From Control to Clue: Integrating Olfaction into the Object-Choice Task for Domestic Dogs (Canis familiaris)

Humans rely heavily on vision for information-gathering, decision-making, and communication, making it difficult to imagine how our perception of the world might change if our primary sensory modality were entirely different. Dogs (Canis familiaris), for instance, rely as much or more on olfaction as on vision in information-gathering. Nonetheless, canine cognition research has largely emphasized visual tasks. In the present study (N = 48 dogs) we aim to begin to remedy this by designing an olfactory version of a prototypical dog-cognition experimental design: the object choice test. In the standard design, subjects respond to an experimenter's pointing gesture to choose between two overturned cups, one of which is baited with a food treat. We extended this paradigm by adding trials using an "olfactory point" in place of the visual gesture. In these trials, two cotton strings extended from the cups toward the subject and converged in front of the subject. The string leading to the baited cup was scented with either the odor of the treat or the subject's owner, while the string leading to the non-baited cup remained unscented as a control. Subjects followed both visual and olfactory points at rates significantly above chance. These findings suggest that dogs can use experimentally presented olfactory cues to guide choice behavior, supporting the development of experimental designs that better reflect species-specific sensory systems.