did dogs become our ideal companion and colleague at work why are dogs so loyal that they would follow us to the end of the world what exactly is the secret of this wonderful friendship [Music] instead a small village in Northern Norway 240 kilometers north of the Arctic Circle [Music] the sled dogs that live here still carry parts of the ancient Wolf's genome they are Greenland dogs one of the oldest breeds in the world here humans and dogs still have a primordial way of life I emigrated 30 years ago from Hamburg Germany and built a husky Farm here when I started offering guided tours my main goal was to be outside I wanted to be out in nature with the dogs and in a way it's like living the life of a farmer who doesn't get around a lot and although I haven't seen much of the world I can truly say that I have found one of the most beautiful places on Earth it all started when Bjorn Clower was on a hiking Tour all the way across Norway he felt a desire for a solitary life away from Human Society back then a Greenland dog was traveling with him who not only pulled his bags but kept him company without the dog Bjorn would have become very lonely Greenland dogs are perfectly adapted for expeditions in the extreme climate of the far north their thick fur protects them from temperatures of up to minus 40 degrees Celsius [Music] they are sled dogs from tip to poor [Music] [Music] oh Beyond's routine with the dogs is dominated by the seasons during winter time he spends more than 100 days in the open Countryside each day the energetic dogs run up to 60 kilometers during these trips Bjorn and the docks have created a very special bond foreign I'm in contact with with whom I communicate he always wants to do everything spot on this is someone who like all dogs wants to make everything right for his owner you have to build Mutual trust with the lead dog this means on the one hand the dog must understand that my commands are always good and that I don't put them in danger on the other hand if the dog backs away from something I also have to trust him and be aware that there is something in the way the dog is your life insurance out there and it trusts you under all circumstances the highlands of Northern Norway they are covered with dense snow for more than half a year in an almost endless lonely Tundra what is now a way of life for Beyond has been essential for survival for our Nordic ancestors in this part of the world sled dogs have been living in a close relationship with humans for more than two thousand years across the Arctic Circle Nomads in Siberia with Inuits the natives of North America and with the inhabitants of Greenland the home of Bjorn's Greenland dogs in a landscape dominated by ice and snow our ancestors were dependent on their dogs and not only for hunting with their sleds they were able to reach other settlements to sell or purchase Goods thus the dogs played an important role in the growth of extensive trade [Music] already at this time Dogs showed their social skills and Men appreciated the skills and character of their dogs and these very characteristics remain today [Music] sled dogs are the only working animals in the world that you cannot put pressure on to do things they just have their own motivation their Joy of pulling their satisfaction of working in a team everything has to be fun and I think that's really great when I am on a tour then I also have to work in the team I don't just stand on the sled and say go when it goes uphill I have to help I have to walk next to the sled and if the snow is really deep I may have to put on my snowshoes and this collaboration in my opinion is the greatest experience this really strengthens the connection with nature even more for thousands of years sled dogs have been helping humans across the globe [Music] they have learned to understand us [Music] when I stand on the sled and see the dogs having fun running and when I take in the mountains and enjoy the landscape that's an incredible sense of freedom foreign [Music] the relationship between humans and dogs is a very special one dogs are among only a few animals that respond to where we look at where we point to and how we speak according to recent findings dogs are not only able to interpret our tone of voice but they actually have an understanding of what we say to them [Music] researchers have discovered that our dog only feels rewarded when both the intonation and the spoken word indicate praise also how a dog tilts its head gives another indication about their understanding of language it suggests that dogs process speech in much the same way as we humans do meaningful words are processed in the left half of the brain and the tone of voice in the right [Music] the different sophisticated ways in which people communicate with docs have changed people's lives dogs have taken on tasks that humans could not do on their own [Music] The Sheepdogs are they're very compulsive in their nature working cheap is almost like a drug to them they love that drug so they'll do anything to have the pleasure of hunting and working sheep here on the English Scotland border is the home of the most famous herding dog the Border Collie Derek scrimga has been living in the mountains of Cumbria for 50 years besides running his sheep farm he has also been breeding his own canine team partners the minute I started to work with a border collie I realized this completely different type of dog and it was clever and it wanted to please me and the whole concept of the dog working sheep it's like magic it felt