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An experimental study of the effects of play upon the dog-human relationship
Abstract
It has often been suggested that intraspecific dominance relationships are established through play. By analogy, it is also claimed that the outcome of competitive games can affect dog–human relationships. This paper experimentally tests the latter idea. Fourteen Golden Retrievers were each subjected to two treatments; 20 sessions of a tug-of-war game with the experimenter which they were allowed to win, and 20 sessions which they lost. Their relationship with the experimenter was assessed, via a composite behavioural test, once at the outset and once after each treatment. Principal components analysis allowed the 52 behavioural measures to be combined into nine underlying factors. Confidence (the factor most closely corresponding to conventional dominance) was unaffected by the treatments. Dogs scored higher for obedient attentiveness after play treatments, irrespective of whether they won or lost, and demandingness scores increased with familiarity of the test person. The 10 most playful dogs scored significantly higher for playful attention seeking after winning than after losing. We conclude that, in this population, dominance dimensions of the dog–human relationship are unaffected by the outcome of repetitive tug-of-war games. However, we suggest that the effects of games may be modified by the presence of play signals, and when these signals are absent or misinterpreted the outcome of games may have more serious consequences. Games may also assume greater significance for a minority of “potentially dominant” dogs.
... For this article, we define dominance as the tendency of the dog to assert priority of access to resources and attachment as the tendency of the dog to seek and maintain contact with the owner. In our experimental studies, we have found that both dominance (Rooney & Bradshaw, 2002) and attachment (Rooney, 1999) in dog-human relationships are multidimensional. In this article, we describe a test procedure, modified from these two prior studies, which we use to measure dog-owner relationships within the home environment. ...
... We refer to this as the dominance enhancement theory. However, questionnaires (Goodloe & Borchelt, 1998) and experimental studies of Labrador (Rooney 1999) and Golden Retrievers (Rooney & Bradshaw, 2002) have found no evidence for these postulated effects. ...
... The testing procedure was designed to assess attachment and dominance dimensions of the dogs' relationships with their owners. It was based on tests developed during experimental studies (Rooney, 1999;Rooney & Bradshaw, 2002) but modified to measure the dog's behavior toward the owner (instead of an experimenter), to ensure that the test was easily replicable by different dog owners, was unaffected by the size and shape of the room, and accommodated the presence of an additional person (the experimenter). The test had 16 compo-ATTACHMENT DIMENSIONS OF DOG-HUMAN RELATIONSHIPS nents, 5 designed specifically to assess attachment dimensions, 10 to assess dominance dimensions, and 1 for the assessment of both. ...
It is often claimed that certain behavioral problems in domestic dogs can be triggered by the games played by dog and caregiver (owner). In this study, we examine possible links between the types of games played and dimensions of the dog-owner relationship that are generally considered to affect such problems. Fifty dog-owner partnerships were filmed during 3-min play sessions in which the owner was allowed to choose the games played. All partnerships then undertook a 1-hr test designed to measure elements of behavior commonly ascribed to "dominance" and "attachment." Principal components analysis of the data produced 2 dominance-related factors (Amenability and Confident Interactivity) and 4 factors describing aspects of attachment (Nonspecific Attention Seeking, Preference for Owner, Preference for Unfamiliar Person, and Separation-Related Behavior). Amenability, in particular, varied significantly between breeds. In the study, we then compared types of games played to each of these factors. Dogs playing rough-and-tumble scored higher for Amenability and lower on Separation-Related Behavior than did dogs playing other types of games. Dogs playing tug-of-war and fetch scored high on Confident Interactivity. Winning or losing these games had no consistent effect on their test scores. If the dog started the majority of the games, the dog was significantly less amenable and more likely to exhibit aggression. The results suggest that how dogs play reflects general attributes of their temperament and relationship with their owner. This study provides no evidence that games play a major deterministic role on dominance dimensions of dog-human relationships, but the results suggest that playing games involving considerable body contact may affect attachment dimensions.
... Rodway et al. 2019). Despite further studies being needed to exclude low-level effects completely, high-level aspects are more likely to explain our results, due to dogs' behavioural repertoire: when dogs interact with conspecifics, they do not spend much time face to face, instead placing themselves more laterally to each other (Rooney and Bradshaw 2002), and they usually inspect each other's body (mostly for odour recognition, Rooney and Bradshaw 2002), but not faces. In dogs, a fixed stare is also part of agonistic displays (McGreevy et al. 2012), and hence dogs might generally avoid prolonged gaze at faces. ...
... Rodway et al. 2019). Despite further studies being needed to exclude low-level effects completely, high-level aspects are more likely to explain our results, due to dogs' behavioural repertoire: when dogs interact with conspecifics, they do not spend much time face to face, instead placing themselves more laterally to each other (Rooney and Bradshaw 2002), and they usually inspect each other's body (mostly for odour recognition, Rooney and Bradshaw 2002), but not faces. In dogs, a fixed stare is also part of agonistic displays (McGreevy et al. 2012), and hence dogs might generally avoid prolonged gaze at faces. ...
Dogs have remarkable abilities to synergise their behaviour with that of people, but how dogs read facial and bodily emotional cues in comparison to humans remains unclear. Both species share the same ecological niche, are highly social and expressive, making them an ideal comparative model for intra- and inter-species emotion perception. We compared eye-tracking data from unrestrained humans and dogs when viewing dynamic and naturalistic emotional expressions in humans and dogs. Dogs attended more to the body than the head of human and dog figures, unlike humans who focused more on the head of both species. Dogs and humans also showed a clear age effect that reduced head gaze. Our results indicate a species-specific evolutionary adaptation for emotion perception, which is only partly modified for heterospecific cues. These results have important implications for managing the risk associated with human–dog interactions, where expressive and perceptual differences are crucial.
... Dogs that watch controlled interactions between a human and a dog "competing" for an object first approach the "winner" only if the human used canine-styled play signals (eg, bowing and lunging play signals), a contextual role for signal interpretation. 38 If these canine-styled play signals were lacking, indicating a switch from play to actual competition over a resource, dogs were slow to approach either the human or the dog. If dogs watched the entire interaction, and so had access to all pertinent information, they did not approach in the same manner as they did if the interaction was clearly a "contest." ...
... If dogs watched the entire interaction, and so had access to all pertinent information, they did not approach in the same manner as they did if the interaction was clearly a "contest." 38 Context matters. ...
There is now a large body of research in veterinary behavioral medicine that is clinically relevant and could enrich patients' and practitioners' lives. Too often, however, this research is published in journals that may not be readily available to veterinarians in private practice. Four important topics in the area of veterinary behavioral medicine for which belief has not kept pace with the published data are the unmet need for behavioral medicine in veterinary practice, the veterinary experience as a contributor to fear and distress in dogs and cats, social signaling in dogs and the ongoing "dominance" debate, and punishment as an intervention to change behavior. The present article seeks to provide a critical overview of recent research that is shifting existing paradigms on these topics and should alter the way veterinarians observe and care for patients.
... The mutual attention and social coordination of both dog and owner in interspecific play not only allows the play to occur, it is emblematic of the dog-human bond (Hecht and Horowitz 2015). Research has looked at-and dismissed-the notion that rough (tug) play may lead to displays of ''dominance'' in dogs (Rooney and Bradshaw 2002). Yet, little research has examined the common claim that all forms of dog-human play lead to positive affect in humans (Rooney and Bradshaw 2014). ...
... For each bout, a descriptive characterization of the ''kind of play'' engaged in (with the possibility of many kinds within one bout) was made, and the play signals used by person and dog were recorded. Play signals (''play bow'', ''chase-me'', ''open mouth'', ''bow head'', ''play slap'', ''leap on'') are described as communicating play intent (Bekoff 1974;Rooney and Bradshaw 2002) and can be identified functionally by the change they effect (Horowitz 2009). Vocalizations by humans in each bout were transcribed. ...
Despite the growing interest in research on the interaction between humans and dogs, only a very few research projects focus on the routines between dogs and their owners. In this study, we investigated one such routine: dog-human play. Dyadic interspecific play is known to be a common interaction between owner and charge, but the details of what counts as play have not been thoroughly researched. Similarly, though people represent that "play" is pleasurable, no study has yet undertaken to determine whether different forms of play are associated with different affective states. Thus, we aimed to generate an inventory of the forms of dyadic play, the vocalizations within play, and to investigate the relationship of affect to elements of play. Via a global citizen science project, we solicited videotapes of dog-human play sessions from dog owners. We coded 187 play bouts via frame-by-frame video playback. We then assessed the relationship between various intra-bout variables and owner affect (positive or neutral) during play (dog affect was overwhelmingly positive). Amount of physical contact ("touch"), level of activity of owner ("movement"), and physical closeness of dog-owner dyad ("proximity") were highly correlated with positive affect. Owner vocalizations were found to contain different elements in positive- and neutral-affect play. One novel category of play, "tease", was found. We conclude that not all play is created equal: the experience of play to the owner participant is strongly related to a few identifiable characteristics of the interaction.
... Heavier dogs have also been selected for fighting and restraining behaviours. The findings of Rooney and Bradshaw (2001) support this, as dogs in that study were more motivated during play sessions in which they were allowed to win, than those in which they lost [31]. ...
... Heavier dogs have also been selected for fighting and restraining behaviours. The findings of Rooney and Bradshaw (2001) support this, as dogs in that study were more motivated during play sessions in which they were allowed to win, than those in which they lost [31]. ...
