Comment by haltingproblem | Hacker News Reader

Comment by haltingproblem | Hacker News Reader

The cat vs. dog data is common knowledge in the online dating community. I would speculate that dogs evoke masculine associations because early species of dogs bred from wolves were used for hunting and that association is forever in our primal brains. Going out further on a limb I would speculate that the men showing dogs are not displaying poodles or shih tzus but rather dogs that were traditionally trackers and hunters like shepherds and pit bulls.

One thing that the release of dating site data like [1] has shown that we are replaying evolutionary dynamics using high tech apps. Which is _not_ surprising as our species is the product of evolution. For anyone in the dating market, male or female, I high recommend The Evolution of Desire: Strategies of Human Mating by David Buss. Lectures by Dr. Gad Saad and Dr. Diana S. Fleischman on youtube are also interesting and worth the effort. More than anything else it allowed me to understand my mating preferences and those of my potential mates which often go against stated preferences.

[1] https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00IHS3XE2/ref=dp-kindle-redirect?...

> Going out further on a limb I would speculate that the men showing dogs are not displaying poodles or shih tzus but rather dogs that were traditionally trackers and hunters like shepherds and pit bulls.

That is out on a limb because:

- poodles were traditionally used for hunting ducks

- this is sort of a case in point where people often don't know (or need to know) the history of dog breeds, so their traditional uses per se are often irrelevant.

However, I think people's understanding of modern breed-specific associations (e.g. a belief that pit bulls are prone to attack, use of german shepherds by police and search-and-rescue) are perhaps enough to explain how people would use them in social posturing.

The mental image most people have for a poodle isn’t the standard poodle, that are large, fast, and as a general rule very smart. They’re thinking of a miniature poodle that is associated with small, fluffy, and high maintenance.

> because early species of dogs bred from wolves were used for hunting and that association is forever in our primal brains.

Or, we are marketed this image on a daily basis.

Most likely a little bit of both.

Nit picking here, but dogs weren't bred from wolves; they both descend from a proto-dog.

Dog ancestors were scavengers that ate remains left by humans and were eventually domesticated.

I've never heard of that. The dog was domesticated recently, long after wolves existed as a species. So I don't see how you could even reconcile that with your story.

I think the confusion comes from the colloquial use of "wolves"

Dogs most likely evolved from a species of wolf , with an intermediary proto dog like a dingo or pariah dog in between. https://www.csmonitor.com/Science/2014/0117/Did-dogs-really-...

However when most people say "evolved from wolves", there's a weird association with modern grey wolves without an intermediary step.

So in effect you're both right, but depending on what your respective perceptions of wolf is.

They're right though. It's the same with the human, Neanderthals and Homo Sapiens are both related to Homo Erectus but not each other, like the modern dog and modern wolves do not relate to each other.

Neanderthals and Homo sapiens are not related to each other? Modern dogs and wolves are not related to each other? This makes no sense given what I know of biology. What are you trying to say?

We share a common ancestor with Neanderthals but they're not some sort of precursor to Homo sapiens. They're actually just as far evolved as homo sapiens. If you visualize it as a family tree, Sapiens and Neanderthals are siblings with the same parents.

Many of the people reading this thread are descendants of at least one Neanderthal. Family trees aren't trees, they're DAG.

Someone else mentioned social proof. It's a better point IMO. Dogs show respect for their owner. It's a proxy for social dominance, which is typically desirable for women.

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