Owner attention facilitates social play in dog–dog dyads (Canis lupus familiaris): evidence for an interspecific audience effect

Mehrkam, Lindsay R.; Wynne, Clive D. L.

doi:10.1007/s10071-021-01481-9

Cited by 7 publications

(5 citation statements)

References 71 publications

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“…On the other hand, different items in the questionnaire correspond to different aspects of rank and different ‘types’ of dominance, which are although not independent from each other and usually overlap, not necessarily coincide completely (Bonanni et al 2010a ). As our subjects were companion dogs, it is possible that particular owners actively try to prevent agonistic behaviours between their dogs (Mehrkam and Wynne 2021 ), or some of our subjects simply cannot express group-defending, or leadership behaviour because of the lack of suitable scenarios in their lives. For this reason, we did not only calculate dogs’ Rank scores and assessed relative ranks, but broke the complex Rank score down further to separately investigate Formal rank, Agonistic rank and Leadership.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Many faces of dominance: the manifestation of cohabiting companion dogs’ rank in competitive and non-competitive scenarios

Vékony,

Pongrácz

2024

Anim Cogn

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There are indications that companion dogs of multi-dog households form a hierarchy, maintained by formal and agonistic dominance. Although it was found that the behaviour of dogs depends on their rank in several contexts, so far, the assessment of their rank itself has been based on owner-completed questionnaires. With this research we endeavoured to find associations between rank scores from the Dog Rank Assessment Questionnaire (DRA-Q) and cohabiting dogs’ behaviour in a competitive test (Toy Possession test—32 dog pairs) and a non-competitive, citizen science scenario (Greeting test—20 dog pairs). Based on the grabbing the toy first and keeping the toy at the end variables, the dogs’ rank score provided a reliable indication of the dominant and subordinate dogs’ behaviour in the Toy Possession test. Similarly, the occurrence of dominant and submissive behaviours in the Greeting Test showed a good match with the agonistic and leadership subscores of the composite rank score from the DRA-Q. Our results provide a pioneering case for validating a questionnaire-based rank scoring method with biologically meaningful behavioural tests in the case of companion dogs. The finer analysis of the results highlighted that in the case of a multi-question scoring system, some components might provide more effective prediction of the dogs’ rank-related behaviour in some situations, while other components are more relevant in others, with traits related to agonistic dominance having relevance across contexts.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Many faces of dominance: the manifestation of cohabiting companion dogs’ rank in competitive and non-competitive scenarios

Vékony,

Pongrácz

2024

Anim Cogn

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“…For companion animals, who were genetically modified by humans, human environments comprise dogs' natural ecological niche, and dog-owner attachment is functionally analogous to human infantmother attachment [100,101]. Dogs have been observed wagging their tails more when granted access to human contact compared to access to conspecifics [102], prefer petting over food when the petting is provided by their owners in unfamiliar contexts [103], play more with conspecifics when receiving owner attention [104], and can communicate with owners via "showing" behavior [12]. Dogs and humans have a mutualistic relationship, with dogs bred to serve human purposes including hunting, guarding, and herding [105].…”

Section: Welfare and Environmentmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Science and Social Validity of Companion Animal Welfare: Functionally Defined Parameters in a Multidisciplinary Field

Novack

Schnell

Feuerbacher

et al. 2023

Animals

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Social validity refers to the social significance and acceptability of intervention goals, procedures, and outcomes. Animal practitioners, who are often guided by the principles of ABA, lack the benefit of verbal participants (at least with respect to target animals) with which to assess a client’s needs and preferences. The study of a learner’s welfare is useful for determining areas where intervention is needed or how the learner feels about an intervention that is underway. Three tenets of animal welfare measurement include physiological function, naturalistic behavior, and affect, where affect refers to private events, including emotions, which are a function of the same variables and contingencies responsible for controlling public behavior. The development of new technologies allows us to look “under the skin” and account for subjective experiences that can now be observed objectively. We introduce the reader to tools available from the animal welfare sciences for the objective measurement of social validity from the learner’s perspective.

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“…Allowing the dogs to play with conspecifics in-between training trials, both in the presence and absence of the trainer (for the effect of the trainer in play, see [ 114 ]) but always under controlled conditions, favors the socialization of the dog with other members of their species. These conspecifics can be socially skilled dogs, pups of the same age and/or, even better, dogs that have already been trained in the skills that are being trained (modulating adults).…”

Section: Skill Trainingmentioning

confidence: 99%

Development of Desirable Behaviors in Dog-Assisted Interventions

Acebes

Pellitero²,

Muñiz-Diez

et al. 2022

Animals

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Dog-assisted interventions (DAI) are those that include specially trained dogs in human health services. Often, the training methods employed to train animals for DAI are transmitted between trainers, so the latest scientific research on dog learning and cognition is not always taken into account. The present work aims to evaluate the impact that the main theories on the evolution of the dog have had both in promoting different training methods and in the relevance of behavior in the evolution of the skills of actual dogs. Then, an integrative method for the training of dogs is presented. This method takes into account the research on dog learning mechanisms and cognition processes, and effectively promotes the development of desirable behaviors for DAI during the dog’s ontogeny.

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Owner attention facilitates social play in dog–dog dyads (Canis lupus familiaris): evidence for an interspecific audience effect

Cited by 7 publications

References 71 publications

Many faces of dominance: the manifestation of cohabiting companion dogs’ rank in competitive and non-competitive scenarios

Many faces of dominance: the manifestation of cohabiting companion dogs’ rank in competitive and non-competitive scenarios

The Science and Social Validity of Companion Animal Welfare: Functionally Defined Parameters in a Multidisciplinary Field

Development of Desirable Behaviors in Dog-Assisted Interventions

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