The domestic dog shows a wide range of morphologies, that humans have selected for in the process of creating unique breeds. Recent studies have revealed correlations between changes in morphology and behaviour as reported by owners. For example, as height and weight decrease, many undesirable behaviours (non-social fear, hyperactivity and attention seeking) become more apparent. The current study aimed to explore more of these correlations, but this time used reports from trained observers. Phenotypic measurements were recorded from a range of common dog breeds (n = 45) and included cephalic index (CI: the ratio of skull width to skull length), bodyweight, height and sex. These data were then correlated with results from the Dog Mentality Assessment (DMA), which involves trained observers scoring a dog's reaction to stimuli presented over 10 standardised subtests. Each subtest is designed to evoke a behavioural response. Backward elimination and weighted step-wise regression revealed that shorter dogs demonstrated more aggressive tendencies, reacting defensively toward both assistants dressed as ghosts (p = 0.045), and to a dummy (p = 0.008). Taller dogs were more affectionate when greeting and being handled by humans (p = 0.007, p
... This is especially the case when the owner was present at a distance (e.g. Rooney and Bradshaw, 2002) but the absence of the owner may reduce play behaviour markedly (e.g. Topál et al., 1998). ...
... Inter-test effects may still be significant, for example the playing interaction with the stranger may have influenced the dogs' reaction to her behaviour in the subsequent test. Rooney and Bradshaw (2002) reported also that playful interaction (independent from its nature) had a positive effect on obedience attentiveness (better compliance with commands, more gazing at experimenter). Finally, these observations are limited to family dogs and their owners how practice a relatively 'outgoing' life style, as they were interested in participating voluntarily in this study. ...
... Pay Attention! Can the Type of Interaction between Handler and Dog Preceding an Agility Run Affect a Dog's Attention during a Run? (Rooney & Bradshaw, 2002, Rooney & Bradshaw, 2003, Schwab & Huber, 2006, Pongracz, Miklosi, Timar-Geng, & Csanyi, 2004, Call, Brauer, Kaminski & Tomasell, 2003. Previous research has suggested that play (a pleasurable game or activity which involves both humans and dogs, such as tug-of-war or fetch) is a very important part in a dog's social, cognitive and motor development (Ward, Bauer &smuts, 2008, andSmuts, 2007). ...
... Their results showed that dogs who received more playful interactions with their owners showed less fear and avoidant behaviors during play in an unfamiliar place than owners who did not play with their dogs as often, and also these dogs showed stronger motivation to play tug-ofwar than dogs who did not play with their owners as often. In another study, Rooney and Bradshaw (2002) found that dogs who were considered more playful achieved higher scores on involvement and attention seeking when they won a game of tug-of-war (gaining possession of the object being tugged) with their owner in contrast to when they lost (losing possession of the object being tugged) a game. This implies that play is rewarding for a dog and can affect other dimensions of dog behavior such as involvement and attentiveness. ...
There has been an increase of interest in investigating human-dog interactions in recent years. One area of interest for dog owners and animal behaviorists is how interactions and play between humans and dogs affect performance on object choice and detour tasks (Rooney & Bradshaw, 2002, Rooney & Bradshaw, 2003, Schwab & Huber, 2006, Pongracz, Miklosi, Timar-Geng, & Csanyi, 2004, Call, Brauer, Kaminski & Tomasell, 2003). Previous research has suggested that play (a pleasurable game or activity which involves both humans and dogs, such as tug-of-war or fetch) is a very important part in a dog’s social, cognitive and motor development (Ward, Bauer & smuts, 2008, and Bauer & Smuts, 2007). Also, dog behaviorists have suggested that different types of play can affect dimensions of the dog-human relationship such as dominance, submissiveness, involvement, motivation, avoidance behaviors and aggression (Rooney & Bradshaw, 2003, Toth, Casci, Topal, & Miklosi, 2008). In addition human behavior, such as human attention and how humans interact with dogs can also affect dog behavior such as their obedience and performance in a game situation task (Call, et al., 2003, Schwab & Huber, 2006, Gasci, Mkiklosi, Varga, 2004). In general, human and dog interactions, and human and dog play can effect dog behavior.
... Specifically, Play and Pet interactions led to an increase of the dogs' probability to be in the same direction as their owner, while exploration decreased after the Play treatment. Previous studies have shown that play sessions can enhance the dog's attention towards their play partner [21]. The dogs in study A and B in our study did increase their eye-contact seeking behaviour when the owner start walking but contrary to our hypothesis, the duration was not significantly increased after Play interaction in study A. A visual inspection of Fig 2 might suggest that play could have some effect at least on some of the dogs but that has to be investigated further, and maybe divided by breed groups. ...
Dogs have previously been shown to synchronise their behaviour with their owner and the aim of this study was to test the effect of immediate interactions, breed, and the effects of domestication. The behavioural synchronisation test was conducted in outdoor enclosures and consisted of 30 s where the owner/handler was walking and 30 s of standing still. Three studies were conducted to explore the effect of immediate interaction (study A), the effect of breed group (study B), and the effect of domestication (study C). In study A, a group of twenty companion dogs of various breeds were tested after three different human interaction treatments: Ignore, Pet, and Play. The results showed that dogs adjusted their movement pattern to align with their owner’s actions regardless of treatment. Furthermore, exploration, eye contact, and movement were all influenced by the owners moving pattern, and exploration also decreased after the Play treatment. In study B, the synchronisation test was performed after the Ignore treatment on three groups: 24 dogs of ancient dog breeds, 17 solitary hunting dogs, and 20 companion dogs (data from study A). Irrespective of the group, all dogs synchronised their moving behaviour with their owner. In addition, human walking positively influenced eye contact behaviour while simultaneously decreasing exploration behaviour. In study C, a group of six socialised pack-living wolves and six similarly socialised pack-living dogs were tested after the Ignore treatment. Interestingly, these animals did not alter their moving behaviour in response to their handler. In conclusion, dogs living together with humans synchronise with their owner’s moving behaviour, while wolves and dogs living in packs do not. Hence, the degree of interspecies behavioural synchronisation may be influenced by the extent to which the dogs are immersed in everyday life with humans.
... That is, dominant dogs tend to maintain their advantageous position over subordinate partners, even during the play bouts (Bauer and Smuts, 2007). Rooney et al. (2000) and Rooney and Bradshaw (2002) showed that dog-human play are structurally (and presumably motivationally) different, and seem to be less competitive regarding possession demands, than dog-dog play. ...
Nonhuman animals often use specific signals to initiate playful interactions. There is evidence also for different forms of play-maintenance. Playful encounters include out-of-context and exaggerated behavioural sequences. Scientists have already collected knowledge about virtual size modification via acoustic signalling in particular animal species during competitive/agonistic interactions, but the same was unknown in playful encounters. Using the cross-modal matching paradigm, we tested whether dogs prefer to look at the picture of a matching size dog when they are offered two differently sized projected pictures simultaneously with a playback of a playful or a food-guarding growl. We found that dogs looked at the matching picture when they heard the food-guarding growl, but they looked at rather the larger than the matching size dog when play growls were played back. These are the first results to show that dogs may communicate an exaggerated body size by the means of their growls during play, which may help in maintaining or enhancing the playful interaction. As agonistic dog growls were proven to be honest regarding their referential and size-related information content, our results gave evidence that exaggeration may work as play signal in the case of animal vocalizations.
... Play is critical for development [151][152][153][154][155][156][157][158][159][160]. In dogs, play is thought to have three primary functions: locomotory development, training for the unexpected, and social cohesion. ...
There are over 10 million pet dogs in the UK alone, and they have become a member of modern human families. If not properly socialised as puppies, dogs have a higher risk of problematic behaviours during adulthood, yet socialisation studies are lacking. Much of the experimental research was carried out at least 50 years ago, and the importance of socialisation was demonstrated so clearly that further studies with unsocialised controls would be deemed unethical. In this review, the aim was to evaluate all literature relevant to canine socialisation. This review used PRISMA-P guidelines to identify 29 studies: 14 were questionnaire-based studies (two of which also had a testing element), 15 included some form of experimental manipulation relating to socialisation, and one was a purely observational study. Based on this literature review, we recommend future research into minimum necessary socialisation levels, as well as breed differences in the timing of effective socialisation. Such studies will help owners and breeders produce well-adjusted adult dogs.
... Research has demonstrated that dogs can form attachment bonds to their human caregivers Palmer and Custance, 2008;Mariti et al., 2013) and humans can form attachment bonds to their dogs (Barker and Barker, 1988;Cohen, 2002;Kurdek, 2009). Once established, these bonds have the potential to benefit both the animal (Serpell and Barrett, 1995) and human with the strength and quality of attachment (e.g., attachment style) serving as predictive variables for health and welfare outcomes (Garrity et al., 1989;Rooney and Bradshaw, 2002;Bennett and Rohlf, 2007;Meyer and Forkman, 2014;. Furthermore, it is possible that the influence of AAI's conducted with a participant's own pet could be impacted by the nature and strength of the pre-established bond between the participant and animal , or that participation in an AAI could alter the quality of the dyad's attachment bond, potentially in both the AAI and home settings. ...
Whilst humans undisputedly shape and transform most of earth's habitats, the number of animals (domestic and wild) living on this planet far outnumbers that of humans. Inevitably, humans have to interact with animals under a variety of circumstances, such as during conservation efforts, wildlife and zoo management, livestock husbandry, and pet keeping. Next to the question of how humans deal with these interactions and conflicts, it is crucial to understand the animal's point of view:
How do animals perceive and differentiate between humans?
How do they generalize their behavior towards humans?
And how does knowledge about humans spread socially?
