The Role of Life History and Familiarity in Performance of Working and Non-Working Dogs (Canis lupus familiaris) in a Point-Following Task

Abstract

Domestic dogs are very successful at following human communicative gestures in paradigms such as the object-choice task. Pet dogs also prefer responding to cues given by a familiar cue-giver and this had not been found in working dogs. Therefore, we tested three groups of dogs in the object-choice task (n = 54): the groups were "Actively working" dogs from working dog breeds, pet dogs from "Non-working breeds" and pet dogs from "Working breeds". We found that "Actively working" and "Working breeds" dog groups outperformed "Non-working breeds" in following a point in the object-choice task. We also found that both "Actively working" and "Working breeds" preferred a familiar cue-giver over an unfamiliar one, in contrast to previous findings. Therefore, we conclude that dogs' abilities to perform well in the object-choice task is influenced by the selective history of the breed, and this is then increased by life experience and training.

Keywords: breeds; dogs; human-animal interactions; life history; object-choice task.

Figure 1

Schematic of the laboratory set up, and an example of a point towards a familiar item. Drawing not to scale, distances are approximate.

Figure 2

Example of trial with an unfamiliar cue-giver to unfamiliar toy.

Figure 3

Example of trial with a familiar cue-giver to familiar toy.

Figure 4

A boxplot showing the median performances and interquartile ranges (IQR) for each group. * = p < 0.05. ns = not significant.

Figure 5

A scatterplot showing a positive correlation between the degree to which owners say their dogs are well trained and overall performance.

Figure 6

A scatterplot showing a positive correlation between the degree to which owners say their dogs follow commands and overall performance.

Figure 7

A scatterplot showing a positive correlation between the degree to which owners say their dogs are food motivated and overall performance.

Figure 8

A bar chart showing mean performance for “Actively working”, “Working breeds”, and “Non-working breeds” with familiar and unfamiliar cue-givers. * = p < 0.05. ns = not significant.

Figure 9

A histogram showing the percentages of making a choice vs. not making a choice for “Actively working”, “Non-working breeds”, and “Working breeds”.