Kathy,
I also wanted to thank you Thanks for breaking that block of ice that has made
the last couple of weeks so COLD on the listserve.
John Lacher
john.lacher@xxxxxxxxx
On Sep 12, 2016, at 9:10 AM, <kathy@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> <kathy@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
wrote:
Dogs Are Less Likely Than Wolves to Solve Problems on Their Own
A recent study involved 10 pet dogs, 10 shelter dogs and 10 wolves given
three opportunities to open a puzzle box (a covered plastic container
containing a bit of sausage, with a rope that would open the box when
pulled).4
The animals were given access to the puzzle boxes under different scenarios.
In one test, the animals were left alone with the box for 2 minutes. Eight of
the wolves opened the box during this test, compared to one shelter dog and
no pet dogs.
In the next test, the animals were given access to the puzzle with an
experimenter standing nearby. The results were nearly identical: eight wolves
succeeded in opening the box as did one pet dog, but no shelter dogs solved
the puzzle.
Of note, the dogs spent much more time gazing at the human than the wolves
did. The dogs that had previously failed to open the puzzle box were then
given another chance, during which a human used gestures and spoke positively
to encourage the dogs to keep trying.
This time, four of the shelter dogs and one pet dog solved the puzzle, and
all the dogs spent much more time trying to solve the puzzle than they had
previously.
While the wolves are persistent and independent, working hard to solve the
problem on their own with little notice or expectation of help from humans,
dogs “prefer a social cognitive solution,” Udell said, meaning they prefer to
get help from their owner.
This is in part our “fault,” since we so often tell our dogs what to do and,
more often, what not to do. Udell told Science:5
“It’s not that dogs can’t do it … But they don’t even try unless they’re
socially motivated … We tell them not to do things, so they learn to inhibit
their actions and to wait for directions from us …
The pet dogs seem to err on the side of caution, even though solving the
problem independently would be fine, and their owner is telling them that
it’s okay.”
I found this to be extremely interesting and of course wondered if any of the
dogs were German shepherd. Kathy Partch www.JoKaySedona.com