In this Research Topic, we aim to collect original empirical work and review articles to get a more comprehensive and diverse picture on how humans are part of the sensory and cognitive world of non-human animals. We strongly invite contributions that pinpoint shortcomings and limitations in interpreting the available research findings, that provide new cross-disciplinary frameworks (e.g. links between conservation biology and comparative psychology, or human-animal interactions at zoos and animal welfare) and that discuss the applied implementation of these findings (e.g. for conservation attempts or livestock husbandry management).
... Recently, pet parenting styles have been identified among dog caretakers (van Herwijnen et al., 2018;Brubaker & Udell, in prep), and preliminary evidence suggest that there is likely a relationship between pet parenting style and dog-human attachment style. More broadly, positive factors within a human-dog relationship (such as play, positive reinforcement training, and lack of punishment) have been found to profoundly influence the human-dog bond, including correlations between attachment reported by the human caregiver and pro-social behaviors by the dog, dog training success, and reduced problem behaviors in dogs (Hiby et al., 2004;Rehn et al., 2013Rehn et al., , 2014Rehn et al., , 2017Rooney & Bradshaw, 2002;Rooney & Cowan, 2011). Therefore, with more research it may be possible to predict likely attachment outcomes for dog-human pairs based on parenting style and human behavior, and perhaps to educate humans on best practices for establishing a secure relationship with their dog, similar to the promotion of positive parenting practices when parenting human children. ...
The capacity for dogs to form attachment bonds to humans has been recognized by scientists for over two decades. However, evaluations of dog-human attachment styles, including to what extent dogs experience attachment security with their human caregivers, are relatively new. In humans, the development of secure attachments is considered a predictor of social wellbeing and positive cognitive outcomes including future relationship success, persistence, mental wellbeing and executive functioning. A better understanding of dog-human attachment relationships could have important scientific and applied implications. Here we provide an overview of attachment research as it relates to the dog-human bond, and take a closer look at one experimental approach, the Secure Base Test (SBT), currently used to evaluate dog-human attachment styles.
... Although a number of studies have examined the structure of human-dog play (Koda 2001;Rooney et al. 2000Rooney et al. , 2001Rooney et al. , 2002Tóth et al. 2008;Horowitz and Hecht 2016), few studies have directly assessed the role of human interaction Content courtesy of Springer Nature, terms of use apply. Rights reserved. ...
Domestic dogs are a highly playful species that are evidently sensitive to the attentional state of conspecifics as well as humans. Given that an animal’s social environment can influence play, audience effects may catalyze social play. While prior research has shown that intraspecific attention maintains social play in dog–dog dyads, it is unknown whether interspecific (specifically, human) attention maintains social play between dogs. Our objective in the present study was to examine whether a relationship exists between the availability of human attention and social play in domestic dogs. Familiar dog–dog dyads were exposed to three sessions each consisting of three experimental conditions that differed in the degree of availability of owner attention. Observed levels of social play were significantly higher during conditions in which an attentive owner was present than during conditions in which an owner was either inattentive or absent. Furthermore, this effect was maintained across repeated sessions. This is the first experimental evidence of an interspecific audience effect facilitating social play in domestic dogs. The availability of caretaker attention may be a proximate explanation for social play in canids that have ontogenetically rich histories with humans and also retain neotonized behavior as adults. Further research is needed to clarify the mechanisms contributing to the relationship between interspecific attention and social play in these populations and establish a more comprehensive understanding of play behavior in animals.
... Dogs that explored the exam room were also more likely to explore in other environments, supporting the finding that the RSPCA Qld socialisation test predicts their friendless and sociability in a new environment after adoption [23]. The high tail position and frequent gazing behaviour show that socialised dogs were more confident and more engaged in their interactions with handlers [74,75]. Dogs that were calmer and more relaxed when seeing a person running and freezing less frequently gazed at the handler and displayed lip-licking behaviours, but they spent a higher percentage of time sniffing. ...
Inappropriate leash reactivity is one of the most common problems in shelter dogs, which negatively affects the health of dogs and reduces their adoptability. We explored 370 human-dog interactions, involving 74 volunteers and 111 dogs, in an animal shelter when volunteers walked shelter dogs on a leash, considering the effects of canine demographics and the results of the shelter’s canine behavioural assessments. The interaction was video recorded and coded using ethograms, and a leash tension meter was used to measure the pull strength of dogs and handlers. Results showed that dogs that were more relaxed during the shelter assessment (i.e., when socialising with humans or being left alone in a new environment) were less reactive on the leash, with lower tension and pulling frequency. Moreover, socialised and relaxed dogs displayed more positive body language, such as tail in a high position, gazing at the handler, and exploring the environment. When walking with these dogs, volunteers utilised fewer verbal cues and body language during the walk. In addition to the canine behaviour assessment, there were correlations between canine demographics and the behavioural interaction and humans’ perception. Finally, volunteers perceived the walk as less satisfactory when they needed to pull the leash harder during the walk. This research suggests that the RSPCA behavioural assessment may be useful in predicting the behaviour of shelter dogs when walked by volunteers.
... Research has demonstrated that dogs can form attachment bonds to their human caregivers (Topál et al., 1998;Palmer and Custance, 2008;Mariti et al., 2013) and humans can form attachment bonds to their dogs (Barker and Barker, 1988;Cohen, 2002;Kurdek, 2009). Once established, these bonds have the potential to benefit both the animal (Serpell and Barrett, 1995) and human with the strength and quality of attachment (e.g., attachment style) serving as predictive variables for health and welfare outcomes (Garrity et al., 1989;Rooney and Bradshaw, 2002;Bennett and Rohlf, 2007;Meyer and Forkman, 2014;. Furthermore, it is possible that the influence of AAI's conducted with a participant's own pet could be impacted by the nature and strength of the pre-established bond between the participant and animal , or that participation in an AAI could alter the quality of the dyad's attachment bond, potentially in both the AAI and home settings. ...
Animal-Assisted Interventions (AAI) have become more prevalent in recent years, with dog-assisted interventions among the most popular. The literature suggests that a variety of dog-human interventions have the potential for beneficial outcomes for human participants and owners, however, critical gaps in knowledge still exist. Research addressing intervention outcomes for dogs, and the impact of AAI on the dog-human bond, has lagged behind. Even less is known about how dogs perceive child partners in AAI settings. The current study, which involved AAI for youth with developmental disabilities and their family dog, aimed to determine if the dog’s style of attachment to a primary adult caretaker in the home was predictive of dog-child attachment style pre-and post-intervention. Using a Secure Base Test (SBT), the attachment style of the family dog toward an adult owner/parent was evaluated, and the attachment style of the dog toward the participating child was assessed before and after the dog-assisted interventions. The dog’s attachment style to the child was then compared to the dog-parent attachment style. The findings show that all dogs with a secure attachment to the child at the initial assessment also had a secure attachment to the parent. It was also demonstrated that AAI has the potential to change the attachment style between a family dog and child to a more secure attachment, and that the dog-parent attachment style is a significant predictor of which dogs were able to develop a secure attachment to the child over the course of the AAI.
... Cada individuo fue identificado con un collar de diferente color para facilitar el muestreo focal 20 . El registro inicial de actividades se realizó teniendo en cuenta un etograma (Tabla 1) con variables que describieran el patrón de comportamiento y su grado de variación en, al menos, el diez por ciento de los individuos 25,26 . De esta manera, fueron seleccionadas tanto actividades dirigidas hacia las hembras intervinientes y a los hermanos (juego social), como la exploración del ambiente (actividades individuales). ...
p>El período de socialización del perro doméstico se extiende entre las tres y doce semanas de vida y proporciona al individuo capacidades para enfrentar el ambiente y establecer relaciones sociales, tanto intra como interespecíficas. En dicho lapso tiene lugar el juego que tendrá efectos beneficiosos o perjudiciales para el cachorro, dependiendo del contexto en el cual se desarrolla. En este trabajo se estudió el juego social de una camada (n = 6) de Weimaraner, comparando la respuesta de sus individuos frente a dos madres. Por un lado, la madre biológica, con patología comportamental de ansiedad por separación, y por el otro una perra Fox Terrier Smooth de perfil conductual normal. Ambas convivían con los cachorros en el mismo hogar. Se filmaron dos sesiones de juego con cada hembra interviniente en horario matutino. Se efectuó observación focal en cada individuo. Para comparar los efectos madre biológica o adoptiva, tanto para juego social como exploración ambiental, se registró sólo la frecuencia de las variables elegidas, sin considerar su intensidad ni duración. Para el análisis estadístico se utilizó el test no paramétrico de Kolmogorov–Smirnov a dos colas con un nivel de significación del 5%. Los cachorros realizaron más actividades de contacto táctil, saltar, morder, aplastarse contra el suelo, sacudir objeto y olfatear en presencia de la perra adoptiva que ante la madre biológica (p = 0,01). No se encontraron diferencias significativas entre los sexos (p > 0,05), sugiriendo que a esta edad machos y hembras responderían de manera similar. Si bien cabría la necesidad de ampliar el estudio sobre efectos de la crianza con madres adoptivas, este trabajo muestra que la intervención de perras normales favorece la coordinación de las actividades de juego y aprendizaje, generando estabilidad emocional y conductual en los cachorros</p
... While this whole set of playful tactics has often been explored at the intra-specific level (Power, 2000;Pellegrini, 2009;Pellis et al., 2010;Norscia and Palagi, 2016;Pellis and Pellis, 2016), only few studies have been devoted to inter-specific playful interactions (Rose, 1977). Studies on dogs have shown that there are differences between dog-dog play and dog-human play (Rooney et al., 2001;Rooney and Bradshaw, 2002;Horowitz and Hecht, 2016;McGreevy et al., 2012). ...
Social play is a window on cognitive and communicative abilities of species. Inter-specific play, in particular, is a fertile venue to explore the capacity to correctly perceive and interpret signals emitted by partners. Up to now, most studies have focussed on dog-human play due to the important implications such studies have in understanding the peculiar relationship we establish with our pets. Here, we focussed on social play between dogs and horses. By using a set of specific keywords (dog, horse, play, friend) we selected 20 videos of dog-horse social play (with each session lasting >30 secs) from the open video-sharing website YouTube. We described the behavioural patterns composing each session by defining analogous and species-specific patterns shown by dogs and horses. The rates of self-handicapping and variability in playful actions did not differ between the two interacting subjects thus suggesting well-balanced playful tactics. The Relaxed Open Mouth (ROM, a widespread playful facial expression in mammals) was also similarly performed by dogs and horses. The Rapid Facial Mimicry (RFM) is an automatic, fast response in which individuals mimic others’ expressions (less than 1 sec) that seems to have a role in mood sharing during social interactions. The dogs and horses under study showed a stronger and rapid mimicry response (less than 1 s) after perceiving ROM than after perceiving an attempt to bite (a play pattern resembling ROM in its motor performance). Taken together, our results suggest that, despite the difference in size, the phylogenetic distance, and differences in the behavioural repertoire, dogs and horses are able to fine-tune their actions thus reducing the probability of misunderstanding and escalating into aggression. One of the future challenges is to explore the role of ontogenetic pathways and familiarity in shaping inter-specific communicative ability of animals that can be at the basis of a universal language of play.
... We remove all these factors, including the food reward, by focusing upon human-directed play with an unfamiliar person as a behavior exemplifying human-animal cooperation and animals' ability to interpret human social cues. Human-directed play behavior has been reported in some domesticated species (Melotti et al., 2014;Mertens and Turner, 2015), including dogs (Horvá th et al., 2008;Rooney and Bradshaw, 2002;Rooney et al., 2001;Tó th et al., 2008). Dogs can interpret human play cues and adjust their behavioral repertoire when playing with a human instead of a conspecific (Rooney et al., 2000(Rooney et al., , 2001. ...
Domestication dramatically alters phenotypes across animal species. Standing variation among ances-tral populations often drives phenotypic change during domestication, but some changes are causedby novel mutations. In dogs (Canis familiaris) specifically, it has been suggested that the ability tointerpret social-communicative behavior expressed by humans originated post-domestication andthis behavior is thus not expected to occur in wolves (Canis lupus). Here we report the observationof three 8-week-old wolf puppies spontaneously responding to social-communicative behaviorsfrom an unfamiliar person by retrieving a ball. This behavioral expression in wolves has significant im-plications for our understanding and expectations of the genetic foundations of dog behavior. Impor-tantly, our observations indicate that behavioral responses to human social-communicative cues arenot unique to dogs. This suggests that, although probably rare, standing variation in the expressionof human-directed behavior in ancestral populations could have been an important target for earlyselective pressures exerted during dog domestication.
... In recent years, the bonds formed between humans and their pets have more frequently been regarded as attachment relationships 32,33 that often benefit both the animal 34 and human [35][36][37][38] in terms of health and welfare outcomes. To date, the majority of this research has focused on adult human-pet attachment, and consequently attachment to pets has most commonly been evaluated through selfreport surveys, such as the Lexington Attachment to Pets Scale (LAPS), 39 that are designed to assess relative attachment strength as opposed to the attachment style categories described in Table 1. ...
Research suggests that humans can form strong attachments to their pets, and at least some pets display attachment behaviors toward their human caretakers. In some cases, these bonds have been found to support or enhance the physical and emotional well-being of both species. Most human–animal interaction research to date has focused on adult owners, and therefore less is known about childhood pet attachment. However, there is growing evidence that pets may play an important role in the development and well-being of children, as well as adult family members. Research conducted to date suggests that child–pet relationships may be especially impactful for children who do not have stable or secure attachments to their human caretakers. However, given that human–animal interactions, including pet ownership, can also introduce some risks, there is considerable value in understanding the nature of child–pet attachments, including the potential benefits of these relationships, from a scientific perspective. The purpose of this review is to provide background and a brief overview of the research that has been conducted on childhood attachment to pets, as well as to identify areas where more research would be beneficial.
... Although self-handicapping and role-reversals do not seem necessary for play to occur, they help to maintain a play session (Bauer et al., 2007). Interestingly, this is not only true if dogs play with dogs, but dogs are also more motivated during play sessions with humans if they are allowed to win (Rooney et al., 2002). According to these observations it has been proposed that a sense of fairness is crucial to negotiate playful interactions in dogs and other canines (Bekoff, 1995). ...
... For example, lack of human (or other) company for dogs can lead to signs of stress (Hubrecht 1993;Bradshaw et al. 2002;Fallani et al. 2007;Yeates 2012) with 'hyper-attached' dogs appearing especially stressed when separated from their usual carer (King et al. 2000). Indeed, the company of humans and other dogs may be separate motivations (Rooney et al. 2000;Odendaal and Meintjes 2003), and the former may be more important (Rooney and Bradshaw 2002). Completing the circle, this dependency can further affect our relationship with them. ...
Considerations of ethical questions regarding pets should take into account the nature of human-pet relationships, in particular the uniquely combined features of mutual companionship, quasi-family-membership, proximity, direct contact, privacy, dependence, and partiality. The approaches to ethical questions about pets should overlap with those of animal ethics and family ethics (and, for veterinary issues, with healthcare ethics), and so need not represent an isolated field of enquiry, but rather the intersection of those more established fields. This intersection, and the questions of how we treat our pets, present several unique concerns and approaches for focused examination.
... In particular it is thought that allowing a dog to win uncontrolled games such as Tug-of-War will increase the likelihood of it attempting to become dominant over its owner. However questionnaires (Goodloe & Borchelt, 1998) and experimental studies of Labrador and Golden Retrievers (Rooney & Bradshaw, 2002) have found no evidence for these postulated effects. In this paper we further investigate possible links between the types of games played in the domestic environment and both dominance and attachment dimensions of the dog-owner relationship. ...
It is often claimed that certain dominance-related problems in dogs can be triggered by the games played by dog and owner. In particular it is thought that allowing a dog to win uncontrolled games such as Tug-of-War will increase the likelihood of it attempting to become dominant over its owner. However questionnaires (Goodloe & Borchelt, 1998) and experimental studies of Labrador and Golden Retrievers (Rooney & Bradshaw, 2002) have found no evidence for these postulated effects. In this paper we further investigate possible links between the types of games played in the domestic environment and both dominance and attachment dimensions of the dog-owner relationship.
... However, our observations and testing of dog-owner relationships found no evidence for this: those dogs whose owners allowed them to "win" tug-of-war games showed no consistent differences in behaviour from those that were not allowed to win (Rooney and Bradshaw, 2003), and similarly Tóth et al. (2008) found no connection between the playing of object-orientated games and competitive behaviour in non-playful contexts. When we experimentally manipulated the proportion of wins to losses in a group of golden retrievers, no change in confident behaviour (= that commonly described as "dominant", such as standing over the (supine) owner, high stance and tail position) could be detected, but there was an increase in "obedient attentiveness" (a factor combining behaviours such as pricked ears, offering a paw or licking the experimenter, and shorter latency to comply with commands) towards the person who played with the dog between the first and last of the twenty games (Rooney and Bradshaw, 2002). These dogs were more spontaneously playful after winning ten consecutive games than after losing ten games, suggesting that winning may simply be more rewarding than losing. ...
... These tests have primarily been designed to address specific questions, e.g. interactions with humans (Gacsi et al 2005;Miklosi & Soproni 2006), play behavior (Rooney & Bradshaw 2002;Rooney et al 2000), aggression (Blackshaw 1996;Dodman et al 1996;McGreevy & Masters 2008;Netto & Planta 1997) or coping style in a stressful situation (Horvath et al 2007). There are also several tests developed in order to test for the dog's suitability for certain tasks, e.g. ...
... We then recorded the behaviour of the dog and the owner in each of five standardised test scenarios and compared this to the training methods advocated by their owner. The behaviour test used in this study was a modified version of that used by Rooney and Bradshaw (2002, 2003) to quantify aspects of the dog–owner relationship, but here shortened to only examine the key interactions hypothesised to be important with the addition of a novel training task. The scenarios used were: relaxed social behaviour towards a novel person and owner, response to being ignored, obedience to basic commands, dog–owner play and response to owner training a novel task. ...
The methods by which owners train their pet dogs range widely, with some exclusively using rewards, and others using a combination, or only punishment-based methods. This paper examines links between the way in which owners reported to have trained their dogs and observations of the dogs’ subsequent behaviour. It also explores associations between behaviour of owner and dog when tested in their own home. A total of 53 owners were surveyed about their preferred methods for training each of seven common tasks, and were each filmed interacting with their dog in a series of standardised scenarios. Dogs owned by subjects who reported using a higher proportion of punishment were less likely to interact with a stranger, and those dogs whose owners favoured physical punishment tended to be less playful. However, dogs whose owners reported using more rewards tended to perform better in a novel training task. Ability at this novel task was also higher in dogs belonging to owners who were seen to be more playful and who employed a patient approach to training. This study shows clear links between a dog's current behaviour and its owner's reported training history as well as the owner's present behaviour. High levels of punishment may thus have adverse effects upon a dog's behaviour whilst reward based training may improve a dog's subsequent ability to learn.