like magic and it was just so intriguing [Music] compared to humans dogs have a much larger field of vision that makes them true Masters in observing their surroundings while we perceive the environment like this dogs see the world pretty much like this with a field of vision of about 250 degrees this allows them to notice moving animals in the vast Landscapes much better this helps herding dogs to keep a close eye on all sheep and to spot any sneaking predators in advance however most important is communication Lynn listens carefully to the commands she receives from Derek [Music] what up what up these brief commands are sufficient for lin to know which sheep she needs to take and to which position [Music] her work is a balance between being obedient and taking her own initiatives [Music] these dogs will run out to a half a mile easily and take directions left and right to fix sheep to where we want them I don't know anybody who can take Direction like a dog if anybody sort of give me as many directions as I give my dog I think I could stand it for about maybe 20 minutes before I left where these dogs will work all day and take advice and try to be helpful and keep an open mind which is so they're very useful the ancestors of the Border Collies lived in England and Scotland in the 16th century here Shepherds discovered and developed the skills of the dogs especially on large Barren pasture areas these dogs became key team partners only with their help Shepherds were able to guide their sheep to Fresh pastures and water [Music] foreign even today working in this vast landscape would be impossible without the dogs the Sheep are more than 800 meters away but Shepherds can communicate with their dogs across this distance Derek fully trusts his dogs and they trust him dogs are the best ones as working as a team with a Handler when you buy a Border Collie puppy for example it's almost a given that the dog wants to please you you don't have to train it to please you it's born through years of selective breeding to be the type of dog that likes being Underdog with you as the boss so you don't have to dominate them you really just about have to show them what you want them to do and they do it [Music] [Music] I train them by word association really uh when the dog goes round the shape to the left I'll start I'll give the left hand command which has come by which means go left around the shape now once you've got that word that means that movement then you put a whistle onto it so my command come by come by then eventually I'll drop the word and say come by then eventually I don't say the word at all I just go and around that that means left as well so and then it means to stop so I always stop the dog before I give it advice because when the dog's running it's excited it's doing something it's not easy for it to listen but if you go and make it stop then it clears its mind about what it's doing and it's open to advice and I try to train the dog so they don't have to guess [Music] Derek has taught his dogs to use their natural predator Instinct in a different way the dogs use different Behavior patterns derived from hunting targeting [Music] sneaking up stalking isolating and guiding their prey to the desired position [Music] they're now [Music] for Shepherds like Derek the Border Collies are still as valuable as they were centuries ago [Music] every day every minute of every day I just enjoy working with the dogs and especially when you get one that's a little bit better some that's a little bit special sometimes you get a dog that's just a little bit of a genius in dog terms is much more of a genius than I could ever be and I'm working with somebody who's really much much cleverer than me so in this dog that I've got just now Lynn she's an example of that she was born to work the minute she started working it was almost as if she'd been here before [Music] dogs are still proven to be the best partners for herders around the world [Music] many of these could not master the everyday challenges without their loyal dogs [Music] dogs are quite unique in the animal world with their desire to work and live with humans researchers even assume that dogs have played an important role in the social and behavioral development of humans without our close relationship with dogs humans would probably not be where they are today above all there is one ability that has made dogs absolutely Superior their remarkable sense of smell contrary to humans dogs are constantly immersed in a world full of scents in fact this can give them an advantage in situations where we do not even suspect anything [Music] can dogs sense when their owners will come home Mario and his owner Johanna have a well-established daily routine every morning at the same time Johanna leaves the house [Music] what Johanna doesn't know is that she leaves behind millions of small odor particles that her body has been continuously emitting even if he doesn't like it Mario comes to terms with the situation [Music] he knows he has to spend the next few hours alone in the house and he makes the best of it unnoticed by humans the odor particles of Johanna remain present in the house throughout the day however their intensity decreases as time passes at some point Mario seems to notice something his owner will soon be returning home but how can Mario sense this odors change permanently throughout the day if their intensity follows a regular pattern they become predictable for dogs if the concentration of the odor particles Falls below a certain value dogs