Year-end Sale % OFF 
Abstract
Guide dogs are working dogs that follow the verbal instructions of owners with severe visual impairments, leading them through the environment and toward goals such as a subway entrance (“Find the subway” instruction). During this process, guide dogs incidentally familiarize themselves with their environment. As such, they provide a unique animal model for studying wayfinding abilities in the canine species. In the present descriptive study, 23 skilled guide dogs travelled along a path once and were subsequently tested in a navigation task, with a blindfolded guide dog instructor as the handler. Dogs had difficulty reproducing the path (only 30.43% of the dogs succeeded) and returning (homing) along the previously travelled path (43.47% of the dogs succeeded). However, 80% of them successfully took a shortcut, and 86.95% a detour. This is the first description of the wayfinding abilities of dogs after a single discrete exploration of the path (incidental learning) in systematic experimental conditions. Errors, initiatives and success rates showed that dogs were able to keep track of the goal if the path was short, but errors increased with longer paths, suggesting segmented integration of path characteristics process, as demonstrated in humans. Additionally, errors on homing and detouring, both vital wayfinding tasks, were correlated, suggesting an effect of experience. Initiatives taken by the dogs further suggest flexibility of the spatial representation elaborated. Interestingly, we also found that homing was the only task to benefit from severe visual disability and regular exposure to new journeys, suggesting that these two factors influence the most important wayfinding task. This study therefore highlights qualitative and quantitative wayfinding abilities in the dog species, as well as the factors that account for them, after a single path exploration accompanied by natural ongoing motivation. In the wake of the discovery that dogs are sensitive to the magnetic field, our results provide the basis for developing systematic wayfinding tests for guide dogs.
Highlights
We are not aware of any previous study that has focused on navigational abilities per se outdoors during usual travelling situations, either in guide dogs or in pet dogs
In the wake of the discovery that dogs are sensitive to the magnetic field, our results provide the basis for developing systematic wayfinding tests for guide dogs
Guide dogs’ navigation after a single journey: A descriptive study wayfinding is a major cognitive ability of Canids, and dogs have recently been shown to be sensitive to the magnetic field [1,2], it is important to initiate research on navigation and its foundations, and guide dogs are the best candidates for this because of their expertise in the domain
Summary
We are not aware of any previous study that has focused on navigational abilities per se outdoors during usual travelling situations, either in guide dogs or in pet dogs. Mobility refers to find important items in the environment The dog signals these items to its owner by stopping at the target: some without any verbal instruction from the owner (e.g. stairs, curbs at pedestrian crosswalks, sidewalks); others solely after a verbal instruction (e.g. doorways, benches, bus stops, subway entrances). Guide dogs mobilize their orientation (i.e. wayfinding or navigational) abilities They use directional verbal instructions (“Go on”, “Straight”, “Right”, “Left”, “Stop”) to follow unfamiliar paths their owners prepared earlier (e.g. use of written instructions or GPS), where different surfaces (sidewalks and pedestrian crossings) constrain the dog’s walking direction. The frequency and type of journey depend on that person’s general orientation skills, habits and needs [11], as well as on the dogs’ individual abilities
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a callDisclaimer: All third-party content on this website/platform is and will remain the property of their respective owners and is provided on "as is" basis without any warranties, express or implied. Use of third-party content does not indicate any affiliation, sponsorship with or endorsement by them. Any references to third-party content is to identify the corresponding services and shall be considered fair use under The CopyrightLaw.