... In contrast, one could assume that a dog's competitiveness might determine whether it would prefer to play tug-of-war or not (Tóth et al., 2008). In other studies, no direct link was found between commonly played competitive games and dogs' aggression, or the dominance relationship between a dog and its human partner (Podberscek & Serpell, 1997;Rooney, 1999;Rooney & Bradshaw, 2002). In our experiment, the tugof-war test did not differentiate among the three groups, as we did not observe marked aggressive responses in any of the groups. ...
Many test series have been developed to assess dog temperament and aggressive behavior, but most of them have been criticized for their relatively low predictive validity or being too long, stressful, and/or problematic to carry out. We aimed to develop a short and effective series of tests that corresponds with (a) the dog's bite history, and (b) owner evaluation of the dog's aggressive tendencies. Seventy-three pet dogs were divided into three groups by their biting history; non-biter, bit once, and multiple biter. All dogs were exposed to a short test series modeling five real-life situations: friendly greeting, take away bone, threatening approach, tug-of-war, and roll over. We found strong correlations between the in-test behavior and owner reports of dogs' aggressive tendencies towards strangers; however, the test results did not mirror the reported owner-directed aggressive tendencies. Three test situations (friendly greeting, take-away bone, threatening approach) proved to be effective in evoking specific behavioral differences according to dog biting history. Non-biters differed from biters, and there were also specific differences related to aggression and fear between the two biter groups. When a subsample of dogs was retested, the test revealed consistent results over time. We suggest that our test is adequate for a quick, general assessment of human-directed aggression in dogs, particularly to evaluate their tendency for aggressive behaviors towards strangers. Identifying important behavioral indicators of aggressive tendencies, this test can serve as a useful tool to study the genetic or neural correlates of human-directed aggression in dogs. Aggr. Behav. 9999:XX-XX, 2013. © 2013 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.
... This suggests that playing such games actually suppresses some types of individual differences in the behaviour of dogs, and therefore the behaviour in such games might not be a good indicator for personality measures like cooperativeness or sociability. Earlier it has been assumed that competitive games increase agonistic tendencies in the behaviour, suggesting an effect of play activity on later sociability with partners (McBride, 1995), although Rooney and Bradshaw (2002, 2003) found no evidence that competitive games increased competitiveness. On the basis of our results one could also assume just the opposite case; ''cooperability'' and ''competitiveness'' of an individual might determine the type of game it would prefer to play. ...
Individual differences and causative factors could modify the behaviour of dogs in object related games played with a human partner. In a two-by-two within-subject design we observed 68 family dogs’ behaviour when playing two different types of games (ball game and tugging) with two different play partners (owner or unfamiliar experimenter) in order to categorize each dog's playing style. In all four conditions we have measured the following behavioural variables: tendency for possession, willingness to retrieve, behaviours related to fear/avoidance and aggression, and occurrence of play bows. We also calculated the relative duration of time when the dogs oriented “outwards” from the play situation to the other non-interacting person (owner or experimenter) during a session. Than we examined the effect of six factors on dog–human play behaviour: the familiarity of the play partner, the type of the game, the dogs’ gender, age and breed, and the duration of daily active interaction between dog and owner.
... C 7 play: this is a social activity involving an instructor, a dog and a toy. The toy can be a tennis ball or something else, but we preferred the tennis ball because it allowed interaction with the instructor without the complex relations of a ''tug-of-war'' game (Rooney and Bradshaw, 2002). In these human–animal interactions, the first thing to assess was the dogs' ability to play with a human and not their tendency to play in general. ...
The paucity of dogs dedicated to animal-assisted therapy (AAT) for disabled people creates long waiting lists worldwide and compromises the health of the few certified animals by demanding too much work from them at times, thus jeopardizing their future as service dogs. In an attempt to obviate this situation, a mathematical model has been conceived to select animals endowed with a set of specific inborn skills from a population of sheltered dogs. The model is able to select dogs capable of creating a special bond with humans and able to work anywhere and with any human partner or team; it represents a rapid, inexpensive and coherent method and has been validated after 1 year of observation. The algorithm consists of three steps. Step A is a test assessing the aggressiveness and temperament of animals and selection occurs based on a binary criterion (yes or no). Step B is a test comprising three items and selects animals able to interact with humans; dogs have to fulfil two conditions to pass on to Step C. Step C is a test evaluating the animal's ability to respond appropriately to easy commands (trainability) given by different partners; dogs have to fulfil two interrelated conditions judged more flexibly than in test B. The aims of the Ethotest are: (a) to prevent aggressive animals from entering animal-assisted activity and/or Therapy programmes; (b) to select dogs with the right aptitude and especially to restrict selection to dogs that offer consistent responses; (c) to include both male and female purebreds or mix breeds older than 1 year of age; (d) to identify animals able to work with different partners.
... Dogs played with their handler for 3 min in a similar manner to that which is described by Rooney and Bradshaw (2002). The handler could use a rag or a tug toy (a piece of thick rope with two knots on both ends, 20 cm long) for inducing play behavior in the dog. ...
It has been shown that cortisol concentrations change characteristically in the course of agonistic interactions; our aim was to find out how a playful situation may affect concentrations of this hormone in the saliva. We studied dogs' behavior and the changes of cortisol concentrations in a play situation, where the dogs played with their handler for 3 min with a tug toy. In this experiment working dogs were divided into two groups by the type of their work, namely police dogs and border guard dogs. We found that the cortisol concentrations of old police dogs significantly increased, while the adult border guard dogs' hormone levels decreased, which shows that playing with the handler has an effect on both groups, but interestingly this effect was opposite. Behavior analysis showed differences only in the behavior of the human handlers during the play sessions, while the behavior analysis did not reveal significant differences in the two groups of dogs, except that old border guard dogs generally needed more time to begin playing than old police dogs. During the play sessions police officers were mainly disciplining their dogs, while the border guards were truly playing with them (including affiliative and affectionate behavior). Our results are in accordance with those of recent studies, which show that behaviors associated with control, authority or aggression increase cortisol concentrations, while play and affiliative behavior decrease cortisol levels.
I argue that an enactivist framework has more explanatory power than traditional philosophical theories of cognition when it comes to understanding the mechanisms underlying human-animal relationships. In both intraspecies and interspecies exchanges, what we often find are novel forms of cognition emerging from such transactions, but these “co-cognitive” processes cannot be understood apart from the interaction itself. I focus on a specific form of human-animal interaction—play, as it occurs between humans and domestic dogs—and argue that the best theory suited to the task of explaining how these two species create unique thought processes is a “sympoietic enactivism.” Rather than the more common “autopoietic” arguments defended by many enactivists, I argue that what is more accurately occurring during bouts of human–dog play is sympoietic, or “collectively producing.” Drawing on several different disciplines that converge on similar conclusions about creativity and collaboration, I show that human–dog play is a quintessential case of cognition that cannot be readily understood by appealing to the inner workings of either individual among the dyad. Thinking, on this view, is a form of play, and in playful interaction what gets created are wholly intersubjective modes of thought.
Objetivou-se investigar a possível presença de fatores estressores no ambiente de convívio de cães por meio de aplicação de questionário aos tutores. Foi utilizada amostra de conveniência constituída por 50 cães atendidos de forma recorrente no Hospital Veterinário da Universidade Federal de Uberlândia (UFU). Os dados foram coletados por dois veterinários submetidos a treinamento prévio e as respostas transferidas para banco de dados (software EpiInfo-6.04) e apresentadas de forma descritiva. A maioria dos tutores mantinha seus animais dentro de casa (16%, n = 8) e no quintal (22%, n = 11), porém, em 70% (n = 35) dos casos o ambiente de convivência dos cães passou por transformação nos últimos seis meses. Quanto aos fatores sociais, 16% (n = 8) tiveram a adição de um novo animal ao convívio e 30% (n = 15) tiveram o lazer reduzido. Tutores (64%, n = 32) relataram repreender seus cães quando estes demonstram comportamentos indesejados, sendo a tentativa de cópula com objetos e pessoas o mais citado, e 46% (n = 23) afirmaram puni-los com agressões diretas. Os cães avaliados têm constante comportamento de medo (74%, n = 37) e têm preferido ficar isolados nos últimos dias (60%, n = 30). Conclui-se que os tutores de animais podem fornecer informações válidas acerca de possíveis fatores estressantes em cães, auxiliando os médicos veterinários no diagnóstico.
Cambridge Core - Educational Psychology - The Cambridge Handbook of Play - edited by Peter K. Smith
There is often a heightened concern for the welfare of dogs and cats since they play a special role as companion animals. While most individuals with knowledge of dogs or cats have opinions about what constitutes good welfare, there are unique considerations that must be applied for these species as laboratory animals. Oversight of measures that promote good welfare begins even before acquisition and continues throughout the life of the animal. Included are discussions of choosing the right animal, transportation to the research facility, care at the facility, importance of socialization, acclimation, and enrichment, and re-homing of laboratory dogs and cats. As knowledge and perspectives change about what constitutes good welfare, so too does the expectation for better care at all stages of the animal's life.
Part 1: Evolution and NeurobiologyPart 2: Development and Control Of Puppy Competitive Behavior
In this paper our first aim was to investigate the association between behaviour coding based on a test battery called the FIDO Personality test for dogs (Canis familiaris) and a subjective rating given by dog owners. For the latter we asked dog owners to fill in the Dog Personality Questionnaire (DPQ) which established four personality traits for dogs: Stranger-directed Sociability, Activity, Aggressiveness and Trainability. The FIDO Personality test consists of a series of subtests in which we utilised an ethogram and measured different aspects of dog behaviour. Prior to this study we established a set of possible associations between the behavioural and the questionnaire variables.
