Domesticated cats and dogs both see their human owners as pseudoparents, but for different reasons. Cats develop a bond with their masters early in life, when they respond to the food and comfort given to them by their human guardians. Dogs, by contrast, view their masters through the lens of their innate pack mentality, which confers on the human a very important status relationship. This is why, when they leave the house, the cat runs off to explore independently, while the dog's innate response is to look back to find packmates with which to roam. The primary purpose of the passage is to: