Dog Behavior Blog

High Tech Reaches Your Dog

Note from Con Slobodchikoff: This is a guest post by Nikki Longo, @NikkiDLongo, about.me/NikkiDLongo. Nikki has previously written about pet safety on the Dog Behavior Blog.

The High Tech Pet

Technology doesn't have to be limited to the two-legged human crowd. Nowadays, more and more technology is being applied to the hairier members of the family, making it easier to stay connected to pets, as well as come up with new and improved ways to keep track of their health, accelerate their training, or just keep close to them when away for long hours. 

PetCube

Even when pets are fine with their owners being away for extended amounts of time, that isn't always the case with the owners. There isn't a pet owner in the world who hasn't wiled away time at their desk, wistfully wondering what their pet is up to. Then there are the pets who pine all day for their owners, woefully wishing their favorite human was there to play with them. The PetCube is a small, compact bundle of technology that encompasses a camera, a microphone, and a laser pointer on movable platform. The camera streams HD-quality video to users on a wireless network and is easily accessible on the go. So not only does the PetCube allow you to keep your pet engaged throughout the day, but it will allow owners to see what their pet is up to and if there are negative behaviors they need to address as dogs can become destructive when bored.

Remote Training Collars

There are dozens of ways pets can get into danger: sniffing a coiled snake on the ground, getting caught up in a group of unfriendly dogs when off leash at a dog park, running off after a rabbit and crashing into a barbed wire fence. Leashes aren't always feasible and there are moments in a dog's life where even the most well-trained canine won't respond to the voice commands they know. Remote training collars are gentle and effective at training dogs to distinguish between "right" and "wrong" behaviors with a vibration or mild pulse of electric stimulation. A handheld remote gives the owner control over their dogs for distances of up to two miles with some collars. 

Remote training collars are also great for dogs with unsavory behaviors like food stealing, trash digging, or furniture destruction. 

Keep Track of Your Pet's Health

Phones and tablets keep track of everything lately, so why not let it keep track of health information for pets, too? There are plenty of apps for pet lovers. One app called "MyPetED--Pet Health Center" makes it easy to keep track of vaccine history, surgical information, veterinarian contact information, as well as receive articles directly on the application about various health and behavior articles geared specifically for animals. 

Another app, "Pet First Aid" offers important videos and information about common injuries to pets, giving owners time to help treat minor injuries and stabilize serious ones en route to the veterinarian. 

Man’s Best Friend’s Eye View Camera

Dogs are brilliant. Every dog owner will attest to that. And there are times when owners walk through the door and their dog has done something so mind boggling that they think "How did they do that!?". Now there's a petcam that can answer those questions. This tiny camera attaches to the pet's collar and lets owners see exactly what their critter has been getting up to while they're away. Just plug into the computer via a USB and watch all of kitty's shenanigans at once. And don’t let the name fool you, it works with cats too!

 

So what this all boils down to is this – your dog doesn’t need an iPad, but there are various high-tech tools that you and your dog can use to keep them active, keep them  consistent in their training and to just keep them having fun.

 

Who Is Guarding Whom?

Note from Con Slobodchikoff: This is a guest post by
Nikki Longo, who has been a home safety consultant based on the East Coast
for the better part of a decade. Mom to two wonderful corgi mixed dogs, she has
been writing on personal and public safety issues for the past five years. Feel
free to reach out to her at [email protected]

Putting an End to Breed-Specific Legislation

Profiling is supposed to be a thing of the past.

As a society, we've notarized our acceptance of people from
all walks of life, and advanced our understanding of sociology, science, and outright
decency. Segregation and stereotyping are quickly being stomped out by forward-thinking
generations. So why hasn't the same thing happened in the canine community?

Breed-specific legislation, the catch-all term for the laws,
guidelines and recommendations for selective dog ownership, is a prickly thorn
in the side of the amiable pet lover. And as of late, breed-specific
legislation has found a place in the news thanks to a press release from the white house which decried its existence.

"Research shows that bans on certain types of dogs are
largely ineffective and often a waste of public resources," stated an
official release from Obama's desk.

Yet, in light of our societal reconstruction and the written
support of our executive branch, there are still plenty of jurisdictions across
the United States that forbid the ownership of select breeds such as Pit Bulls
and Staffordshire Terriers.