In this essay we outline how video-related technology can be used as a tool for studying animal behaviour. We review particular aspects of novel, innovative animal behaviour uploaded by the general public via video-based media on the internet (using YouTube as a specific example). The behaviour of animals, particularly the play behaviour focused on here, is viewed by huge audiences. In this essay we focused on three different kinds of media clips: (1) interspecies play between dogs and a range of other species; (2) object play in horses; and (3) animal responses to stimuli presented on iPads, iPods and iPhones. We argue that the use of video is a good means of capturing uncommon or previously unknown behaviour, providing evidence that these behaviours occur. Furthermore, some of the behaviours featured on YouTube provide valuable insights for future directions in animal behaviour research. If we also take this opportunity to convey our knowledge to a public that seems to be fundamentally interested in animal behaviour, this is a good means of bridging the gap between knowledge among an academic few and the general public.
Domestic dogs can be housed in a variety of confined conditions, including kennels, shelters and laboratories. Concern over the well-being of dogs housed in human care has prompted much research in recent years into the enrichment of environments for kennelled dogs. This paper highlights the findings and recommendations arising from this work. Two types of general enrichment method are discussed, namely animate (i.e. enrichment through the provision of social contacts with conspecifics and humans) and inanimate (i.e. enrichment through the provision of toys, cage furniture, auditory and olfactory stimulation). The benefits and, where relevant, possible disadvantages, to these various types of enrichment method are highlighted throughout.
The Handbook of Applied Dog Behavior and Training series provides a coherent and integrated approach to understanding and controlling dog behavior. In Volume 3, various themes introduced in Volumes 1 and 2 are expanded upon, especially causally significant social, biological, and behavioral influences that impact on the etiology of behavior problems and their treatment. Ethological observations, relevant behavioral and neurobiological research, and dog behavior clinical findings are reviewed and critiqued in detail. Many of the training concepts, procedures, and protocols described have not been previously published, making this book a unique contribution to dog behavior and training literature.
To assess the effects of human confidence levels on horse behavior, 40 veterinary students led the same mare around a fixed course. Multivariate analysis of human attitudes and behavior and horse behavior showed that a positive attitude towards horses related to infrequent ear movement in that horse (accounting for 46% of variance); positive attitude, together with low lead tension, related to a horse's forward ear position (47%); loose lead tension related to both a horse's low resistance (66%) and low head position (11%). Human attitudes towards at least one horse is shown to be associated with changes in human behavior, which leads to altered behavior in that horse.
Human factors (attitudes, personality traits, self-esteem, job satisfaction) strongly determine our behaviour towards animals, animal production and animal welfare. Recent studies have emphasised positive human contacts as indicators of a stockperson's positive attitude towards animals and towards animal welfare in general. Stockmanship can be improved by careful selection of people and/or by training. However, little is known of the biological basis of the effect of stock handling procedures on the welfare of animals. The animal's perception of the stockperson (based both on emotional responses and cognitive aspects such as anticipation, recognition and categorisation), and the existence of sensitive periods in an animal's life, need to be explored in more depth, especially under farm conditions. We need to consider the complexity of human behaviour (eg husbandry practices, balance between positive and negative interactions, predictability, controllability) and its effect on animal welfare from the animal's point of view throughout its whole life. This paper identifies the importance of positive human contacts for both animals and stockpeople, and highlights the challenge to maintain such positive contacts despite the trend in modern agriculture to increase the number of animals per stockperson. This requires better knowledge of animal genetics, socialisation to humans during sensitive periods, and management of the social group. We emphasise the ethical importance of the human–animal relationship in the context of farm animal welfare and productivity.
Social cognition, in particular the derivation of social information from observation of interactions between members of a social group, has been widely investigated in primates, but it has received little attention in other social mammals, although it has been anecdotally reported in the domestic dog, Canis familiaris. We recorded the behaviour of dogs (‘spectators’) that had observed controlled interactions between a human and a dog (the ‘demonstrator’) competing for an object, and that were subsequently allowed to interact freely with both participants. When the competitions were playful, as indicated by signals performed by the human, the spectator was more likely to approach the winner first and/or more rapidly, suggesting that winners of games are perceived as desirable social partners. When the human did not perform play signals, changing the social context from play to contest over a resource, spectators were slower to approach either of the participants, suggesting that participants in contests were less desirable as social partners than participants in games. If the dog was prevented from seeing the game, it still reacted differently to the winner and the loser, but its behaviour was not the same as after games that it had seen. We conclude that spectator dogs gain information from the players' subsequent behaviour as well as from direct observation of the game.
This article looks at the existing evidence-base by which veterinary surgeons can make welfare-focused treatment choices. Narrative and structured reviews were conducted. Papers were categorised under headings based on (1) themes in the UK Animal Welfare Act (AWA 2006) - behaviour, environment, nutrition, company and health; (2) iatrogenic harm induced by treatment; (3) decision-making methods, and (4) the subjects' context (e.g. home versus laboratory). There is more information available about 'overt' problems (e.g. acute disease), than 'covert' issues (e.g. chronic pain, lack of company and obesity). Forty of 109 papers covered pain, suffering, injury and disease, compared to 69 across four other themes in the AWA. Twelve papers were identified as focusing on welfare assessment and clinical decision-making. Veterinary surgeons should consider each of the five welfare themes described in the AWA in both veterinary practice and in determining veterinary research priorities.
Looking at animals in order to understand exclusively human properties seems counter-intuitive. Nevertheless, there are at least two ways to do so. However, rather then refining our knowledge on these properties per se, looking at animals can complement this knowledge by informing us about the evolutionary origins of exclusively human properties. Besides the traditional comparative approach, a second way consists of identifying general principles and regularities between the occurrence of environmental constellations and reliably associated consequences in animals which also might have had an impact for human evolution. The present chapter was an attempt to exemplify this second approach using the case of cooperative breeding.
The social cognitive capacities of dogs, including their communication skills and use of visual attention cues, have recently been investigated in numerous experimental studies. This paper reports on research of domestic dog behavior in a natural setting, which shows sensitivity to the visual attention of their partners when engaged in dyadic rough-and-tumble play. The sequential behaviors and head-direction of both dogs were noted throughout the bouts. The behaviors were differentially used according to the partner's posture. Play signals were sent nearly exclusively to forward-facing conspecifics; attention-getting behaviors were used most often when a playmate was facing away, and before signaling an interest to play. In addition, the mode of attention-getter matched the degree of inattentiveness of the playmate: stronger attention-getters were used when a playmate was looking away or distracted, less forceful ones when the partner was facing forward or laterally. In other words, these dogs showed attention to, and acted to manipulate, a feature of other dogs that mediates their ability to respond: which feature in human interaction is called "attention".
Despite the popular idea that dog owners are often responsible in some way for their animals' behaviour problems, the scientific evidence is scarce and contradictory. Some studies have failed to detect any links between the quality of the owner-dog relationship and the occurrence of behaviour problems, while others suggest that some behaviour problems may be associated with certain aspects of owner personality, attitudes and/or behaviour.Using retrospective data from a sample of 737 dogs, the present study investigated the association between the prevalence of different behaviour problems and various aspects of either owner behaviour or owner-dog interactions. A number of statistically significant associations were detected: (a) between obedience training and reduced prevalence of competitive aggression (P < 0.02), separation-related problems (P < 0.001), and escaping and roaming (P < 0.05); (b) between the timing of the dogs' meal times and the occurrence of territorial-type aggression (P < 0.01); (c) between sleeping close to the owner and increased prevalence of competitive aggression (P < 0.01) and separation-related problems (P < 0.01); (d) between first-time ownership and the prevalence of dominance-type aggression (P < 0.001), separation-related problems (P < 0.05), fear of loud noises (P < 0.001), and various manifestations of overexcitability (P < 0.001); (e) between owners' initial reasons for acquiring a dog and the prevalence of dominance-type (P < 0.001), competitive (P < 0.01) and territorial aggression (P < 0.01). The possible practical implications of these findings are discussed.
Existing definitions can be structural or functional, refer to roles or to agonistic behaviour, regard dominance as a property of individuals or as an attribute of dyadic encounters, concentrate on aggression or on the lack of it, and be based either on theoretical constructs or on observable behaviour. Thirteen definitions of dominance are reviewed, and their usefulness assessed with respect to their descriptive value. By virtue of its high descriptive value, the original definition of dominance by Schjelderupp-Ebbe (1922) emerged as the basis to formulate a structural definition with wide applicability and which reflects the essence of the concept: Dominance is an attribute of the pattern of repeated, agonistic interactions between two individuals, characterized by a consistent outcome in favour of the same dyad member and a default yielding response of its opponent rather than escalation. Dominance status refers to dyads while dominance rank, high or low, refers to the position in a hierarchy and, thus, depends on group composition. Dominance is a relative measure and not an absolute property of individuals. Discussion includes reference to the heritability of dominance, application of dominance to groups rather than individuals, and the role of individual recognition and memory during agonistic encounters. -from Author
Although it is comparatively easy to find new homes for many dogs in animal shelters, a large proportion of these animals are eventually returned. This is due partly to a poor ‘match’ between dog and new owner. A better prediction of problem behaviour could improve the matching procedure. A set of tests was developed to test four problem-related behavioural characteristics, namely aggression, fear, obedience and separation anxiety, as well as a category of miscellaneous problem-related behaviours. A range of stimuli were used, including humans, animals and visual and acoustic stimuli from objects. To validate the results from the 81 dogs tested and the opinions of the staff of the animal shelters about these dogs, they were compared with the experiences of the new owners of the animals. This comparison showed that behavioural testing provides a better prediction of problem behaviour than do the opinions of the staff. Therefore, testing may be a useful and valuable instrument to improve the matching between dog and future owner, provided of course that adequate information is available about the character and background of the future owner.
