Measuring the Behaviour of Dogs: An Ethological Approach

What are ‘dog cognition’ studies actually studying? What role does the dog play in behaviour research? In this essay we consider how to study this species from the ethologist’s perspective by providing a critical summary of the various approaches and explaining how these can answer questions on function, evolution, mechanism, and development and by highlighting the potential pitfalls in methodology. It is impossible to claim that one dog is more dog-like than others and it is now evident that even the concept of breed per se presents some problematic issues from the canid ethologist’s perspective. Thus for any sampling it is fundamental to keep in mind what is the research question and to choose the subjects according to what aspects are expected to be relevant. In general the researcher should include a wide range of purebred dogs and mongrels living in human families in a representative sample. When sampling for investigations comparing wolves and dogs, we must bear in mind that dogs present a mosaic pattern of wolf-like traits and cannot be ranked along a strict continuum when assessing their differences from wolves. Therefore for comparative studies and also when the research question regards general dog abilities, a mixed sample of purebred dogs and mongrels is advisable. It is probably even more important to ensure that all animals have had similar past experience, especially with regard to humans. It should be noted that those dog owners that participate on a voluntary basis in a research program are already a specific sub-sample because it is very likely that those owners are particularly interested and take special care of their dogs. Thus it is also likely that these owners want to be part of the experiment and these dogs may actually also ‘need’ the presence of the owner. If the experiment is designed carefully the presence of the owner should not interfere with the outcome. The lack of a generally accepted ethogram is hindering behaviour research on dogs. The scientific community should aim for developing a categorical list of behaviour units that forms the basis of behavioural observations and experimental work.

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Acknowledgements

A.M. is grateful for the support of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences (MTA 01 031), and the European Science Foundation (ESF Research Networking Programme titled “The Evolution of Social Cognition: Comparisons and integration across a wide range of human and non-human animal species”). C.F. is grateful for the support of the APDT Foundation and for the fellowship of the Hungarian Scholarship Board.

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Authors and Affiliations

1. Department of Ethology, Eötvös University, Budapest, Hungary Claudia Fugazza & Ádam Miklósi

1. Claudia Fugazza