Despite our thinking that our favorite Benji understands the words we use, he still only recognizes the gestures, movements and the tonal sound of emotion, as any one who yells at a dog will know. They refuse to cooperate with irrational humans. All mammalian mothers are nurturing and, as new little wolf puppies arrived, human mothers and fathers took great pleasure in fussing and playing with them. Like human babies, wolf pups have big eyes and large heads, are playful and highly sociable. This nurturing behavior flooded us with gentling chemicals that assisted in developing our humanity and compassion for little things, and contributed to our domestication.
Wild animals stay playful for a very short time after birth.
One moment they are tumbling and silly, the next their fangs are bared and lunch becomes their focus. This is a result of chemicals in the brain which are solely for the flight or fight response. Fear ensures alertness to seek safety from prey, and aggression is necessary to grab dinner. In time, what we call domestication of animals results. They never pass through the playful stage because the actual physical makeup of their brains is altered and wolves remained eternal children.