Spontaneous action matching in dog puppies, kittens and wolf pups.

We investigated the spontaneous tendency of dog puppies, kittens and wolf pups to match their behaviour to actions demonstrated by a human, in the absence of food reward. Based on dogs' inherent sociality and domestication history, we predicted that the tendency to match human actions is more pronounced in this species than in the other two. To test this, we exposed N = 42 dog puppies, N = 39 kittens and N = 8 wolf pups to ostensive human demonstrations of an object-related action. We found that dog puppies paid more attention to the demonstration than kittens and wolf pups. Dog puppies and wolf pups matched the demonstrated actions in more trials than kittens. Dog puppies also tended to reproduce the human demonstration that differed from the action they typically preformed in the absence of demonstration. These results support that dog puppies show a tendency to attend to humans and conform their behaviour to human demonstrations in the absence of extrinsic food rewards. This spontaneous tendency is also relevant for practical applications, by providing the basis to devise puppy-training methods that rely less on food rewards, and instead exploit puppies' natural predisposition for social learning.

Multisensory mental representation of objects in typical and Gifted Word Learner dogs.

Little research has been conducted on dogs' (Canis familiaris) ability to integrate information obtained through different sensory modalities during object discrimination and recognition tasks. Such a process would indicate the formation of multisensory mental representations. In Experiment 1, we tested the ability of 3 Gifted Word Learner (GWL) dogs that can rapidly learn the verbal labels of toys, and 10 Typical (T) dogs to discriminate an object recently associated with a reward, from distractor objects, under light and dark conditions. While the success rate did not differ between the two groups and conditions, a detailed behavioral analysis showed that all dogs searched for longer and sniffed more in the dark. This suggests that, when possible, dogs relied mostly on vision, and switched to using only other sensory modalities, including olfaction, when searching in the dark. In Experiment 2, we investigated whether, for the GWL dogs (N = 4), hearing the object verbal labels activates a memory of a multisensory mental representation. We did so by testing their ability to recognize objects based on their names under dark and light conditions. Their success rate did not differ between the two conditions, whereas the dogs' search behavior did, indicating a flexible use of different sensory modalities. Little is known about the cognitive mechanisms involved in the ability of GWL dogs to recognize labeled objects. These findings supply the first evidence that for GWL dogs, verbal labels evoke a multisensory mental representation of the objects.

An exploratory analysis of head-tilting in dogs.

Little is known about head-tilts in dogs. Based on previous investigations on the head turning and the lateralised brain pattern of human speech processing in dogs, we hypothesised that head-tilts may be related to increased attention and could be explained by lateralised mental functions. We observed 40 dogs during object-label knowledge tests and analysed head-tilts occurring while listening to humans requesting verbally to fetch a familiar toy. Our results indicate that only dogs that had learned the name of the objects tilted their heads frequently. Besides, the side of the tilt was stable across several months and tests. Thus, we suggest a relationship between head-tilting and processing relevant, meaningful stimuli.

Acquisition and long-term memory of object names in a sample of Gifted Word Learner dogs.

Dogs with a vocabulary of object names are rare and are considered uniquely gifted. In a few cases, these Gifted Word Learner (GWL) dogs have presented cognitive skills that are functionally similar to those of human infants. However, the acquisition rate of new object names and the ability of GWL dogs to form long-term memories of those is unknown. In this study, we examine the ability of six GWL dogs to acquire the names of new objects in a short period and to retain those in their long-term memory without post-acquisition exposures. In Experiments 1 and 2, the dogs were tested on their ability to learn, during social interactions with their owners, the names of 6 and 12 new toys respectively, in one week. In Experiments 3 and 4, the dogs' memory of these objects was tested after one and two months. GWL dogs typically learned the names of the new objects and remembered those. We suggest that dogs with knowledge of object names could be a powerful model for studying mental mechanisms related to word acquisition in a non-human species.

Word learning dogs (Canis familiaris) provide an animal model for studying exceptional performance.