Home Security and Dog Ownership

The discord lies in a firmly-rooted misconception. Many
policymakers and homeowners still adhere to the outdated
notion that certain dog breeds are indisputably primed for belligerence. In
reality, most of the data on dog bites relates to the popularity of the breed.
In the '70s, Dobermans were en vogue, and correspondingly, most instances of
canine aggression toward humans could be chalked up to Dobermans. The same goes
for Pit Bulls in the '80s and Rottweilers in the '90s.

When people start looking into a family dog, many maintain
this surface level understanding of canine aggression. Furthermore, some
households will even make a point to purchase dogs they perceive as more aggressive,
so as to circumvent the effort of buying or installing a home security system.
In fact, some even consider a dog as a type of DIY security system.

Again, that's a misconception.

True DIY security systems come with a host of snafus and missing
pieces, from unreliable protection to non-existent monitoring backup (you can
read a much bigger list of cons at securitycompanies.com).
The point is, if you're looking for home security, you need to get the real
deal. And by pegging your dog as your security system, you're doing a
disservice to both yourself and your pet.

Understanding a Dog's Purpose

A dog should never be purchased with the sole intent of
using it to guard and protect. Not only are they incapable of such a large
task, they're just not meant for it. What rule makers and pet buyers need to
understand is that dogs are built to be so much more than a sentry tower. They
can provide a loving, calming presence for the household they're born or
adopted into, and their purpose far exceeds their debasing history in blood
sport – no matter their breed.

This isn't to say there aren't any protective benefits to owning a dog. With its keen hearing and sensitivity, your dog might be able to give you a leg up by letting out a bark when it hears
or feels unusual rhythms around the house. But beyond that, residential
security is the homeowner's onus.

Once more of us are willing to take home security into our
own hands rather than putting it in the paws of our furry friends, we'll be
able to diminish the aggressive stigma around certain breeds. Provided
policymakers open their ears and read a little further into the data, there
will come a day when breed-specific legislation will no longer be an issue at
the federal, state or local level.

Animal Behavior Course

What Would You Like To Know About Animal Behavior?

Would you like to know about why animals do what they do? Would you like to know why your dog does the things she does? Would you like to know how animals, including dogs, learn?

Now you can find out through my Animal Behavior Course, at www.animalbehaviorcourse.net.

It is an edited version of the lectures that I have been teaching to animal behavior classes for a number of years. I have edited it so that everything is people-friendly, with no big scientific terms or jargon.

You get a pdf file for $37. There are 11 modules in this file, and each module teaches you the highlights of what we currently know about the behavior of animals in areas such as learning, aggression, feeding, reproduction, migration, navigation, homing, communication, and social behavior.

You risk nothing in buying it. The course is sold through Clickbank, which has a 60 day return policy. So if you buy it and find that it is not right for you, Clickbank will return your money.

Also, if you haven't read it yet, I invite you to read my new ebook, Autobiography of a Poodle, which sells for $3.47 on Amazon and Barnes & Noble. The book tells the story of Zephyr, a standard poodle, and offers in a painless and fun way a lot of advice on the training and behavior of dogs. You can find the Amazon version at:http://tinyurl.com/9de6g6p

Finally, I would like to invite you, if you are on Facebook and haven't yet visited it, to visit my new page called Dr Con (www.facebook.com/doctor.con). If you are interested in animal intelligence, animal abilities, or animal language, I talk about recent findings in all of those areas. Click on the Like button, check it out and let me know if you like it or if you have suggestions for what to include.

 

--Con Slobodchikoff

Dog Training Certifications – The Credential Craze

Note from Con Slobodchikoff (www.conslobodchikoff.com): The following post was written by Starr Ladehoff, Certified Professional Dog Trainer -- Knowledge Assessed (CPDT-KA), and Director Elect, Board of Directors, Certification Council for Professional Dog Trainers. She is an AKC Canine Good Citizen Evaluator (#71153) and a Canine Life and Social Skills Evaluator (#E750403). Starr does training and behavioral consulting at Arizona Pet Professionals, LLC, www.ArizonaPetPro.com. Her email is [email protected].

(Disclaimer: The Dog Behavior Blog has no affiliation with, nor receives any compensation from, any of the dog behavior web sites or organizations listed in this post).