can smell this therefore Mario already knows a few minutes ahead of time that his owner will be arriving home Mario smells her absence this means dogs can actually smell the passage of time yeah These Fine odorant molecules are also used by dogs on very different challenges of the life-saving kind ergartz in southern Austria hear search and rescue dogs are called in when police forces need help in the search for missing persons oars is a so-called Man trailer main Partners my partner Earth is a Belgian shepherd dog a Malinois he is five years old and has been on the job for two and a half years with us I've traced four people and found them alive using the man trailing Methodist today Oz is on a training Trail his challenge to find a mother and her son one short sniff is enough and Oz has memorized the scent of the missing person by licking his nose always binds the odorant molecules to his old factory receptors once the odor is stored securely in his brain Oz knows exactly the scent he needs to follow now his nose does something remarkable it registers human skin flakes in the air every person loses on average 40 000 skin flakes per minute invisible to the naked eye these particles leave behind a specific scent that is unique to every one of us just like our fingerprints this trace of tiny particles is everywhere in the street in bushes on walls the dog's nose is an incredible sensor that can detect and distinguish These Fine odor particles from millions of others but Oz doesn't work alone man trailing is a team effort this main feeling is the early man trailing is honest work for a dog I don't force him he does it with pleasure and the more he likes the search the more he shows it with his tail or ears he communicates his feelings and that's the beauty of man trailing learning to read the signs of the dog and working with him the biggest challenge for Armin is to give his dog control of the search if Oz walks back on the trail it doesn't mean he has lost his track he rather tries to identify the direction which the scent comes from like all dogs ORS uses a very special feature of his nose to trace the odor he can smell in stereo [Music] this means oars can scan the left side of his surroundings with the left part of his nose and in the same breath examine the right side with the right part of his nose the dog can thus verify which direction the odor is coming from and follow the trail [Music] in the end the biggest reward for Armin and doors is to find the missing person this is a egg this is actually the best part of working with dogs feeling their gratitude seeing that they are enjoying their work by wagging their tail as if they are saying boss it's so much fun to work with you dogs have shown that they can track our body odor but can they also recognize changes inside our body [Music] 10 kilometers away in gradfine Hysteria this is the home of dogs that long didn't get the attention which they deserved today Franz hergel visits Wolfgang glyphite and his dogs Rocky and Lucy although France has had regular checkups at his urologist he got his urine checked by the dogs and they detected prostate cancer at an early stage could these dogs really have done that [Music] I had no doubt about it because it is known while dogs can detect and perceived they can identify drugs weapons or explosives so why should there not be dogs who can sense cancer in the end they saved my life in his Farmhouse Wolfgang glyphide trains these cancer protection dogs for a charity he founded more than 10 years ago the former Handler of police dogs launched the world's first cancer detection dog unit initially there was great skepticism but now tubes filled with breath urine and saliva arrive in his office from all over the world the senders all believe in the unique sensory abilities of his cancer detection talks [Music] the new samples are placed in a beam to make sure that the dog's nose is working properly negative and positive control samples are also included in the setup but what exactly do the dogs smell cancer detection dogs are trained to detect odors released by certain tumor cells so far it has been known that cancer cells emit alkaline odors these molecules have been detected in breath samples from lung cancer patients and in urine from prostate cancer patients and it's exactly these scents that the dogs should be able to recognize Wolfgang glyphide needs to make sure that Rocky sniffs each sample intensively so no odor is hidden from his nose each cancer detection dog has developed their own individual sign they give when they have found something I was taking let's get to my Mansion label the continent like you always have to keep in mind that it's about a human life you have to be careful to keep the error rate as low as possible after each round the beam is disinfected to remove odors from other dogs then the setup is repeated placing the probes at different positions this is repeated five times with five different dogs to have a thorough cross check we test and evaluate samples at least 15 times before we consider it positive or negative positive [Music] in a large-scale study under the supervision of various Medical Specialists Wolfgang glyphite was able to prove the accuracy of his cancer dogs unit more than 2 200 cancer cases were documented and 93 of them had been correctly identified by the dogs the dogs are my partners and my life and the feedback we receive just shows us how reliable the dogs actually are and this is our reward we know it works and often we can say that we have saved