Thread: I Doubt This Would Surprise Anyone Who Has Owned a Dog

What are your thoughts on a dog's intelligence? I believe they exhibit not just fairness but jealosy, envy and a sense of humor too.



Studies show dogs have sense of fairness

Monday, December 8, 2008 4:47 PM EST
The Associated Press
By RANDOLPH E. SCHMID AP Science Writer


WASHINGTON (AP) — No fair! What parent hasn't heard that from a child who thinks another youngster got more of something? Well, it turns out dogs can react the same way. Ask them to do a trick and they'll give it a try. For a reward, sausage say, they'll happily keep at it. But if one dog gets no reward, and then sees another get sausage for doing the same trick, just try to get the first one to do it again. Indeed, he may even turn away and refuse to look at you.
Dogs, like people and monkeys, seem to have a sense of fairness.
"Animals react to inequity," said Friederike Range of the University of Vienna, Austria, who led a team of researchers testing animals at the school's Clever Dog Lab. "To avoid stress, we should try to avoid treating them differently."
Similar responses have been seen in monkeys.
Range said she wasn't surprised at the dogs reaction, since wolves are known to cooperate with one another and appear to be sensitive to each other. Modern dogs are descended from wolves.
Next, she said, will be experiments to test how dogs and wolves work together. "Among other questions, we will investigate how differences in emotions influence cooperative abilities," she said via e-mail.
In the reward experiments reported in Tuesday's edition of Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, Range and colleagues experimented with dogs that understood the command "paw," to place their paw in the hand of a researcher. It's the same game as teaching a dog to "shake hands."
Those that refused at the start — and one border collie that insisted on trying to herd other dogs — were removed. That left 29 dogs to be tested in varying pairs.
The dogs sat side-by-side with an experimenter in front of them. In front of the experimenter was a divided food bowl with pieces of sausage on one side and brown bread on the other.
The dogs were asked to shake hands and each could see what reward the other received.
When one dog got a reward and the other didn't, the unrewarded animal stopped playing.
When both got a reward all was well.
One thing that did surprise the researchers was that — unlike primates — the dogs didn't seem to care whether the reward was sausage or bread.
Possibly, they suggested, the presence of a reward was so important it obscured any preference. Other possibilities, they said, are that daily training with their owners overrides a preference, or that the social condition of working next to a partner increased their motivation regardless of which reward they got.
And the dogs never rejected the food, something that primates had done when they thought the reward was unfair.
The dogs, the researchers said, "were not willing to pay a cost by rejecting unfair offers."
Clive Wynne, an associate professor in the psychology department of the University of Florida, isn't so sure the experiment measures the animals reaction to fairness.
"What it means is individuals are responding negatively to being treated less well," he said in a telephone interview.
But the researchers didn't do a control test that had been done in monkey studies, Wynne said, in which a preferred reward was visible but not given to anyone. In that case the monkeys went on strike because they could see the better reward but got something lesser.
Range responded, however, that her team did indeed do that control test as well as others in which food was moved or held in the hand but not given to the dog being tested.
In dogs, Wynne noted, the quality of reward didn't seem to matter, so the test only worked when they got no reward at all.
However, Wynne added, there is "no doubt in my mind that dogs are very, very sensitive to what people are doing and are very smart."
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PNAS: www.pnas.org

Oh definitely - I agree with that. Mine even laugh when they are having fun! (in a doggy way, of course).

If I have been away for the day, the big one talks to me when I get home and I swear it sounds like "hello". The little one is jealous of the big one, and "plays" every time I give the big one a pat.

Yesterday when we got home from work, they greeted us as normal and then had a staring competition (the big one is part Border Collie - my avatar in fact). They were still at it 5 minutes later - neither had moved.

The big one worked out how to open both our front gates (entrance gate and car gate) by lifting latches with her nose and paw. I have had to install locks to stop her getting out. She also knows how to open our sliding screen door with her paws and usually does this when there is a storm.

Dogs are wonderful things. Just wonderful. I believe they possess basically every emotion we do.

James.

I think sometimes we try and attribute certain characteristics that animals have to what we call Human Intelligence when these qualities are innate to the animal. Certain dogs are bred for herding and others for other tasks so they excel at that. All dogs are social animals so they are sensitive to group behavior and probably consider the Human family they reside with as they would a pack of dogs.

Personally I think most animals have a limited ability for independent thought and the ability to learn which varies with the species.

Some times I can't decide wether I love my dogs more than I hate them, or if it is the other way around.

I have an adorable Bichon Frisé that can be a real pain in the a**. I work at home and when I go to the kitchen for a snack, she follows me (thought: he's going to eat, maybe I can, too). I offer her a doggy treat and instead of just taking it, she smells the treat and then smells my hand (thought: before I decide, let's see what he's eating first, maybe it's better). If she thinks mine is better she refuses the treat and looks at me (thought: you're holding out on me). Sometimes what she wants is a different kind of doggy treat. In that case, she looks at the shelf (thought: what I want's up there).

We go out for a walk three times a day, morning, afternoon and evening. If it's raining, she won't go even if I'm waiting with the leash and call her. She just looks at me (thought: he's got to be nuts).

No, the article doesn't surprise me one bit.

No news here.....goes for cats too. If I give the cat a treat, the furball is in the kitchen with his paws up on the counter, looking at me "Soooo...where's mine?"

I wonder how much they spent on this study...they could have just called pet owners......

@ Wirebeard: People don't have cats; Cats have people.

As for dogs and other animals: I think animals have emotions and thoughts just like we have, only different (because of different wiring in the brain) and perhaps more limited (less complexity in the brain, less intelligence).

I once saw a documentary on national geographic, where 2 elephants were reunited after having been separated as calves for 20 years or so.
When they saw each other, they ran (sort of) towards each other, and stood there with their trunks intertwined, side to side for the longest time.
when I saw that, I remember thinking 'so who are we to say that animals don't have emotions'

The idea that animals have no soul / emotions / intelligence is something started by people with a superiority complex imo.

You mean like the CIA but for dogs? ;-)

Al raz.

I agree with the idea that most animals have a limited ability for independent thought - I mean look at humans! They are just guided by garbage propaganda fed to them by the media. Heel social member, sit and beg for your rewards!

We are the most confused of animals - dogs, however, are still more in tune with what the planet provides. When it all goes bad I am going to be glad I have my dog to show me where the food is. Back to the old bottom layer of Maslows pyramid...

Dogs are ace! Long live their loyalty and good noses.

Originally Posted by Makar

I agree with the idea that most animals have a limited ability for independent thought - I mean look at humans! They are just guided by garbage propaganda fed to them by the media. Heel social member, sit and beg for your rewards!

We are the most confused of animals - dogs, however, are still more in tune with what the planet provides. When it all goes bad I am going to be glad I have my dog to show me where the food is. Back to the old bottom layer of Maslows pyramid...

Dogs are ace! Long live their loyalty and good noses.

+1
Especially on that garbage propaganda thing.