Environment and agonistic behavior in male Telomian dogs.

Abstract

Scott ( 1 ) suggested that physical environment may influence agonistic behavior through the physiological effects it has upon animals. Thus environments which produce responses similar to anger should have the highest levels of aggression. This preliminary study examined several environmental conditions and their effects on agonistic behavior in a group of male dogs. One group of four male Telomian dogs, 7 mo. old, served as subjects. They were housed in a 3.0x 3.5-m room with a temperamre of 21 C and light provided by an overhead lamp and window. Each dog was paired with every other dog (six pairings) under each condition. Each pair was placed in an experimenral room ~ n d a bone was thrown in as a stimulus to encourage fighting. Data recorded for 5 min. included vocalizations (growls, barks), attacks (threats, bites), and retreats. The environmental conditions included: (1) Controlu-the room was identical ( in space, temperature, and Iighdng) to the home pen; ( 2 ) Cold temperaturew-the temperature was lowered to 10 C; ( 3 ) Bright light-floodlights were placed in the corners of the room; ( 4 ) Dim light-the overhead light was turned off and the window was covered; and ( 5 ) Small spacew-the area space was reduced to 3.0 X 1.8 m. Attadcs, vocalizations, and retreats were summed for each condition, since the proportions remained relatively stable. The mean total frequencies (and SDs) of a11 agonistic behaviors observed under each condition for each pair were: Control--69 (14.6), Cold temperatureM--68 (16.4), Bright lightv'-50 (20.1 ) , Dim light-91 ( 15.0), and Small space-73 ( 10.3). A Friedman analysis of variance was significant ( X . 2 = 10.5, df = 4, p < .05), indicating that environment affected agonistic behavior. Inspection of the data showed that light was the only variable which greatly differed from the control condition; dim light increased agonistic behavior 3 2 % , while bright light decreased it 28%. In testing lowered temperature, bright or dim light, and crowded space, l igit was the only variable which dearly affected agonisric behavior in these dogs. In the home pen with all dogs present there was little fighting even with a bone. Possibly the conditions perceived by the dogs to be most different (the bright and dim light) disrupted the namral dominance. Temperature and size might not have been extreme enough to affect agonistic interactions. Such results suggc:t that environmental conditions (such as light) must be carefully investigated to dc-term~ne precisely how they influence agonistic behavior.