Exceptional performance is present in various human activities but its origins are debated and challenging to study. We report evidence of exceptional performance and qualitative variation in learning object-names in dogs. 34 naïve family dogs and 6 knowledgeable individuals that knew multiple toy names, found in 2 years of search around the Globe, were exposed to 3 months of training to learn two novel toy-names and were tested in two-way choice tests. Only 1 naïve and all 6 knowledgeable dogs passed the tests. Additionally, only these dogs learned at least 10 new toy names over the 3 months, showing qualitative variation in this capacity. Although previous object-name knowledge could provide an explanation for the superior performance of the knowledgeable dogs, their rarity and the absence of previous training of this skill point to exceptional giftedness in these individuals, providing the basis to establish dogs as a model-species for studying talent.

Searching where the treasure is: on the emergence of human companion animal partnership (HCAP).

In our view, the discipline, often referred to as human-animal interaction (HAI), lacks a well-defined conceptual framework. It is too narrow both with respect to the animal species investigated and the nature of human-animal interactions studied. So instead, we introduce the term human-companion animal partnership (HCAP) that is not only a better descriptor for most research efforts within HAI but also helps to direct research efforts on an ethological basis. In our approach, 'companion' is a function and not a feature of some species. This means that many species had and could have a potential to form mixed social groups with humans if they evolve some capacity of social competence. This view may initiate new comparative research involving a range of species to find out how complex social engagement could be maintained in such hetero-specific social groups based on evolutionary heritage, recent selection and individual experience (socialisation). Our approach emphasises the role of human caring behaviour and social competence in the emergence of a partnership with several species, and thus could also help in setting expectations for welfare and aid in designing artificial companions for specific purposes.

Associations among attitudes towards motherhood, pet-keeping, and postpartum depression symptoms.

Certain companion animals' relationship to humans is analogous to child-parent attachment. Further, pet-keeping is associated with less physical and psychological health problems and animal-assisted interventions ameliorate depressive symptoms. Accordingly, cognitive representations of pet-keeping and parenthood may be related, and pet-keeping may protect against postpartum depression symptoms (PPDS). To test these hypotheses, we examined cognitive representations of pet-keeping and motherhood as well as various cognitive correlates of those in 715 women in an online questionnaire. Results indicate that among women who perceive maternity as a burdensome role, pet ownership is associated with an increased likelihood of having had PPDS. Among women with children, pet owners perceive maternity as more burdensome than non-owners and pet owners with a more positive attitude towards their pets are more likely to find maternity as a burdensome role. These findings suggest a relationship between women's thoughts regarding pets and motherhood and also that, to some degree, women perceive pets as playing a similar role as children. Importantly, childless women who own a pet perceived motherhood as less difficult; this effect of pet-keeping can be capitalized upon in the treatment of women whose psychological characteristics play a role in their infertility.

Increased Serum and Urinary Oxytocin Concentrations after Nasal Administration in Beagle Dogs.

In recent years more and more studies have revealed the effect of extraneous oxytocin on the social behavior of dogs. The distribution of administered oxytocin in different physiologically relevant compartments is important because this knowledge forms the basis for the timing of behavior tests after the administration. Most behavioral studies rely on the non-invasive intranasal application of oxytocin. The aim of this study was to determine the time course of intranasal administered oxytocin secretion into blood and urine and also establish a connection between intranasal received oxytocin and urinary cortisol in dogs. In our experiment, four dogs received three puffs, 12 IU intranasal oxytocin treatment, two dogs received three puffs intranasal placebo treatment. Blood and urine samples were collected immediately prior to the administration then regularly during 4 h. After nasal oxytocin application, the serum oxytocin concentration increased, reached a maximum 15 min after the treatment and then rapidly returned to baseline levels 45 min later. The peak urinary oxytocin concentration occurred between 45 and 60 min after administration and returned to baseline levels slowly. We found considerable differences among individuals in the secretion of oxytocin in both the serum and the urinary oxytocin concentration measurements. Our results confirm that intranasally administered oxytocin passes into the blood stream. The time course of intranasally administered oxytocin secretion is similar to the time course of intravenously administered oxytocin secretion, and the peak values are also similar in both the serum and the urinary oxytocin concentration measurements, although there are large individual differences.