In a world full of credentials for everything from doctors to technicians, it is often challenging to make sense of what they mean and in the dog training and behavior industry, credentials are becoming quite popular. Many trainers have some form of certification or are on their way to obtaining one. Through the maze and haze of all of these symbols that grow every year, it is worth taking a look at what several of the popularly listed credentials mean.

There are three main types of certification as described by Susan Smith, CPDT-KA, CDBC of Raising Canine, LLC in her article posted on her school website – www.becomeaprofessionaldogtrainer.com.

· The first certification signifies you have completed a course of study and met standards discerned by the organization providing the course – giving you a certificate of completion or diploma. The testing process is geared to the organization’s curriculum so one may or may not be limited in proficiency.

· The second type of certification is where one has met standards of a member-driven organization and, like the first, it may be driven by a certain point of view or methodology.

· The third type is where one has met standards that are independent of any organization; these standards are based in science, or are accepted industry standards. Regardless of how you obtained your education, the tests are standardized for the profession.

In the second and third cases, there are often continuing education requirements to keep the certification up to date and in the third case periodic renewal of the certification almost always required.

The Certification Council for Professional Dog Trainers (CCPDT) is the only independent, psychometrically sound, certifying organization for dog trainers, to date. The certification is met by sitting for a knowledge based exam (CPDT-KA); CCPDT has recently added a skills based exam (CPDT-KSA) and an exam for behavior consultants (CBCC-KA or -KSA).

The Association of Pet Dog Trainers (APDT) encourages people to attain certification and has a list of approved certifications they recognize as meeting their standards. Below is the list of approved certifications by the APDT as listed on their website www.apdt.com:

Credential By Organization

CPDT-KA (Certified Professional Dog Trainer – Knowledge Assessed) By Certification Council for Professional Dog Trainers

ACAAB (Associate Certified Applied Animal Behaviorist) By Animal Behavior Society

CAAB (Certified Applied Animal Behaviorist) By Animal Behavior Society

CABC (Certified Animal Behavior Consultant) By International Association of Animal Behavior Consultants

CDBC (Certified Dog Behavior Consultant) By International Association of Animal Behavior Consultants

CCAB (Certified Clinical Behavior Consultant) By International Association for the Study of Animal Behavior

DACVB (Diplomat of the American College of Veterinary Behaviorists) By American College of Veterinary Behaviorists

The following are some of the schools with certificate programs that provide a certificate upon completion of their program (there is usually no requirement for continuing education):

Credential By Organization

ABCDT (Animal Behavior College Certified Dog Trainer) By Animal Behavior College

DipCBST (Diploma of Canine Science Behavior and Technology) By Companion Animal Science Institute

KPCT (Karen Pryor Certified Trainer) By Karen Pryor Academy

PMCT(1,2,3) Pat Miller Certified Trainer levels 1, 2 & 3) By Pat Miller Academy

TCA Trainer By Triple Crown Academy

If you are thinking of becoming certified as a dog trainer, when deciding on a certification, consider the type of credential you feel would best suit your needs and what value you will receive in obtaining it. If you are looking at a program that gives a certificate or diploma upon completion, look at methodology and course curriculum. Communicate with graduates and ask why they chose a specific program in addition to asking if they feel benefited by the credential. Most credentials and programs offer benefits and perks to those who have graduated or obtained the certification including exposure to the public, discounts for various items or services and groups to join for advice and support. Other programs that don’t offer a certification, such as www.becomeaprofessionaldogtrainer.com provide a thorough curriculum to prepare you for training and/or CCPDT certification in the future.

If you are trying to find a dog trainer who is credentialed, ask them what their designation means and what it took to get it or look at where it was obtained and what standards were met to get it. Talk to the trainer’s references. Make sure you feel comfortable with the trainer and their methods and experience. Ask questions of those who state they are a “behaviorist” without the PhD or certification to back it up.

While there are many amazing trainers without a certification, it is my opinion that we improve ourselves and our profession by obtaining a valid and respected credential that was obtained by testing one’s knowledge of the science of canine behavior.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

DOG SOCIALIZATION – WHAT, WHEN, WHERE, HOW?

Note from Con Slobodchikoff (www.conslobodchikoff.com): The following post was written by Starr Ladehoff, Certified Professional Dog Trainer -- Knowledge Assessed (CPDT-KA), and Director Elect, Board of Directors, Certification Council for Professional Dog Trainers. She is an AKC Canine Good Citizen Evaluator (#71153) and a Canine Life and Social Skills Evaluator (#E750403). Starr does training and behavioral consulting at Arizona Pet Professionals, LLC, www.ArizonaPetPro.com. Her email is [email protected].