In these papers we mainly consider how analyses of social play in nonhuman animals (hereafter animals) can inform inquiries about the evolution of cognitive mechanisms. Social play is a good behavioral phenotype on which to concentrate for when animals play they typically perform behavior patterns that are used in other contexts (e.g. predation, aggression, or reproduction). Thus, individuals need to be able to tell one another that they do not want to eat, fight with, or mate with the other individual(s), but rather, they want to play with them. In most species (primarily mammals) in which play has been observed, specific actions have evolved that are used to initiate or to maintain play. Furthermore, sequences of play usually differ from nonplay sequences (within species) and self-handicapping has also been observed, in which, for example, dominant individuals allow themselves to be dominated _only_ in the context of play. In our consideration of how play is initiated and maintained, we discuss issues including the evolution of play, the ecology of play, the sorts of information that are shared during play, what cognitive psychologists who study humans can learn from cognitive ethologists who study other animals, and what play can tell us about the emergence of mind in animals. These essays draw on literature from ethology, psychology, and philosophy.
p>The main goals of this study were 1) to determine whether groups of domestic dog possessed any structure to their social interactions which reduced aggression, and 2) whether the process of domestication had affected the behavioural repertoire of different breeds of dog.
Six established, and four newly formed, groups of dogs were studied to answer these questions. Within both sorts of groups the level of aggression shown during interactions was found to be reduced if the dogs were familiar with each other. A structured network of relationships was constructed for the groups based upon the net direction in which displacements, threats and/or submissive patterns of behaviour were exchanged during social interactions and competitions for resources. The direction of asymmetry within some relationships in the established dog groups was found to change significantly according to the resource that the dogs were competing for. The models of conventional dominance and learnt assessment strategy were tested using these findings; only the latter was able rigorously and parsimoniously to explain all the data. This is because learnt assessment strategy predicts that an animal's resource holding potential and the value it attaches to the resource being competed for should both influence the outcome of competitions. The advantages of using learnt assessment strategy to explain the findings of other studies is also outlined, in particular its ability to explain the social behaviour of wolves.
When the range of agonistic behaviours performed by the established groups of dogs were compared distinct differences were found between breeds; breeds of dogs which possessed adult wolf-like morphology were found to perform a wider range of agonistic behaviours than breeds which exhibited extreme neoteny of their physical morphology. Less distinct differences were found between breeds in the newly formed groups. It is argued that this differentiation is the result of domestication, both affecting the cost associated with the performance of agonistic visual signals and differentially altering a breed's ability to perform these signals efficiently.</p
p>Dog-human play was characterised as distinct from dog-dog play. Focal sampling of 402 dog walkers and a survey of 2585 dog owners revealed that dogs housed in multi-dog households played as frequently as did dogs in single-dog households, indicating that interspecific play is unlikely to be a substitute for intraspecific play. An experimental study of Labrador Retrievers showed that, when playing with another dog, dogs were more motivated to complete for possession of an object, but, when playing with a human, interaction was more important.
'Object-oriented play', defined as play involving two individuals responding to each other but centreing around an object , was shown to differ structurally from both social and object play. Two experimental studies of Labrador Retrievers showed that people can increase dogs' interest in a toy via their presence and by a protocol of rewards.
The effects of different game types upon dog-human relationships were examined experimentally. A study of 30 Labrador Retrievers showed that repeated playing of some game types can affect dog-human relationships, but it detected no differences between dogs which won and lost at tug-of-war, contrary to claims in the popular literature. A further study using 14 Golden Retrievers detected an increase in 'Obedient attentiveness' towards an experimenter after play and also an increase in 'Demandingness'. However, whether dogs won or lost at tug-of-war only affected their 'Playful attention seeking' scores; after winning they scored higher than after losing.
When playing with their dogs, dog owners were observed to use a wide variety of play signals of varying effectiveness. Two of these signals, 'Bow' and 'Lunge', were shown experimentally to instigate play between dog and person, and their efficiency was increased when they were accompanied by play vocalisations.</p
Why do animals play? Play has been described in animals as diverse as reptiles, birds and mammals, so what benefits does it provide and how did it evolve? Careful, quantitative studies of social, locomotor and object play behaviour are now beginning to answer these questions and to shed light on many other aspects of both animal and human behaviour. This interdisciplinary volume, first published in 1998, brings together the major findings about play in a wide range of species including humans. Topics about play include the evolutionary history of play, play structure, function and development, and sex and individual differences. Animal Play is destined to become the benchmark volume in this subject, and will provide a source of inspiration and understanding for students and researchers in behavioural biology, neurobiology, psychology and anthropology.
In these papers we mainly consider how analyses of social play in nonhuman animals (hereafter animals) can inform inquiries about the evolution of cognitive mechanisms. Social play is a good behavioral phenotype on which to concentrate for when animals play they typically perform behavior patterns that are used in other contexts (e.g. predation, aggression, or reproduction). Thus, individuals need to be able to tell one another that they do not want to eat, fight with, or mate with the other individual(s), but rather, they want to play with them. In most species (primarily mammals) in which play has been observed, specific actions have evolved that are used to initiate or to maintain play. Furthermore, sequences of play usually differ from nonplay sequences (within species) and self-handicapping has also been observed, in which, for example, dominant individuals allow themselves to be dominated _only_ in the context of play. In our consideration of how play is initiated and maintained, we discuss issues including the evolution of play, the ecology of play, the sorts of information that are shared during play, what cognitive psychologists who study humans can learn from cognitive ethologists who study other animals, and what play can tell us about the emergence of mind in animals. These essays draw on literature from ethology, psychology, and philosophy.
Play signals are known to function in the solicitation and maintenance of intraspecific play, but their role in interspecific play is relatively unstudied. We carried out two studies to examine interspecific signalling when humans play with domestic dogs, Canis familiaris. In the first, we recorded dog–owner play sessions on video to identify actions used by 21 dog owners to initiate play with their dogs. Thirty-five actions were each used by three or more owners. These included postures, vocalizations and physical contact with the dog. The actions varied greatly in their apparent success at instigating play which was, surprisingly, unrelated to the frequency with which they were used. We then did an experiment to determine the effect of composites of commonly used signals upon the behaviour of 20 Labrador retrievers. The performance of both ‘Bow’ and ‘Lunge’ by a human altered the subsequent behaviour of the dogs. Both signals caused increases in play, and Lunge produced significant increases in play bout frequency and mean bout duration. The efficiency of both these postural signals was enhanced when they were accompanied by play vocalizations. Thus, specific actions used by humans do communicate a playful context to dogs and can be described as interspecific play signals.
Play behavior, as indicated by frequency and duration of pinning behavior, was studied in young rats between 18 and 64 days of age. The incidence of play was markedly increased by social isolation. Play increased from 18–28 days of age, peaked between 32 and 40 days of age, and gradually declined thereafter. Animals developed stable “dominance hierarchies” during the course of testing so that one animal pinned the other on the average 70% of the time. Also, “dominant” animals exhibited the longer pin durations. The data indicate that social play can be efficiently studied in the laboratory rat and, further, that one function of play may be to establish stable social relationships.
In the popular literature, it is often assumed that a single conceptual framework can be applied to both dog–dog and dog–human interactions, including play. We have, through three studies, tested the hypothesis that dog–dog and dog–human play are motivationally distinct. In an observational study of dogs being walked by their owners (N=402), dogs which were walked together, and had opportunities to play with one another, played with their owners with the same frequency as dogs being walked alone. This finding was supported by a questionnaire survey of 2585 dog owners in which dogs in multi-dog households played slightly more often with their owners than dogs in single-dog households. The performance of dog–dog play does not, therefore, seem to suppress the dogs' motivation to play with their owners as would be predicted if they were motivationally interchangeable. In an experimental comparison of dog–dog and dog–human toy-centred play, the dogs were more likely to give up on a competition, to show and present the toy to their play partner, if that partner was human. When two toys were available, dogs playing with other dogs spent less time showing interest in both toys and possessed one of the toys for longer, than dogs playing with people. Overall, the dogs were more interactive and less likely to possess the object when playing with a person. We conclude that dog–dog and dog–human play are structurally different, supporting the idea that they are motivationally distinct. We therefore suggest there is no reason to assume that the consequences of dog–dog play can be extrapolated to play with humans.
The development of facial expressions in the wolf, coyote and grey fox is described, and facial expressions of these species also compared with the red and Arctic fox. In the various species of fox, which lack the high degree of social organization of the wolf, facial expressions are clearly identified under different motivational or social situations, associated with an increase or decrease of social distance. These same expressions are seen in the coyote and in the wolf (with the exception of the jaw-gape which is not seen to the same degree in the wolf). The wolf, coyote and domesticated dog differ from the foxes in that they manifest a wider range of simultaneous combinations of various facial expressions. This may indicate an evolutionary advancement of visual signals in more social species. During ontogeny in these latter species, the more 'primitive' facial expressions common to the foxes were seen earlier than other expressions, simultaneous combinations thereof, and more complex social behavior patterns which emerged later in life. These later emerging components may be phylogenetically more recently acquired than those patterns which are common to both the foxes and other canids. These findings are correlated with the social behavior and organization of these various canids and are closely compared with other studies of the facial expressions of primates. The contribution of specific facial markings and of body movements associated with different facial expressions are considered.
multifactorial aspect of the distribution of behavior / aspects of social differentiation / dominance was regarded as the basic principle of social organization / concept has come to be questioned / doubts also arose concerning the explanatory value of the concept / dominance as an explanatory principle / intervening variable (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)
In this paper I suggest that play is a distinctive behavioural category whose adaptive significance calls for explanation. Play primarily affords juveniles practice toward the exercise of later skills. Its benefits exceed its costs when sufficient practice would otherwise be unlikely or unsafe, as is particularly true with physical skills and socially competitive ones. Manipulative play with objects is a byproduct of increased intelligence, specifically selected for only in a few advanced primates, notably the chimpanzee.
