Reorganization of cues and path organisation in dogs

Dogs were submitted to a free search for food which was distributed in six feeding points situated on a circle. In the first part of the experiment they were able to reorganize information collected on radial paths leading from the center to the feeding points in order to invent new routes between these points. There were considerable differences in the degree of stereotypy and variability of visit sequences between the six dogs used in this experiment, with overtraining tending to induce locomotory habits in dogs using varied sequences. These habits were not however disconnected from the representational processes, since dogs used a variety of sequences without making any error when the starting conditions were made to vary. In the second part of the experiment, our aim was to analyse whether, without taking environmental cues into account, the dogs were able to learn that stable geometrical relationships existed among three food-points and between these points and the starting place. The dogs' behavior showed that they were able to learn something about the experimental rule. However it is not clear if they have detected the geometrical relationships among baited food-points, or the simultaneous presence of food at specific points, or both.