another human life or we have detected a disease at an early stage that may have broken out in a few years time yeah Wolfgang glycfight and his team are now developing new cancer tests that will be performed directly on human skin bhagira is currently being trained for this which could work well for detecting skin cancer the labrador first sniffs a cancer sample to be able to recall the smell during the actual test in this training session the cancer smell on the volunteering subject comes from a tube sample attached to his arm after the test phases bhagira is supposed to detect and indicate the cancer directly on the skin with about 220 million olfactory cells dogs have about 40 times more receptors in their noses than humans we have not yet grasped how complex and comprehensive the world of sense really is for our dogs but it seems that they can differentiate the slightest traces and even detect a single molecule from one trillion others that's why the amazing ability of some dogs is still a mystery to science [Music] North Carolina on the east coast of the United States of America Lisa Briggs lives and works here with her dog Layla she has trained her golden retriever to detect human remains for police investigations and she has been proven to be extremely successful Layla is a crossover dog so she lives in my home with me she goes everywhere with me she's a kind of a pet and then I can put her vest on and she's a working dogs she's just turned three but already closed eight cases by finding human remains so she's a good she's good at what she does [Music] human remains detection dogs are considered to have the best noses among the working dogs during the decomposition process a chemical cocktail of hundreds of different odor molecules is formed the smell of death comes in many different formulas and Layla is one of the few who can identify it my job is to read my dog taught her what to what to but if when we're out on a search I have to pay attention to her body language people when they watch the dogs they can see it through the tail through the nose through the ear thinning they may start barking early when they get into odor and her job is to actually not just get me close to Source but actually get me right on the source down down [Music] yay in a nearby Forest Leila is training to detect different odors of decay they can be in the open buried in the ground or hidden in water somewhere in this Forest Lisa has placed a half decayed real human hand which is allowed in the U.S for such purposes her train nose enables Layla to detect a dead body in deep Waters and she can even distinguish a dead rat from human remains for Layla the training is primarily a game for which she is rewarded this doesn't change in a real case when the police or family members hope for important information my first search and the first time I found human remains I was depressed afterwards I was very very sad um because I felt sad for the victim I felt sad for what we found and then I realized I was making my dog sad you know and so I have to do a good job making sure that she stays happy at her job so um it's taken you know it's taken quite a bit of work to still remain a human being and have empathy for the family but not to do so much of it that my dogs are picking up on the fact that I'm sad Lisa and Layla are now an experienced team that is superior to many other forensic methods used by the police but their relationship also reveals how dogs perceive us foreign ERS are the most important person in their lives they are often part of the family and as such they are able to see the world from our perspective yarrow will show us that he can take the point of view of his owner the labrador is trained to bring a toy on command but today he gets two identical toys one is placed in front of a milk glass the other in front of a transparent glass pane while yarrow can see both toys his owner only sees the one in front of the transparent glass pane as soon as his owner gives the command bring he could take each of the two toys but if Yaro assumes that his owner can only mean the toy that he can actually see he will bring the one in front of the transparent glass pane [Music] mission accomplished dogs can take our point of view therefore we can rely on our dogs and also entrust them with great responsibilities in very close relationships this ability can even change lives Pina an Australian Shepherd has been trained to assist her owner Carlotta karma in her daily routine when Carlotta was 13 years old she was diagnosed with Asperger's Syndrome a mild form of autism [Music] foreign it's hard for me to do things on my own or to engage in a conversation with a group of people especially when they are strangers it's difficult for me when I don't know what's coming next vice versa this disease has made it almost impossible for the 22 year old to master everyday situations her entire life has been determined by constraints depression and even self-harming Behavior only when Pena started living with her did she find a way to escape loneliness and engage in her social life leaving the house and meeting other people she helps me in my everyday life simply by being there when we go downtown people automatically step back is especially when she is wearing her service dog vest people will say oh there's someone who needs help Pina is really charming and she shows everyone that she has this special responsibility dogs are ideal for this kind of Life assistance because they are capable of developing empathy [Music] they can sense