The adaptiveness of play in pongid evolution is traced through the probable changes in selective pressures that occurred in hominid evolution. It is argued that fantasy was an emergent property in hominids, made possible by symbolic intelligence and language, and serving to make play complex enough to continue to provide useful practice for increasingly complex later skills.
The advent of organised instruction and education has meant that play's unplanned, intrinisic goal-setting could be replaced by extrinsic goal-setting in the systematic development of particular skills. However, the need to ensure adequate motivation has continued to give play educational value. In addition, its capacity to enhance innovative behaviour seems to be a residual function of play which has acquired a new cultural importance.
From weaning until sexual maturity, the rates at which young male rats hold each other supine during play fighting appear to become progressively asymmetrical. These changes have been previously thought to reflect an initial lack of dominance and a later development of dominance-subordinance relationships. In this paper it is shown that pairs of male rats exhibit asymmetries in playful attack and playful defense throughout development. The changes, resulting in greater asymmetry of pinning rates, are shown to result from age-dependent changes in defensive tactics; the relationship, therefore, remains constant while the form of the behavior changes. Furthermore, it is not the animals showing the highest rates of playful attack who become dominant in older ages.
1.1. Plasma and cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) angiotensin 2 (A2) levels, plasma Na+ concentration, osmolality, and hematocrits were measured in desert and nondesert rodents during food and water deprivation induced dehydration.2.2. During food deprivation, polydipsia was observed in the xerophilous species (Dipodomys spectabilis and Meriones unguiculatus), while decreased water consumption was evident in the mesically adapted species (Rattus norvegicus). All species revealed reductions in intravascular volume during fasting with no change in plasma or CSF A2 levels.3.3. A five-fold elevation in plasma A2 was observed in water deprived rats while the desert rodents evidenced only slight elevations. There were no changes in CSF A2 concentrations in response to water deprivation.4.4. Plasma osmolality was chronically elevated during water deprivation in all species.5.5. The present findings question the importance of the renin-angiotensin system in the normal maintenance of body water balance by desert rodents subjected to dehydration challenges.
Yearling-male squirrel monkeys (Saimiri sciureus) were paired with play partners either matched or different from them in age and/or sex. The frequency of play was maintained at equally high levels with both matched and mismatched partners. However, play between mismatched partners was marked by an unusually high incidence of nondirectional wrestling, a less threatening form of playfighting, and an increase in role reversal, suggesting that youngsters had considerable flexibility in the use of alternate strategies to sustain play activity with partners who were atypical for them. These results also attest to the robustness of play and its importance in the behavioral repertoire. The technique of restricting youngsters to atypical play companions is suggested as an effective means of manipulating play, with minimal disruption of other social experiences, for long-term studies of the developmental impact of social play.
Play signals are known to function in the solicitation and maintenance of intraspecific play, but their role in interspecific play is relatively unstudied. We carried out two studies to examine interspecific signalling when humans play with domestic dogs, Canis familiaris. In the first, we recorded dog–owner play sessions on video to identify actions used by 21 dog owners to initiate play with their dogs. Thirty-five actions were each used by three or more owners. These included postures, vocalizations and physical contact with the dog. The actions varied greatly in their apparent success at instigating play which was, surprisingly, unrelated to the frequency with which they were used. We then did an experiment to determine the effect of composites of commonly used signals upon the behaviour of 20 Labrador retrievers. The performance of both ‘Bow’ and ‘Lunge’ by a human altered the subsequent behaviour of the dogs. Both signals caused increases in play, and Lunge produced significant increases in play bout frequency and mean bout duration. The efficiency of both these postural signals was enhanced when they were accompanied by play vocalizations. Thus, specific actions used by humans do communicate a playful context to dogs and can be described as interspecific play signals.
The intent of this paper is to outline a process by which we redefined an ambiguous behavioral category, rough-and-tumble play (R&T), using ethological and ethnographic methods (i.e., factor analyses, motivational/functional analyses, and interviews). Results suggest that sociometrically rejected and popular elementary school children have different concepts of R&T. For the former group, R&T and aggression seem to be interrelated and serve similar functions, while for the latter group R&T is a playful, social affiliative category. Interview results suggest that a cognitive processing difference between the groups may be at the root of this difference.
The classic study of dog behavior gathered into one volume. Based on twenty years of research at the Jackson Laboratory, this is the single most important and comprehensive reference work on the behavior of dogs ever complied. "Genetics and the Social Behavior of the Dog is one of the most important texts on canine behavior published to date. Anyone interested in breeding, training, or canine behavior must own this book."âWayne Hunthausen, D.V.M., Director of Animal Behavior Consultations "This pioneering research on dog behavioral genetics is a timeless classic for all serious students of ethology and canine behavior."âDr. Michael Fox, Senior Advisor to the President, The Humane Society of the United States "A major authoritative work. . . . Immensely rewarding reading for anyone concerned with dog-breeding."âTimes Literary Supplement "The last comprehensive study [of dog behavior] was concluded more than thirty years ago, when John Paul Scott and John L. Fuller published their seminal work Genetics and the Social Behavior of the Dog."âMark Derr, The Atlantic Monthly "Genetics and the Social Behavior of the Dog is essential reading for anyone involved in the breeding of dogs. No breeder can afford to ignore the principles of proper socialization first discovered and articulated in this landmark study."-The Monks of New Skete, authors of How to Be Your Dog's Best Friend and the video series Raising Your Dog with the Monks of New Skete.
Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Southampton, 1999.
Developmental changes in the frequency of occurrence of some 23 action patterns were studied in pairs of coyotes, wolves, dogs and their hybrids. Over 4,300 entries were recorded from days 24--42 (85.5 h observations in toto). All subjects showed a decrease in contactual behaviors from 24--30 days, and a subsequent increase in play fighting and chasing. In all species, with the exception of the coyotes, the bite was inhibited and play behavior was recorded from 24 days onwards, but only after the 30th day in the coyotes. Species differences in occurrence and frequency of certain action patterns were evident in the wolves, coyotes and dogs, and these differences were also reflected in their hybrids.
Rewards, as diverse as food, sweetened solutions, copulation, electrical brain stimulation, and drugs abused by humans, have been shown to condition place preferences in rats. Juvenile rats will readily learn to traverse a T-maze for the opportunity to interact with another similar-aged rat. This suggests that play behavior is rewarding. Experiment 1 examined whether play (as quantified by rough-and-tumble pinning) would act as a sufficient reward to condition a place preference (CPP). Experiment 2 examined whether pairings with a nonplaying partner would decrease the time spent in the preferred side and thus suggest a conditioned place aversion (CPA). In Experiment 1, dominant juvenile rats were given free access to a CPP apparatus and a side preference for one of the two physically distinct sides was determined. Dominant rats were then conditioned twice daily over four days in the CPP apparatus. They spent their first session confined in their preferred side with a scopolamine-treated partner (that rendered the partner unable to respond to play solicitations) and during the second session, dominant rats were confined to their less preferred side with a submissive play partner. The number of dorsal contacts, as well as frequency and duration of pinning, were recorded. Following conditioning, side preference was redetermined. A similar procedure was used in Experiment 2 except that the subjects underwent conditioning on their less-preferred side without a play partner. Results of Experiment 1 demonstrated that the dominant rats significantly increased (198.6%) the time spent on the originally less-preferred side after play conditioning.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)
The social play of pairs of juvenile rats can be brought under tight experimental control using social deprivation, and it can be objectively quantified by measurement of pinning behavior. Research and conceptual issues concerning this paired-encounter procedure are summarized, including issues related to measurement, gender differences (and the absence thereof), relations between play and aggression, the regulatory processes interacting with and underlying play, the neurochemical and neuroanatomical substrates of play, the functions of play in dominance and other adult behaviors. Existing results suggest the operation of a harmoniously operating brain process which generates a unique emotive brain process that is appropriately referred to as social play. Although the concept of play remains to be adequately defined, the position is advocated that rigorous psychobiological analysis will ultimately provide an empirical definition based upon neural circuit characteristics. Analysis of the underlying circuits may help reveal the manner in which more complex levels of behavioral competence arise ontogenically, and work in the area may yield clues to the genesis of several psychopathologies.
One-hundred-and-twelve small animal veterinarians and 56 dog care professionals were asked to rate the behavioural characteristics of 49 breeds of dog, and to compare males and females by means of a 13-point questionnaire. From their replies, factor analysis was used to extract three underlying traits, labelled aggressivity, reactivity and immaturity. On the basis of these traits, eight groups of breeds were derived. Membership of these groups did not correspond exactly with any of the four existing breed classification systems (Mégnin, the Fédération Cynologique International, ancient breeds and Kennel Club of Great Britain), but significant differences between Kennel Club groups were found on all three traits. Male dogs were rated higher than females on both aggressivity and immaturity; the components of reactivity were also rated higher in males, apart from the demand for affection which was rated higher in females. Females were also considered easier to train than males.
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