Problem solving and seeking assistance in the domestic dog (Canis familiaris)

Abstract:

When investigating how the domestic dog (Canis familiaris) solves a physical problem we get an insight into the importance of human directed inter-species social behaviors. The aim for this project was to investigate the probability of dogs to “ask for help” from their owner in comparison to an unknown person when faced with an unsolvable problem. It was hypothesized that the dog would ask for help from their owner regardless of age, sex or breed

A total of 50 pet dogs participated in the experiment, 29 males and 21 females from a total of 28 breeds. The dogs were divided into two age groups ( N_adolescent=14, N_adult=34). When comparing age group differences results showed that adult dogs looked significantly more and longer at the owner than adolescent dogs. Comparison of breed categories showed that companion dogs gazed more at the test leader than other breeds, although no significance was detected. This contradicts the hypothesis and could be due to the high social qualities the breed category of companion dogs hold. Only a tendency was detected when comparing the sexes. There were no significant differences between gazing at the test leader and the owner when comparing all the dogs with each other, regardless of age, breed or sex. It was concluded that most differences was due to individual variation. For future studies it would be favorable to have fewer breeds to compare and a larger sample of dogs to work with in order to get results not solely depending on high variance.