Persistence and gazing at humans during an unsolvable task in dogs: The influence of ownership duration, living situation, and prior experience with humans

Abstract

The experiences that domestic dogs have with humans take many forms. We hypothesized that more experience with humans would lead to greater dependence on humans in problem-solving situations. We used the unsolvable task to compare persistence and gazing in dogs with differing degrees of experience with humans: 1) dogs living in a home for a year or more; 2) dogs living in a home for less than a year (including foster dogs); and 3) shelter dogs. Dogs first learned a solvable task; we then measured persistence as well as gazing at humans when the task was unsolvable. Dogs living in a home for a year or more gazed sooner and longer than shelter dogs. Formally trained dogs from breeders also gazed sooner than formally trained dogs from shelters. There were no differences in overall persistence among the three types of dog. However, shelter dogs spent more time biting the box and gazing at it than dogs in the home. Former shelter dogs, former strays, and dogs that had no formal training also spent more time biting the box. We conclude that ownership duration, background, and prior experiences with humans influence human-directed communication and persistence behaviors in dogs.