When facing an unfamiliar person, pet dogs present social referencing based on their owners' direction of movement alone

Behavioral synchronization and affiliation: Dogs exhibit human-like skills

“…2), taking a longer time to approach the stranger, using their owners' reaction as the signal of a potential threat, and thus synchronizing with them (Duranton et al, 2016). These findings provide evidence of similar behavioral processes in dogs with their owners and human infants with caregivers (De Rosnay, Cooper, Tsigaras, & Murray, 2006;Duranton et al, 2016;Mumme, Fenald, & Herrera, 1996).…”

“…Finally, a related area of research recently investigated the existence of dogs' behavioral synchronization with humans. Social referencing, defined as the seeking of information from another individual to guide one's behavioral reaction (see, e.g., Merola, Prato-Previde, & Marshall-Pescini, 2012a; Duranton et al, 2016), was studied between dogs and humans in different situations. When facing an unfamiliar object, dogs synchronized their reaction with that of their owners: If the owners reacted in a positive manner, approaching the unfamiliar object, the dogs also approached it, whereas if the owners reacted in a negative manner, moving away from the unfamiliar object, then the dogs also avoided it and stayed as far as possible from it (Merola et al, 2012a).…”

“…When the owner is moving backwards (down), dogs take more time to approach the stranger compare to when the owner is moving towards the stranger (up). Adapted from Duranton et al (2016) deprived of extended contact with humans; see, e.g., Duranton & Gaunet 2016b for a review on the effect of shelter housing on dogs' social skills with humans). Duranton, Bedossa, and Gaunet (2018b) have thus investigated if affiliation between the interacting partners affected the degree of behavioral synchronization when dogs and humans were walking freely outside.…”

Social Referencing in the Domestic Horse

“…Similarly, dogs preferred receiving food from a person who had previously shared food with another person while they watched, rather than from a person who was observed withholding food [15]. Moreover, the owners' response towards a stranger (approach, stand still, or retreat) has been found to influence dogs' responses, resulting in referential looks in all conditions as well as in more interactions with the owner and less interactions with the stranger in the retreat condition [16].…”

“…Similarly, dogs preferred receiving food from a person who had previously shared food with another person while they watched, rather than from a person who was observed withholding food [15]. Moreover, the owners' response towards a stranger (approach, stand still, or retreat) has been found to influence dogs' responses, resulting in referential looks in all conditions as well as in more interactions with the owner and less interactions with the stranger in the retreat condition [16].Research on social referencing in dogs suggests that they can regulate their behavior according to the emotional message of the caregiver: dogs were first presented with an unfamiliar object and, in a next step, were given either a happy or fearful emotional message from their owners. In the first step, most of the dogs showed alternating gazes between the novel object and their owners, indicating that the dogs were searching for further information about the uncertain situation from the owner.…”