Experimental layout:
Securing the common language:
.jpg)
Study examples:
Examples of study stimuli. Top row: dog images, bottom row: non-dog images
Posted on 01/01/2016 7:11:33 AM PST by afraidfortherepublic
This is not a philosophical riddle. Despite their highly variable appearance, dogs can recognize each other by sight alone.
Do you see dogs everywhere?
My ears perk up to the jingle jangle of metal-on-metal, hopeful that it predicts a dog and his collar, disappointed when it turns out to be keys on a belt (boring).
A person walking down the street with their arm outstretched holds the promise of a leash with a dog on the other end (sometimes it's a stroller holding a kid. Oh well).
From a distance, my eyes play a cruel trick on me, where shopping bags are dogs and dogs are shopping bags until I get close enough and one wins out (obviously I'm rooting for the dog).
But catch any part of a tail, and I know I'm in. You could say my motto is, "dog, until proven otherwise."
How about dogs?
Does a dog know, merely by sight, that an approaching being is a fellow dog? Before you answer, remember this: Canis familiaris is the least uniform species on the planet. Members of this species come in a wide range of body shapes and sizes from itty bitty teeny weeny to absolutely ginormos. Adult members of this species appear as tight little packages, huge weightlifters, lean ballerinas, elongated hotdogs and everything in between.
Does a Pug look at an Afghan Hound and say to themselves, "Hello, dog!" or does a Pug look at an Afghan Hound and say, "WHAT IN THE WORLD ARE YOU?" and only after olfactory investigation (smelling) does the Pug realize, "Oh my goodness. How silly of me. You're a dog. Sorry for the confusion my large, long-snouted compatriot."
A number of researchers have essentially wondered what Pugs think of Afghan Hounds. Are dogs able to identify other dogs solely by appearance, they wondered? If olfactory cues are taken out of the equation, would a dog still know another dog when he sees one?
A team of researchers based in France took on this question, publishing their findings in Animal Cognition in 2013. Nine companion dogs joined as study subjects. They all had basic training and extensive experience with both dogs and people, and notably, the participants weren't uniform in appearance -- two were purebred (Border collie and Labrador), and the rest were mutts. Below are the study subjects in all their photographic glory (while they are all my favorites because they are dogs, I vote Cusco winner of Best Eyeliner and Best Ears, while Babel, Cyane and Sweet tie for Most Photogenic). (See Comment)
The experimental setup was simple enough: the nine subjects saw two screens, one on the right and one on the left with a divider between. In each trial, two images would appear simultaneously on both screens, and dogs were reinforced with a click and rewarded with a treat for approaching the "correct" screen — more on that in a moment. Here's what the experimental layout looked like: (See Comment)
Then came the test. Dogs were presented with a wide variety of never-before-seen dog faces paired against never-before-seen non-dog faces. As before, dogs had to approach the dog image and avoid the non-dog image to get a treat. This was no longer an easy feat as the dog images now captured dogs’ vast morphologic diversity in shape, color, size, head shape, ear position, you name it. On top of that, the dog images were now pared against a wide range of non-dog faces including human faces as well as domestic and wild mammals like cats, sheep, gerbils, cows, rabbits, reptiles, and birds, among others. Images were presented head-on (full face) or as a profile. Below are examples of faces dogs saw in the study: (See Comment)
The dogs prevailed! The nine subjects successfully identified "dog" from “non-dog†faces. Some dogs, like Babel, Bag, Cyane and Vodka, were able to do so quite quickly, taking few sessions to approach the required 10-out-of-12 dog images. Other dogs, like Bahia and Cusco, were slower on the pickup and took more sessions to identify "dog" from "non-dog" (dog subjects needed anywhere from 2 to 13 sessions to meet criteria). This is not to say, of course, that Bahia and Cusco don't know a dog when they see one. The researchers highlight that a number of factors - like dog personality, learning styles and strategies, and motivation — can affect dog behavior and performance, particularly when it comes to this type of task.
Even so, the study suggests that despite their wackadoodle appearances, dogs can identify other dogs by sight alone. Dogs seem to have a sense of who (or at least which images) falls in the category of "dog" and who does not. Exactly which features dogs use when tuning into "dog," though, the current study can't say. They offer that as a natural next step in the research.
Autier-Dérian D, Deputte BL, Chalvet=Monfray K, Coulon M, Mounier L. 2013. Visual discrimination of species in dogs (Canis familiaris). Animal Cognition, 16, 637-651.
The views expressed are those of the author(s) and are not necessarily those of Scientific American.
Julie Hecht
Julie Hecht is a canine behavioral researcher, science writer, and PhD student at the Graduate Center, CUNY. She would really like to meet your dog.
Experimental layout:
Securing the common language:
Study examples:
Examples of study stimuli. Top row: dog images, bottom row: non-dog images
Fascinating dog study ping from the Scientific American.
All of the dogs used in the study vary mostly in coloration, but still have the basic “dog” shape to them.
I wonder what a study would show if they used some of the less wolf-like looking dogs—for instance, pugs, shih tzus, or chihuahuas?
I never should have let my subscription lapse.
My German Shepherd can recognize other dogs on sight and if she feels threatened, she chuffs at them.
Yup, dogs check out other dogs and they also sniff each other’s scent upon meeting.
Dogs are acknowledge fellow dogs even more than acknowledge other humans.
Just because they occasionally hump your leg doesn’t mean they don’t know who other dogs are
We had a wonderful Cocker who I noticed on Super Bowl Day had stopped in front of the kitchen TV. Saw her back and tail stiffen, then the low-level grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr . . . as she was watching The Puppy Bowl
My dog jumps up every time he sees a dog on television. I don’t really notice some of the dogs in commercials till he spots them.
His other favorite animals are horses. He loves to see them on television. He doesn’t much care for monkeys, chimps, and apes.
No, no. They used many types of dog in the study. The study participents resembled each other, but the subjects they were asked to identify all looked different.
Nothing, they couldn't stop barking and jumping up and down.......
I think mine recognizes me as a dog.
Dogs have the uncanny ability to “see” more than just an image. They can see the aura that surrounds all living creatures. They can tell if the creature is friendly, aggressive, afraid,dishonest or just up to no good. They rely on much more than just an image.
I’m not at all surprised. Dogs can recognize dogs when they see one just as we can. But interesting experiment.Of course with dogs the olfactory stimulus is as important (more important?) than sight, but sight obviously suffices.
I did not need Scientific American to tell me that my dog, who jerks my arm off upon seeing a dog 1/4 mile away, can recognize dogs, and squirrels, and deer - and knows the difference. One is for play - the others are food.
Good point, and the study should have. But I think the dogs still would have recognized their brethren over non-canines.
When I was a kid the neighbors had a Great Dane and a Dachshund. They were inseparable. Watching them go down the street was amusing. As the final joke the Dane was female and the Dachshund male.
When they went from a weekly to a monthly the content seemed to decline.
My girlfriend’s poodle simply looks at me and says “snack”. I’m not sure if she thinks I’m a dog, think’s she’s a human, or doesn’t care as long as I’m there to serve her.
Man I love pups! They are smart and are truly man’s best friend.
That sounds very "new age", but I believe you may be on to something. Before I ever owned a dog (a stray foisted upon me by my husband) I was afraid of dogs. I used to pass out campaign flyers for various candidates in my neighborhood, and the dogs would bark furiously at me, charge me, threaten me, jump on me.
I took in this little Schnauzer that had been abandoned on our neighborhood. From then on, the other dogs left me alone -- even though they had never seen me with my new dog. They just ignored me whereas before they would charge at me. I think that they knew, somehow, that I was no loger afraid of them.
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