Adapting to the human world: Dogs’ responsiveness to our social cues

Reid, Pamela J.

doi:10.1016/j.beproc.2008.11.002

Cited by 138 publications

(91 citation statements)

References 59 publications

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“…Whilst some argue that dogs are able to comprehend some of the motivational, emotional or intentional aspects of complex human social behaviours (e.g. Bekoff, 1998), others maintain that dogs' skills can be explained by their ability to rapidly learn to show relevant, that is, previously reinforced behaviours (Reid, 2009).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Such studies have already revealed some crucial differences in the human related social behaviours of the two species. For example, compared to wolf pups, dog puppies' more intense social interest towards humans is accompanied by relatively greater sensitivity to human behavioural cues (Miklósi et al, 2003;Virányi et al, 2008) and less aggression during non-competitive inter-specific interactions 2009). Moreover, in contrast to dogs, wolves do not show human analogue attachment behaviour to their owners .…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Wolves do not join the dance: Sophisticated aggression control by adjusting to human social signals in dogs

Gácsi¹,

Vas²,

Topál³

et al. 2013

Applied Animal Behaviour Science

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a b s t r a c tIn this study we aimed to investigate novel aspects of dogs' comprehension of human social behaviours by revealing potential differences in the responses of wolves and dogs when they interact with a human in socially ambiguous situations.In Experiment 1, pet dogs (N = 13) and hand-reared wolves (N = 13) encountered a stranger who approached them first in a friendly, then a threatening way, and finally switched back to friendliness again (Approaching stranger; AS) while the passive owner/caregiver was standing close to the subjects. In contrast to dogs, wolves avoided eye contact with both the caregiver and the stranger, however, only dogs showed aggressive displays towards the stranger.In Experiment 2, the same subjects were tested in an Object guarding (OG) situation. A familiar woman, communicating the playful nature of the encounter, pretended to aim at taking away her belt-bag from the subjects trying to make them respond with guarding behaviour. Finally, she tried to take away the object without using dominant/threatening behaviour. During the Game episode some dogs and wolves showed guarding displays, but only dogs switched their responses twice and finally allowed the human take hold of the object. All dogs but none of the wolves gazed at the owner/caregiver during the test.In Experiment 3, we tested trained Belgian shepherd dogs (N = 13) in AS, OG, and in a Food guarding (FG) situation. In FG a familiar woman challenged the subject to guard a bone by applying enticement but otherwise not communicating the playful/pretended nature of the encounter. Dogs displayed aggressive behaviours in all three situations as a response to the human's behaviour. In AS they adjusted their behaviour from passive/friendly to aggressive and then friendly again, according to the switch in the human partner's actions. In OG and FG situations, after showing aggressive guarding displays they allowed the human to take away the guarded object, both the bag and the food. A characteristic high-pitched vocalisation observed during both guarding situations, typically before the first aggressive display, could refer to the dogs' ambivalent emotions. This suggests that the human's challenging behaviour alone might be effective to evoke a simulated guarding behaviour. Our results support the view that dogs have advanced abilities and readiness to combine seemingly contradicting behaviour responses to respond to human behaviours or expectations, whilst even hand-reared and extensively socialised wolves tend to display less human centred behaviours and adjust their behaviours less to that of humans' in interspecific situations.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Wolves do not join the dance: Sophisticated aggression control by adjusting to human social signals in dogs

Gácsi¹,

Vas²,

Topál³

et al. 2013

Applied Animal Behaviour Science

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show abstract

“…In support of this view, it was found that ostensive-communicative demonstration context facilitates such responses as perseverative search errors . In addition to human infants, there is another species, the domestic dog (Canis familiaris), that reportedly possess special skills in utilizing ostensive-referential cues (for reviews see Topál et al 2009a;Reid 2009). Dogs during their evolution in an anthropogenic environment (paralleled by the divergence from the wolf) have become selected to show increased sociality Topál et al 2005;Bräuer et al 2006), co-operability and communicability (Hare et al 2002;Virányi et al 2008;Gácsi et al 2009).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Why do dogs (Canis familiaris) select the empty container in an observational learning task?

Kupán

Miklósi

Gergely³

et al. 2010

Anim Cogn

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Many argue that dogs show unique susceptibility to human communicative signals that make them suitable for being engaged in complex co-operation with humans. It has also been revealed that socially provided information is particularly effective in influencing the behaviour of dogs even when the human's action demonstration conveys inefficient or mistaken solution of task. It is unclear, however, how the communicative nature of the demonstration context and the presence of the human demonstrator affect the dogs' objectchoice behaviour in observational learning situations. In order to unfold the effects of these factors, 76 adult pet dogs could observe a communicative or a non-communicative demonstration in which the human retrieved a tennis ball from under an opaque container while manipulating another distant and obviously empty (transparent) one. Subjects were then allowed to choose either in the presence of the demonstrator or after she left the room. Results showed a significant main effect of the demonstration context (presence or absence of the human's communicative signals), and we also found some evidence for the responsemodifying effect of the presence of the human demonstrator during the dogs' choice. That is, dogs predominantly chose the baited container, but if the demonstration context was communicative and the human was present during the dogs' choice, subjects' tendency to select the baited container has been reduced. In agreement with the studies showing sensitivity to human's communicative signals in dogs, these findings point to a special form of social influence in observational learning situations when it comes to learning about causally opaque and less efficient (compared to what comes natural to the dog) action demonstrations.

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“…Segundo Reid (2009), humanos podem ter fornecido aos antigos canídeos uma rica fonte de alimento, na forma de restos de comida e dejetos fecais, e esses animais foram tolerados, possivelmente até encorajados, pelos humanos por consumir esse lixo biológico.…”

Section: Cães Domésticos (Canis Familiaris)unclassified

“…Alguns argumentam que cães e pessoas são mais do que espécies simpátricas, que essa associação tenha sido mutuamente benéfica e que espécies distantes (filogeneticamente) podem mostrar evidências de uma possível evolução convergente por terem enfrentado os mesmos desafios ecológicos (Reid, 2009). …”

Section: Cães Domésticos (Canis Familiaris)unclassified

Reconhecimento de emoções em cães domésticos (Canis familiaris): percepção de pistas faciais e auditivas na comunicação intra e interespecífica

Albuquerque¹

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Adapting to the human world: Dogs’ responsiveness to our social cues

Cited by 138 publications

References 59 publications

Wolves do not join the dance: Sophisticated aggression control by adjusting to human social signals in dogs

Wolves do not join the dance: Sophisticated aggression control by adjusting to human social signals in dogs

Why do dogs (Canis familiaris) select the empty container in an observational learning task?

Reconhecimento de emoções em cães domésticos (Canis familiaris): percepção de pistas faciais e auditivas na comunicação intra e interespecífica

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