 

Most of us have been told we should socialize our dogs for them to be ok with other dogs, animals and people but what does that really mean?  Is it free-for-all play with all types of dogs and letting them “figure it out?” Should we take them to different places with lots of people and/or animals so they can “work through their fears?” To answer these questions, we should consider how a dog’s social development progresses from the time they begin the process into adulthood.

 

The primary socialization period starts at age 3 weeks! Puppies learn they are dogs. The littermates begin to play with each other practicing survival techniques for later on in life such as biting, barking, fighting, posturing and chasing. During this period, which lasts up to approximately 12 weeks, puppies go through major changes both physically and socially. They learn to accept corrections from their mother and to use submissive postures. They learn to relate to their littermates and develop a loose hierarchy within the litter. If puppies are separated from their litter before 7 weeks, their ability to get along with other dogs may be affected and they may not have learned to inhibit the force of their bite.

 

Between the ages of 7 and 12 weeks, they learn what human beings are and to accept them as safe. This is the time when rapid learning occurs and any experience the puppy goes through has the greatest impact on future social behavior, good or bad. Teach your puppy the house rules and give them structure but keep in mind their short attention span and physical limitations. Although puppies can continue to learn to be comfortable with new things, it is not as easy as during this period. This is why the American Veterinary Society of Animal Behavior recommends proper socialization classes and experiences as early as 7 to 8 weeks of age. Although puppies are not completely immune to disease this young, there is greater risk for behavioral problems developing later on in life due to incomplete or improper socialization. To read the position statement on puppy socialization from the American Veterinary Society of Animal Behavior, go to www.avsabonline.org.

 

As puppies age, they go through two “fear imprinting” periods. Any traumatic event the puppy experiences can have a more lasting effect and may last for life. The first fear period is between 8 and 11 weeks. Be careful not to put your puppy into stressful or frightening situations. No wild costume parties during this time of their life! The second fear period is between 6 and 14 months old. Many dogs will become more reactive during this time or become suddenly apprehensive about new things. In large breeds, this period could extend longer. Puppies have individual personalities just like we do so what is scary for one may not be for another. By becoming familiar with canine body language you will learn to recognize fear signals your dog might display.

 

So what is proper socialization? Socialization is not simply dog/dog play, though that can be part of it.

Socialization really is:

• Exposure to the world the dog will be a part of in a safe manner with rules and guidelines
• Learning to be calm when the world is stimulating
• Learning to respond to signals when that is not what they want to do

Yes! Socialization is learning and maintaining acceptable behavior in any situation, especially when they would rather not. It is learning to handle any experience they will normally encounter throughout their life without becoming fearful, overly stimulated, reactive or aggressive.

 

Getting to know the breed(s) in your dog will help you understand their predispositions to sociability. Some breed types are more likely to continue puppy sociability into adulthood like sporting dogs and companion dogs (retrievers and spaniels). More of the breeds however become less tolerant such as terriers, guard dogs, herding dogs and bully breeds. Some dogs grow to become consistent challengers and others consistently remain passive.

 

Seeking out proper socializing experiences such as well-structured puppy classes or one on one play dates with other appropriate dogs is a vital part of proper socialization. A great puppy class may have a safe, mature dog for the puppies to learn from who will teach them boundaries. Puppies should be matched by personality and play style. Sharing games like the retrieve/drop should be taught to avoid possessiveness and teach relinquishment of unsafe items. Learning to come happily back to their person during play is an extremely important skill to learn at any age. Your dog should look to you for guidance and be willingly dependent upon you.

 

If you have a mature dog who is easily stimulated, teach them to relax before allowing them to socialize. If you have an adult dog who would rather not be around other dogs or people, don’t force them to socialize – they may never change and you might end up with a fight or other problem behavior.  Encourage and teach passive play instead of overly aroused play. If you have a dog or multiple dogs who play rough, do a lot of interruptions and call them to you happily rewarding them for paying attention. Teach them to play together with toys instead of mouthing each other. Overly aroused play can lead to aggression as dogs mature so be careful, particularly with the breeds who tend to go from 0-60 in about 2 seconds!

