Random question: Have dogs evolved to not chew electric cords?

[tridim]

I was just thinking about all my past dogs and realized that none of them ever chewed on an electric cord, even though most of them were avid chewers.

It kind of makes sense since dogs have been domesticated and must adapt. A puppy that enjoyed chewing on plastic cords would quickly be removed from the gene pool. Puppies that had no interest survived and propagated through history. How else would a dog know to avoid them?

Maybe I've just been lucky?

[realisticphish]

1. somehow i doubt

that a hundred years of eletricity would be enough time to evolve away from power cords :)

But, seriously, that's interesting, because none of our puppies have ever chewed cords either :shrug:

[murielm99]

2. I have one that did.

When we first got her, she tried to chew a lamp cord a couple of times.

I screamed each time, and she stopped. I don't usually yell at her, but I could not help it. I just made sure she had plenty of chew toys.

[tridim]

8. But natural selection can happen very quickly

If an asteroid impacted Earth the animals that adapt to survive will pass on their genes in one or two generations. That's nearly instant evolution in the grand scheme of things.

Same thing probably happened when dogs started living in houses with AC power.

[realisticphish]

10. of course

that's assuming that not chewing cords is something controlled by genetics (which is what I assumed too)

I think we may be getting too in depth for a discussion about puppies :D

[WernhamHogg]

3. If dogs have evolved to that point

If dogs have evolved to that point, I think my 3 year old Collie mix didn't get the message. He chewed on a cord once, got a pretty big shock and never chewed on a cord again...well, he never chewed on a cord that was plugged into the wall ever again (he also chewed up our cable wire and he chewed up an alarm clock cord that was not plugged in). Thank Christ he grew out of that phase.

[Connonym]

4. Nope

One of my dogs has quite the taste for wires but apparently knows enough to avoid live ones. Rough tally thus far (she's 18 months): 3 computer mice, 2 lamps, 2 keyboards, a stereo, 2 vaccum cleaner cords, numerous speaker wires and peripheral cables, 1 extension cord and probably other things that I've blocked out because the memory is too painful. That's too many things to attribute to blind luck at their not being plugged in so I'm guessing that she must be able to somehow tell when a wire is live (maybe an investigative nibble zaps her just enough to scare her off?).

Now all the wires have a coating of bitter apple and pupski has a plethora of chew toys (my favorite being the one that looks like GWB).

[suninvited]

5. I think they only have to chew a live cord one time,

then they recognize the smell of the electricity coursing through it.

After that they search out the dead cords. I too, have lost more things than I can count on my fingers and toes to my dogs affection for chewing cords.

[PVnRT]

6. Dogs are just smarter than cats

n/t

[Robb]

7. My huskies took out a laptop "brick"

My investigation revealed they had chewed through on either side of the warm, interesting "brick", taken it outside, and messed with it for a good while. And yes, it was plugged in. :D

[China_cat]

9. You've probably just done a good job

of giving them appropriate things to chew on and 'puppy-proofing' your house.