Survival Of The Friendliest

Tell me about the similarities between dogs and human infants.
Dogs are the only species that have been identified to date that learn words in the same way as human children – by using inferences. Show a child a red block and a green block, for example. If you then ask for "the chromium block, not the red block", most children will give you the green block, despite not knowing that "chromium" can refer to a shade of green. The child infers the name of the object. Dogs have been found to learn in the same way.

The second thing is that they make use of human gestures at a similar level of flexibility to young infants. Obviously older infants quickly outstrip what dogs can do, but the fact that there is any overlap at all is remarkable.

The endurance of the most social, bold dogs is what you call "survival of the friendliest"...
Exactly. Since Herbert Spencer coined the phrase "survival of the fittest", people often think of the Hobbesian notion of nature as red in tooth and claw. And, of course, many species do use aggression to stay on top. But nature is also replete with examples of species evolving to be friendlier, more tolerant and social. In those cases, the ones which are able to survive by being friendly can outcompete those which are less friendly.

Dogs as a species became more tolerant and as a result are one of the most successful mammals in the history of the planet – in terms of quality of life, numbers, distribution. I don't think there's any place where humans have gone that dogs have not also gone – even space! If you compare dogs with wolves, that population that decided to eat garbage, boy did they make the right decision.

- Interview with Brian Hare