if a person is happy or sad and this gives Carlotta a sense of security [Music] you don't have to be afraid that's the feeling she gives me I can rely on her every second and she always makes me feel loved I know that there's someone to take care of me thanks to Pina Carlota can handle her everyday life on her own she is going to University and she has found the love of her life but most of all Pina has achieved one thing she has put a smile back on carlotta's face [Music] dogs are able to see things from our perspective while we rely primarily on our voice when communicating with dogs they can read our faces like pages in an open book I intuitively the right side of a person's face is more expressive than the left side therefore we instinctively focus on this right half when we want to understand the mood or feelings of our counterpart it's our unconscious way to recognize each other's feelings scientists have now discovered that dogs look at us in exactly the same way as humans do they focus on our right side and recognize our feelings this is how they're able to enter deeply into our emotional life and they only do this with us not with other dogs [Music] but they can also use their observational skills in a different way how well dogs can actually read their owners can be observed by their favorite hobby eating Johanna has taught Mario to wait before he can eat his food that's why he has given a sign that is not allowed to approach his bowl of food [Music] Mario keeps a wary eye on Johanna but the food is just so tempting [Music] only when he thinks he is no longer observed does Mario dare to crawl closer to his bowl always keeping an eye that Johanna isn't taking any notice foreign [Music] desperately wants his food he's so smart that he adapts his behavior in fact Mario is weighing up the consequences that he would face if he gets caught he is assessing all the time what Johanna can and what she cannot see this continuous re-evaluation of the situation indicates High Intelligence it also explains why dogs can learn so well [Music] Chaser is a border collie who has made history her owner is the American psychology professor John pilly they have revolutionized science [Music] Chaser came into John pilley's life shortly after his retirement oh Sally my wife grew tired of me moping around from retirement she knew that I needed some new challenge so Sally told me one day just before Christmas you're going to have a new dog and that made me happy [Music] got it Here Comes girl here comes for the psychologist Chaser becomes a four-legged research subject with highly surprising findings John Pelley notices that playing together motivates his dog to learn quickly and memorize things [Music] got it got Chaser is eager to learn she just has to listen to the verbal commands her eyes are fully focused on her favorite ball called Blue we're here to me blue way to be blue wait a minute there step step step one two step step there get up stay stay just drop drop off there one two three good girl you did good to pop up the key thing that inspired me from the very beginning which when she learned the name of objects or she showed that she knew the names of objects after one trial first soccer find soccer fun soccer girl we told her three commands we taught her to nose an object we taught her to Paw an object and we taught her to take an object into her her mouth what we found was Chaser could obey those commands demonstrating that each one of those words has an independent meaning nose frisbee nose frisbee good girl Chase take peanuts good girl good girl okay out Chase Paul Powderpuff good Chase take Powder Puff do it take take Powder Puff take good girl good girl where we've recently gone further with this research is that we've gone beyond two words we've gone to the point of having three elements of grammar Chase to Blue take Powder Puff do it go do it do it do it do it go do it do it do it yes good girl that's it that's it that's it okay out out to pop up to pop up Chaser was asked to take certain objects to another object now she did that correctly indicating her understanding of syntax now in one time I would say the Powder Puff take peanuts and then the peanuts take Powder Puff and so we used in our major study the three elements of grammar using objects so that we could demonstrate not just syntax the learning the rules of grammar but also the semantics where the meaning was changed when the words or objects were inverted in the sentence stay watch Spot watch what what's Papa what's Papa do it do it it's a good girl good girl do it do it yes good girl John Pelley published his findings on Chaser in numerous scientific Publications other researchers have reviewed his studies and discovered that Chaser is not a unique case it has become clear that so far the intelligence of dogs has been underestimated yes good girl go [Music] Chase's love for the game her instincts and her bond with her owner have shown the world what dogs are capable of doing Chaser became a star and is known as the smartest dog in the world good girl yeah you you're the smartest dog yeah you're so sweet learning the names of over a thousand objects learning common nouns these kind of findings definitely show what dog lovers have always known that their dog is smarter really than they think intelligent sensitive loyal and outgoing no wonder dogs are so popular pets all over the world and they have another quality that hardly anyone can resist their gentle pleading puppy eyes this feature which has been especially developed for