 

Proper socialization is an art! Be patient, kind and consistent while teaching social skills. Both you and your dog should be having fun. If you feel you have a dog with socialization issues, seek advice from a qualified behavior professional. 

 

Your Dog Can Talk To You

We have known for some time that animals such as chimpanzees, bonobos, and gorillas can be taught to communicate through using signs such as those of American Sign Language or using lexigrams on computer keyboards.  We also are becoming increasingly aware that dogs have the cognitive ability to understand human gestures such as pointing, and that dogs are keen observers of the body movements of humans. However, with dogs, this communication has often been a one-way street: We point, they respond, but we do not usually respond to their gestures. In her book, Dogs Can Sign, Too, Sean Senechal offers a step-by-step method of teaching both humans and dogs a way of communicating with one another through gestures (Senechal, Sean, 2009, Dogs Can Sign, Too: A Breakthrough Method for Teaching Your Dog to Communicate to You, Celestial Arts, Berkeley CA).

I first learned of Sean Senechal’s work from a story by Anne Fawcett in the May 27, 2011 Sydney Morning Herald, which talked about the progress we are making in communicating with animals. The story talked about my work with decoding prairie dog language, and also talked about the work that Sean Senechal was doing in devising a language that dogs can use to communicate with their people.

I was intrigued, and visited Sean at her California ranch to see her work for myself. She showed me how her horse could use the sign language to request different kinds of foods, and also how her dogs could use the language to indicate what kind of food they wanted, where things hurt on their body, and their wanting to go outside to play. I ordered her book from Amazon, and found the book to be both informative and fun to read.

There are ten chapters in this paperback book. The first chapter offers a brief statement of why dogs are a good candidate for learning a sign language that they can use to communicate with their humans. Consider, for example, all of the signs, gestures, and procedures that guide dogs have to learn in order to perform their duties for people who cannot see or cannot hear. The second chapter presents an overview of the K9Sign Language that Senechal has devised for communication, using gestures and body postures that are easy and natural for dogs. This language is rule-based with standardized moves: If a dog want to communicate “Potty,” the dog moves its hind legs out to a wide stance, while if a dog wants to communicate its desire for “Chicken” as a food item, the dog lifts its left paw up high and then lowers it down. The third chapter discusses how dog learn and some of the elements of learning theory, as an introduction to those who are not familiar with the basics, and as a reminder for those who know how other animals learn. Chapters 4 through 6 give some practical tips on what people should expect when they start to teach this language to their dogs, and how people can avoid the pitfalls and frustrations that are likely to befall them along the way. Chapter 7 gives specific information on how to teach human signs to dogs, and Chapters 8 and 9 talk about how to use and interpret the signs that dogs naturally have through their body language. Chapter 10 briefly sets out Senechal’s vision that eventually such signs can be used to communicate not only with dogs but with other animals as well, such as horses, as a way of strengthening the human-animal bond.

Throughout the book, Senechal provides photographs of the hand, arm, and face gestures that she uses with her dog Chal, and also provides extensive photographic documentation of the signs that Chal uses to communicate with Senechal. This makes it easy for a person learning K9Sign Language to learn the signs and also to learn what kinds of responses should be taught to a dog. Senechal also goes into extensive detail about the different signs, so that in addition to the visual aspect of the photographs, there is ample explanation of how to learn and teach this language.

In our attempts to communicate with other animals, Senechal’s book is a step in a good direction. Although there is increasing evidence that many animal species have sophisticated methods of communicating and language, decoding those communication methods is difficult and time-consuming. On the other hand, teaching animals a basic language that they can use to communicate with humans offers a path to increasing the well-being of both the animals and the people who otherwise have to guess what it might be that their animals want. This book is a “Must Read” for those who seriously want to communicate with their dogs.

--Con Slobodchikoff

When You Are Generous, Your Dog Is Watching You

Some people have generous natures, and some people are miserly. The generous ones are happy to share what they have with others, while the miserly folks resent having to share anything with anybody.

So if given the choice, which type of person would a dog likely approach first?

If you guessed the generous one, you guessed right.

But how do dogs know this? A recent study in the journal Animal Behaviour reported on experiments where dogs were given the opportunity to interact with generous vs. non-generous people, and the study examined the cues that the dogs used to make a decision about whom to interact with (Marshall-Pescini et al. 2011. Social eavesdropping in the domestic dog. Animal Behaviour (2011), doi:10.1016/j.anbehav.2011.02.029).

