Showing Behaviour in One Hundred and One Dogs: Gazing, Breed and Cephalic Index

Area of Science:

• Ethology
• Animal Behavior
• Canine Communication

Background:

• Dogs possess sophisticated interspecific communication skills, including visual signals to indicate resource locations, termed showing behavior.
• Previous research explored factors like age and training, but the impact of breed and cranial morphology on showing behavior remained undetermined.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate the influence of breed and cranial morphology on visual signaling behaviors in dogs.
• To analyze gaze at owner, gaze at reward, and gaze alternation during a standardized showing behavior task.

Main Methods:

• A standardized out-of-reach/hidden object task was employed with 101 pet dogs from 43 breeds.
• Key visual behaviors (gaze at owner, gaze at reward, gaze alternation) were assessed in familiar environments without pre-training.
• Owners remained passive to prevent unintentional cueing.

Main Results:

• Gaze alternation and gazing at the reward were confirmed as central components of showing behavior, especially when both owner and reward were visible.
• No significant effect of breed or Cephalic Index (cranial morphology) was observed on these visual communicative behaviors.
• The study highlights the consistency of visual signaling across diverse dog breeds.

Conclusions:

• Life experiences, rather than artificial selection related to breed or cranial shape, appear to influence visual communicative strategies in dog showing behavior.
• The findings provide significant insights into the consistency of visual signaling across a wide range of dog breeds.