Dogs really are man’s best friend! Pups turn to their owners for help when faced with a difficult task, study reveals
- Dogs turn to their owners for help when faced with a difficult task, study finds
- Research investigated dogs’ vocalisations when presented with unsolvable task
- Fifty one dogs were taken into room where plate of food was placed out of reach
- Dogs found to bark in direction of owner to encourage them to retrieve the food
People constantly talk to their dogs — and it turns out that dogs also communicate with us, particularly when they want help getting to food.
That’s according to a new study which looked at how the animals would react when presented with a difficult task.
The research, led by Aix-Marseille University, experimented with 51 dogs to see what they would do when a plate of food was just out of their reach.
They were taken into a room by a stranger holding the plate, which was then randomly placed on one of two shelves that the dogs couldn’t get to.
The pets’ owners then entered the room, at which point the researchers began measuring the behaviour and vocalisations of the pups.
People constantly talk to their dogs — and it turns out that dogs also communicate with us, particularly when they want help getting to food
Only 22 per cent of the dogs vocalised, 32 per cent of which were whines and 68 per cent barks.
In total, 68 per cent of the dogs’ barks and whines were aimed at their owner, and were rarely directed at the food itself.
This, the researchers determined, suggested that the dogs were encouraging their owners to retrieve the food on their behalf.
The study’s lead author, Florence Gaunet, of Aix-Marseille University, said: ‘We found some vocal similarities between the multiple dogs that barked in our study, suggesting that dogs employ different types of vocal coding to call for attention.’
Among the breeds of dog involved in the study were an American Staffordshire terrier, Labradors, golden retrievers and a schnauser.
However, the researchers found no particular link between the breed of dog and how it turned to its owner for help with retrieving the food.
The authors wrote in their paper: ‘Despite ongoing research, many aspects of dogs’ vocal communication are not yet fully understood, including how they convey information about items.
‘The aim of the present exploratory study was to determine whether dogs vocalise differently toward their owner and food in an unsolvable task where food is inaccessible and to characterise the acoustic composition of canine vocalisations.’
They added: ‘We also sought to determine whether dogs vocalise differently toward their owner and food in terms of repartition and the acoustic composition of canine vocalisations. The results indicate that this is indeed the case.’
The researchers said future studies should look to involve more dogs but focus on only one particular breed.
The study has been published in the journal Applied Animal Behaviour Science.
THE ‘BIG FIVE’ CANINE PERSONALITY TRAITS
– Neuroticism: Uncertainty, more aggressive towards strangers and other dogs
– Extraversion: Dogs that go bounding though life and seek interactions with new people
– Openness: Curiosity to the environment and enjoyment of sensory experiences
– Agreeableness: Friendliness, an agreeable nature
– Conscientiousness: Being reliable, thorough and efficient in tasks, determined and not easily distracted
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