The Dogenius Institute - Make animals' lives
better in your own unique way.

May 29 / Dr Teresa tyler

The Animal Mirror: What Learning to Understand Other Species Teaches Us About Ourselves

There is something quite humbling about being truly seen, not by another human, but by an animal. Their gaze, their pause, their silence, a head tilt, snort, or tail twitch.  These moments reveal a truth beyond words. As we try to understand them, we often begin to understand ourselves.

 

The Philosophy of Observation

The study of animal behaviour is not just science, it's a philosophy of attention. It demands that we slow down, pay close attention, and allow meaning to emerge from the seemingly mundane. In doing so, we shift our perspective from the human-centred to the interspecies. A Level 6 student of mine, recently emailed despairingly as videos of dogs she had taken for her research project ‘didn’t show anything!’ but they really did.

 

Philosophers like Heidegger spoke of "being-with", the notion that we do not exist in isolation, but in constant relation with others. When we engage with animals, we are engaging with other minds, other ways of experiencing and being in the world. Observing an animal is not a passive act; it's a mutual presence. We are not just watching them they are watching us too, just think about those animals in zoos.

To study clinical animal behaviour is to bridge the empirical with the philosophical. We are not only collecting data and applying protocols. We are exploring what it means to be heard, to be safe, to be understood and offering those same experiences to another species.

 

Anthrozoology and the Human-Animal Bond

Anthrozoology explores the space where human and animal lives intersect. It's here that our cultural beliefs, values, and assumptions are laid bare. Why do we label certain dogs as "naughty" or parrots as "difficult"? We should ask, what does it say about us that we expect compliance over communication?

As students of animal behaviour, we should acknowledge and challenge the stories we inherit about animals, that they exist to serve, to perform, to behave for our convenience. This work invites us into a more reciprocal framework. It asks us to consider what a partnership with an animal looks like when we centre their needs as well as our own.

This is not just an academic challenge, but a cultural one. The work of a behaviourist is not only to understand the animal in front of them, but to decode the human-animal dynamic that shapes their life.

To study clinical animal behaviour is to bridge the empirical with the philosophical.

The Ethics of Listening

Every behavioural intervention carries ethical weight. When we seek to change behaviour, are we doing so for the animal's benefit, or our own comfort? Are we empowering the animal or suppressing their agency?

Ethics in animal behaviour isn't about having the right answer. It's about cultivating the right questions. It's about being willing to stop and ask, "What matters to this animal right now?" It requires humility, patience, and the capacity to hold discomfort.

This path is for those who wish to do more than train. It's for those who want to listen carefully, intervene compassionately, and uphold the dignity of the animals they work alongside.

 

What Animals Teach Us

In learning to interpret animal behaviour, we are also learning about communication, fear, trust, resilience, love and adaptation. Animals show us how to live in the present, how to respond rather than react, how to regulate without openly and without shame.

They teach us about boundaries, about needs that go unmet, and about the quiet celebrations of small steps forward. And perhaps most importantly, they teach us that connection does not require language only true presence.

To learn this work is to embark not just on professional development, but personal growth. It changes the way we see animals, the way we see humans, and ultimately, the way we see ourselves.

 

An Invitation

This is not a path for those seeking easy answers. It’s for those willing to dwell in questions, to listen without presumption, and to grow as both scientist and soul. If you feel that call, you know, the quiet but insistent invitation to walk beside animals, not in front of them, then perhaps this work is already yours and you should join a community like ours, who share these values.


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