their relationship with humans has had a key influence on The evolutionary history of the dog [Music] guys are probably the most powerful secret weapon dogs have to make us do what they want and when people consider their dog as a baby with fur science backs this up when our friends stare at us with their puppy dog eyes they activate the same hormones that bind a mother to her newborn oxytocin and dopamine the cuddle hormone and the happiness hormone we fall for the cuteness but also dogs are sensitive to these signals they themselves release these hormones when they have contact with us and so they bond with us at Gwinnett County Jail in Atlanta a special program has been launched jail inmates temporarily taking dogs from a nearby animal shelter they look after them day and night and train them until the dogs have found a new home Michael Pomroy has been looking after his pitbull mix Roxy for three years now you know Jill kind of takes you away from your family you get removed from the people you love and you know I've been here almost three years and after a while everybody kind of starts to you get less and less postcards and people answer the phone less so it's really like having my best friend in the world right here in the cell with me you know what I mean like sometimes I don't want to talk to anybody else but I always want to hang out with my dog I'll come back from court I may have bad news from the judge and she's there and it's unconditional you know what I mean she's just if I don't want to play and all that she'll just sit down next to me and lay down and be there for me foreign I made some bad decisions a hotel room got raided they found a large amount of heroin sitting here for a while just kind of waiting on a better flea offer really all the dogs in the jail have come from this animal shelter half an hour's drive away [Music] Sheriff Brad Daugherty is the driving force of this jail dog program called operation second chance Focus has been on dogs which are in a critical situation and would be put down unless they are quickly adopted like this little dog Charlotte [Music] is an 11 year old poodle she we know that she's got an abscessed tooth and other than that medically we're not sure we're going to do blood work on her make sure she's not having any kind of needing any kind of medicine or anything like that material s [Music] it breaks my heart the things that happen to these dogs but when I see them being loved and cared for and nurtured by these inmates [Music] and I watched these dogs transform from victims to members of families it makes it all worthwhile [Music] then we have the inmates a lot of these guys have never had love or respect given to them and these dogs love these men and they need these guys [Music] for the inmates the dogs can make a huge difference they can give them a new perspective on life we very rarely have any kind of Behavioral issues in these units the dogs just seem to bring a piece in there it's quieter than most you know you would think with a bunch of dogs that it would be very noisy but it's not it's very quiet very clean very quiet and everybody behaves themselves it's just a it's a very it's a peaceful place [Music] a close bonds between dogs and inmates can trigger a new approach to life many of the men recognize themselves in the dogs rejected not accepted and abandoned the dogs help them to deal with their past their actions and their behavior before I got arrested I was real impulsive you know if I wanted to do something I went and did it if I had a thought I went and did it it was an immediate like there was no thinking through in decision making when you're training a dog you can't be impulsive like that you can't be crazy and hyperactive you know what I mean because they'll respond to that and it'll make them worse it's brought me a long way it made me a lot more ready to transition back into society you know I was a mess that was a mess before I got arrested since 2010 more than 400 dogs have been rescued and adopted by new families Michael hopes that Roxy won't ever be selected and can stay with him I would cry my eyes out I'd cry I'm not gonna hide it either I've seen grown men in this dorm many many times you know they get really attached to their dog if their dog will get adopted and they'll lock themselves in their room and cry it's like it's like I said earlier it's like a kid you know what I mean it's it's like your kid just got adopted and ran off she knows I'm talking about her anything right our relationship with dogs is something very special it consists of positive feelings trust and loyalty a dog doesn't judge us it only wants us to see him as he is at the end there is an important secret to be revealed dog's brains respond to us with the same feelings in the same brain areas as we respond to them this means the most urgent question of every dog owner is thereby also answered yes our dogs really do love us and this is probably the explanation for our wonderful and long-lasting friendship foreign [Music] [Music]

Channel: Free Documentary - Nature

Views: 195,405

Keywords: Free Documentary, Documentaries, Full documentary, HD documentary, documentary - topic, documentary (tv genre), nature documentary, Free Documentary Nature, Nature, Wildlife Docuentary, Wildlife, Animals Documentary, Animals, Dogs, Dogs Documentary, Humans and Dogs, Humans and Dogs Documentary, Dogs and Us, Canine Documentary, Mans Best Friend, Doggo, Doggos, Cute Dogs

Id: X6gXlsf1t0U

Length: 51min 37sec (3097 seconds)

Published: Sat Sep 30 2023