The study used 100 dogs of mixed breeds and ages. In the experimental setup, a dog and the dog’s person were allowed to go into a small room, and the dog was given the opportunity to explore the room. Then the dog and person sat down along one side of the room while two people unfamiliar to the dog entered the room. Each of these two people had a bowl of cereal and a bowl of sausages, and each came up to the seated dog and allowed the dog to smell both bowls. Then the two people sat down facing each other, and started to eat small quantities of cereal.

A third person entered the room, came up to each of the two people facing one another, and begged for food. One of the two people, the generous one, let the person have a morsel of cereal, saying “Have it.” and placed a bit of food in the beggar’s mouth.  The other person, the non-generous one, told the person “No” and made a gesture as if pushing the beggar away. The beggar moved from one person to the next six times, each time either getting a morsel of food from the generous person or being told “No” by the non-generous one.

Following these interactions, the beggar left and the dog was allowed to roam around the room for 20 seconds, during which time the experimenters monitored who the dog interacted with the most: the generous person, the non-generous one, or neither.

The end result was that most dogs spent more of their time either looking at or interacting with the generous person while mostly ignoring the non-generous one.

The experimenters tweaked these experiments to see if just voice alone (without the gestures) was enough, or if just the gestures (without the voice) made a difference, or even if the dogs would respond if people made the gestures and said the words but no beggar was present.

The dogs did best when voice was combined with gestures, although they also did well with just the voice alone. They did not seem to recognize what was happening when just the gestures were used (putting food in the beggar’s mouth vs pushing beggar away), perhaps because these gestures were relatively similar.

When no beggar was present, the dogs did not distinguish between the generous and non-generous person, indicating that they were watching what happened to the beggar rather than just tuning in to the voice and the gestures.

Those of us who have trained dogs know that we can get a dog’s attention by sharing food with the dog. But this study puts a novel twist on food sharing: Dogs can assess who shares food with other people, and look to that person as a likely candidate for sharing food with the dog.

So the next time you have people over for a dinner party, be sure to be generous in handing out food.

You need to impress your dog with your generosity.

--Con Slobodchikoff

 

Turning A Dog’s Behavior Into A Trick

I love teaching tricks to dogs for so many reasons. It’s a fun way to interact with them, it gives them mental exercise, it can help teach a dog a skill that may be practical, and it’s low pressure training because it’s “just for fun.”

One of the secrets to teaching a dog a trick is working with what they naturally do. If the dog has a tendency to perform a particular behavior, then it will be easier to turn that into a cute trick that is performed on cue than trying to get a dog to do something that is foreign.

For example, a dog who tends to use his paws a lot naturally is a great candidate for high-five, wave, or shake.

Dogs who tend to creep when lying down or even when they are supposed to be in a stay are easy to teach to crawl.

Dogs who sleep on their backs usually don’t mind that position even when they are awake, so they are often quick to learn to rollover or to go belly up.

Spinning on cue is easiest to teach to dogs who naturally go in circles when they are excited. (However, I don’t like to teach this to dogs who spin and spin when they get revved up because I’m worried it will develop into a habit that they will have trouble stopping.)

Part of training is teaching a dog to perform a certain behavior and another part is teaching them to do it on cue. If your dog already exhibits the behavior, then all you have to do is put that behavior on cue. And that’s another reason I like teaching dogs to do tricks—it’s often half done before I even start!

--Karen London

When You’re Smiling, Your Dog Smiles With You

My Standard Poodle Raja likes to sleep in during the morning. Hours after everyone in the house has gotten up, Raja is still asleep under his blanket, dead to the world. Eventually he gets up and walks around the house looking for people to say “Good Morning!” When I see him coming down the hall, I smile at him, reach out and give him a morning massage while his tail wags furiously. If I pay attention, I see that he is smiling too.

I have always assumed that he is smiling because he loves the petting and the massage. It makes me feel good to pet him, lowering my blood pressure, which already is rising with the stress of the coming day.

But could he be responding to my smile? If I were asked this question a few months ago, I would have answered, Of course not!

