Breed group differences in the unsolvable problem task: herding dogs prefer their owner, while solitary hunting dogs seek stranger proximity

Enya Van Poucke,Amanda Höglin,Per Jensen,Lina S V Roth

doi:10.1007/s10071-021-01582-5

Abstract

The communicating skills of dogs are well documented and especially their contact-seeking behaviours towards humans. The aim of this study was to use the unsolvable problem paradigm to investigate differences between breed groups in their contact-seeking behaviours towards their owner and a stranger. Twenty-four dogs of ancient breeds, 58 herding dogs, and 17 solitary hunting dogs were included in the study, and their behaviour when presented with an unsolvable problem task (UPT) was recorded for 3 min. All breed groups interacted with the test apparatus the same amount of time, but the herding dogs showed a longer gaze duration towards their owner compared to the other groups and they also preferred to interact with their owner instead of a stranger. Interestingly, the solitary hunting dogs were more in stranger proximity than the other groups, and they also showed a preference to make contact with a stranger instead of their owner. Hence, we found differences in contact-seeking behaviours, reflecting the dog–human relationship, between breed groups that might not only be related to their genetic similarity to wolves, but also due to the specific breeding history of the dogs.

Highlights

The domestic dog is well known for its abilities to communicate with humans (Miklósi et al 2000) and this ability is already present at an early age (Passalacqua et al 2011)
Since there were no significant differences in recorded behaviour between competing and non-competing herding dogs, these dogs were considered as one single group
Using the unsolvable problem task, we found that herding dogs gazed longer towards the owner compared to both solitary hunting breeds and ancient breeds

Summary

Introduction

The domestic dog is well known for its abilities to communicate with humans (Miklósi et al 2000) and this ability is already present at an early age (Passalacqua et al 2011). One commonly used method to trigger dogs’ communication with humans is to present the dog with an unsolvable problem, and in a pioneering study Miklósi et al (2003) compared the contact-seeking behaviours of dogs to those of socialised wolves. They found that dogs made quicker and longer eye contact than their ancestors, the wolves, and since various unsolvable problem tasks (UPT) have been used to study the effects of breed, age, sex, etc., on the contact-seeking behaviours of dogs (see reviews by Cavalli et al 2018; Mendes et al 2021).

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Conclusion