Barking in bed

Let’s meet today Ivan Petrovich Pavlov.


He was a Russian physiologist, psychologist and physician.
Most well known for his research in the field of classical conditioning.

He had noticed that dogs salivate before food was delivered to their mouth.
He called that “psychic secretion”.
Not unknown in human beings either: a man that gets excited and gets an erection produces initially a saliva-like liquid from his penis also.

The “psychic secretion” brought Ivan Petrovich Pavlov to study dogs in their behaviour more extensively.
To accumulate his knowledge into something called “conditioned reflex”.
The dog acting based on what he has been taught to do.
Existing also in human beings where it is called “behaviourism”.

The Fuso Szulc-dogs Rocky and Guante give a daily demonstration of their “conditioned reflex”.
Before they get their bowl of dog food, they first will sit down and lift their front right leg.
Why?
Because they have been conditioned to do this.

Basically, these dogs could do anything.
It all depends of the conditioner.
Or also called: the animal trainer.
We could make the dogs first run to the sea and back before to get their bowl of food they want so desperately.
Or lay down like death.

What Ivan Petrovich Pavlov has been making clear with his dog experiments is that a lot in our own conduct as human beings is based on “conditioned reflex” as well.
Often children are educated as we teach tricks to dogs.
Kids are instructed to do a certain thing and if they do it correctly, they are rewarded.
Developing into persons with an imprinted and programmed behaviour.

A certain amount of behaviourism is very convenient.
It makes interaction between humans go more smoothly.
But it should be a tool.
Not the core of living.

Besides Rocky and Guante being involved in Pavlov experiments when they get their bowl of food, recently they joined an experiment concerning an issue little researched and still rather unexplored.
The verbal communication between man and animal.
Very little we know actually about the way animals communicate with each other.
Research has been going on among birds.
Scientists have been counting for example how many different sounds a blackbird can make.
An impressive amount is the result of this research.
But we have no clue why at a given moment a blackbird sings a specific tune.

With dogs it is even more complicated.
Basically they make only one sound:

bow-wow

The experiment with Rocky and Guante was to try to communicate with them by imitating their bow-wow-ing.
Because it is known dogs bark to each other like we speak to another person.

So, recently Rocky was next to the Fuso Szulc.
It was very late in the evening and pitch dark.
The scientist was already in bed but not asleep yet.
Something happening in the dry riverbed alarmed Rocky.
He started to bark.

BOW-WOW
BOW-WOW
BOW-WOW

Now, the surprising and revolutionary scientific initiative was to start barking, although a human being, also.

BOW-WOW
BOW-WOW
BOW-WOW

But exactly in the same way as Rocky.
A perfect imitation.
In the end, Rocky couldn’t see who precisely was barking and could very well believe another dog was somehow inside the Fuso Szulc.

The communal barking, a duet we could say, went on for quiet a while.
When Rocky barked once:

BOW-WOW

The response from the bed was:

BOW-WOW

But when Rocky barked twice:

BOW-WOW
BOW-WOW

Naturally and logically he heard from the scientist:

BOW-WOW
BOW-WOW

It has not established yet if Rocky was barking for so long because he felt he was in communication with the dog inside the Fuso Szulc.
Or that this coyote in the dry riverbed was still around.

It should be stressed, fervent and loyal blog readers, what a determination and belief these experiments ask of the researcher.
Imagine, please, to lay in bed before to fall asleep and postponing this by barking for half an hour to a dog!

But then, as a scientist one must always believe in what one does.
In the end, Ivan Petrovich Pavlov was also only feeding cookies to dogs.
But, in 1904, he did get the Nobel Prize.



.