Now, however, there is an article in the journal Animal Cognition by four researchers in Japan who say that dogs can indeed recognize the smiles of their owners (Nagasawa et al. 2011. Dogs can discriminate human smiling faces from blank expressions. Animal Cognition online 26 February 2011).

In their experiments, the researchers trained five dogs to respond to photographs of human faces. During the training phase, the dogs were shown two photographs: the smiling face of a university student, and the back of that student’s head. They were rewarded for choosing the photograph of the smiling face.

Then  the experimenters showed each dog a photograph of their owner’s smiling face vs. their owner’s face with a neutral expression, repeating this ten times with each dog. The dogs chose the photograph of the smiling owner’s face between 80-90 percent of the time, significantly above chance levels (chance would be choosing the smiling face and the neutral face 50 percent of the time each).

The experimenters then went one step further and showed the dogs photographs of the smiling face and neutral face of unfamiliar people of the same gender as the dogs’ owners. Again the dogs chose the smiling faces between 70-90 percent of the time.

The last experiment turned out to be something of a puzzler. The experimenters showed the dogs both smiling and neutral photographs of faces of the opposite gender as the dogs’ owners. Now the dogs fell to chance levels, suggesting that they couldn’t tell the difference between the smiling face or the neutral face of someone with whom they weren’t familiar. This last response suggests that it isn’t just simple conditioning where the dogs have learned to respond to a smile, regardless of the face.

We can ask why. Maybe dogs have to learn that the smile on their owner’s face is associated with positive things, such as a food reward, a walk, or strokes. Or maybe dogs just feel good around their owners and not as good around other people. Maybe they feel particularly good when the owner’s emotion, expressed as a smile, washes over them. Clearly we still have a lot to learn about this.

But I know one thing. I feel good when I see Raja coming down the hallway, and I am pretty sure that Raja feels good when he sees me smiling.

--Con Slobodchikoff

Dogs Assess Reputations

We all know someone who has a bad reputation. Backstabber. Malicious gossip. Liar. Cheater. Gets unpredictably angry. And we try to keep that reputation in mind when we deal with the person. If you are like me, you might give the person the benefit of the doubt, but then when it happens to you, you back off and are no longer willing to trust the person. As the saying goes, once bitten, twice shy.

But can dogs assess who has a bad reputation? On the surface, the answer seems to be easy – Of course not. Dogs are supposed to be friendly toward everyone, and are supposed to lack the thinking skills that would allow them to form a judgment about reputations.

Not so fast, however, with the easy answers.

A new study appearing in the journal Animal Cognition shows that dogs can make some pretty good judgments about people’s reputations (Kundey et al. 2011. Reputation-like inference in domestic dogs (Canis familiaris). Animal Cognition 14: 291-302).

The experimenters used a very clever trick. While a dog was watching, they had two people kneeling side-by-side in front of another person who was kneeling facing the other two. The two kneeling people each gave the  person facing them a treat by placing the treat in front of the person. But one of the two givers consistently took the treat back, while the other giver allowed the person in front of them to take the treat. Then each of the givers offered the dog a treat by placing the treat in front of them, just like they did when they were offering the treat to the person. The dog was allowed to choose whose treat to take.

All ten dogs in this experiment chose to take the treat from the giver who didn’t take back the treat.

To control for unintentional cues, the experimenters tried a variety of modifications of this experimental design, each with about ten new dogs. In one modification, the givers were kneeling facing away from the recipient person, and had to reach backward to offer the treat. In another modification, the givers were not people, but large cardboard boxes with people inside reaching out to put down the treats. In a third modification, the recipient was a cardboard box.

In each case, at least nine of the ten dogs chose to take the treat from the giver who didn’t initially take the treat back.

The experimenters concluded that the dogs formed a concept of the reputation of each of the givers: one giver was reliable in offering the treat, while the other one was unreliable.

Let’s extend these results to our dogs. How many times have you yelled at your dog, hit your dog, yanked your dog by the collar or leash, or otherwise acted in an unpleasant manner toward your dog (my hope is that your answer is “zero”)? For those who do that, these experiments imply that dogs are forming a concept of the reputation of their people.

Just as we don’t do well in an environment of working with a boss who has a reputation for being unpleasant, maybe dogs don’t do well living with people who have a reputation of being unpredictable.

And maybe dogs act out when they get a concept that the person that they are living with has a bad reputation.

The moral of the story is, be nice to your dogs.

--Con Slobodchikoff