Dogs and Cats: Insights Into Reverse Domestication

 I read a funny quote recently:

"Dogs prepare you for having Babies. Cats prepare you for having teenagers."

As usual, my mind tries making connections, and I thought of a book I recently read: "Domesticated: Evolution in a man-made world" by Richard C. Francis (It was part of the research I was doing for a children's book, "Untamable" that I wrote).

Domestication occurs when an animal species coevolves with humans, gradually overcoming fear and developing a dependency on humans. Prior to domestication, the animal was completely independent. Dogs became domesticated long before cats, and in a sense, cats aren't fully domesticated.

So the joke has some truth to it: dogs are like babies, being fully dependent on humans. Cats are like teenagers, never fully submitting and always striving for a level of independence. It's like the reverse of domestication. Remember this if you are raising a teenager. Your goal is to nourish their untamable spirit and help them achieve complete independence.