Wk 13: Species focus: Dogs

Question 1

What factors affect behaviour?

Answer 1

Genetics
Learning
Physiological/Pathological

Question 2

What genetic factors can affect behaviour?

Answer 2

Species and breed differences
Individual differences
Epigenetics - modulated by environment

Question 3

Learning occurs throughout life, how?

Answer 3

Association between events
Direct individuals towards important aspects of their environment
Senstive periods for learning in different development stages

Question 4

How can physiological/pathological changes impact the dog?

Answer 4

• Influence perception of environment
• Processing of sensory information
• Decision making
• Ability to show behaviour

Question 5

When and why were dogs domesticated?

Answer 5

100,000 years ago
Help with herding, hunting and guarding

Question 6

How has the subsequent selection of breeds resulted in a range of dogs?

Answer 6

Usually bred to be between (0.5kg-90kg)
KC was founded in 1873 when breeding moved towards appearance than function

Question 7

How has history influenced social behaviour?

Answer 7

Highly motivated
Motivated to maintain contact with social group
Able to show and read complex visual signalling but have a different social structure compared to wolves

Question 8

Why is dominance?

Answer 8

A quality of an established relationship between individuals
- Not a description of an individual animal
- Not an inherited trait
- Not a motivation to show behaviour

Question 9

How are the social structures of dogs different from wolves?

Answer 9

• No co-operative hunting or rearing of young
• No restriction of mating
• No fixed ‘structure’ in groups
• Fluid relationships between each pair

Question 10

Why does it matter that we are misinterpreting dominance?

Answer 10

Question 11

How do social relationships develop?

Answer 11

Interaction between each pair of animals
Develops through learning about each other in different contexts

Question 12

How do dogs learn social skills?

Answer 12

Learning about the social signalling of other group members occurs extensively in the socialisation and juvenile periods of development

(Adult dogs are usually more lenient towards puppies and their unfavourable behaviour)

Question 13

How can dogs learn social skills from other dogs?

Answer 13

• Associate specific cues shown by other dogs with consequences
• Some may generalise to all dogs
  
  • e.g. Play bow
• Some associations may be specific to particular types of dog and / or situation
  
  • e.g. Large male dogs that are tense

Question 14

Sensory perception - Olfaction

Answer 14

Allows for pheromonal communication
Scent glands located all over the body independent of nostrils - directional (wet notes captures scent particles)

Question 15

Sensory perception - Hearing

Answer 15

18 or more muscles to control the dog’s pinna
- allows to finely tune position of ear canal to localise sound
- hear more accurately from further away
Breed differences - upright ears are better

Question 16

Sensory perception - VIsion

Answer 16

Fewer cone receptors (red-green colour blind and shows in shades of yellow instead)
Wider filed of vision (240)
Less sharp images
Tampetum allows better vision in low light