Dogs are People, Too

Dogs hold a mirror to our species evolution. Dr. Courtney Sexton discusses the history of the human-canine relationship in the context of social development, and the many ways dogs help us to better understand what makes people, people. Dr. Sexton is a Postdoctoral Researcher in the Department of Population Health Sciences at the Virginia-Maryland College of Veterinary Medicine. She earned her PhD from the George Washington University Center for the Advanced Study of Human Paleobiology, where her dissertation explored co-evolution, interspecific communication, and social relationships between humans and dogs. A Diverse Intelligences and AAAS Mass Media Fellow, she is currently working on the Dog Aging Project, and is especially interested in One Health applications of canine science research. An accomplished writer, Dr. Sexton is passionate about scientific outreach and journalism, and is also the co-founder of the Washington, DC-based literary arts nonprofit, The Inner Loop. This talk was given at a TEDx event using the TED conference format but independently organized by a local community. Learn more at https://www.ted.com/tedx