No bones about it: The effect of chewing on cognition in dogs

Abstract

No work to date has examined the possible enriching effect of chewing on cognition in dogs despite strong relationships shown in other species. In the current study we examined whether the provision of chew toys affected dogs performance on two memory tests and if this relationship was influenced by dogs fearfulness. Kenneled working dogs were assessed on a working memory and maze test on separate days directly after being provided with a chew toy for a five-minute period. We compared chewing audio, extracted from video footage taken during the chew period and quantified using a convolutional neural network (CNN), and fearfulness as measured by a validated behavioral survey (Canine Behavioral Assessment and Research Questionnaire), to performance on each task. We found that in dogs with high levels of fearfulness, a higher frequency of chewing resulted in better working memory performance, while in dogs with low levels of fearfulness, a higher frequency of chewing resulted in poorer working memory performance. We also found that dogs with a higher maximum bite intensity displayed better performance on the maze test. These results are the first to suggest that chewing may have positive benefits on cognition in dogs and that this relationship may be pronounced in dogs with high fearfulness.