of the Dog - Association of Pet Dog Trainers

Creative Canine: Original Intentional Canine-to-Human Communication
and message percentages for each variable to compare with
the behavior and message baselines.
When calculating survey results, I applied no statistical
smoothing, no appropriate algorithms, no scientific controls
nor any other mathematical rigor besides basic arithmetic,
a calculator and many erasers. Therefore, I likely made
some hopefully minor calculation errors, but I believe the
effects of such remain for the most part negligible. The
limited sample size of some of the data probably had more
negative impact. For example, one owner with a toy breed
and two hound owners responded resulting in less than
ideal representation for these groups.
Because this study relies on anecdotal contributions
by mostly lay observers with little understanding of
animal behavior complexities, anthropomorphism can
rear its disputed head. Many scientists discount anecdotal
information due to anthropomorphic concerns, the obvious
lack of laboratory distance and controlled conditions.
Ethologist Marc Bekoff believes that anthropomorphism
while unavoidable, can be scientifically valid with proper
considerations, and can help make the animal world more
accessible to both scientists and lay people. 14
Csányi and his fellow researchers found that lay
observers could accurately explain an animal’s behavior
without anthropomorphic bias when describing the
animal’s actual activity. They also noted that owners tended
to report only on situations that happened repeatedly
which increased the veracity of the data. 15 As Csányi
proposed, the behavior descriptions for this study appeared
rather straightforward; however, human-interpreted
messages tended to be much more subjective and emotional
as would be expected.
Results
The on-line survey received a total 112 responses
with 89 of those applicable. Incomplete surveys were not
counted. Some respondents participated more than once
and each survey response was counted separately. For this
paper, I decided to summarize the highlights and the most
interesting observations. Academics, please don’t take
umbrage!
Behavior Categories (Figure 3)
Respondents reported more vocal behavior than
any other. This result should not surprise as humans
rely on speech to communicate with each other. We
constantly talk to our pets as if they understand us, so
participants likely attune to vocalizations more than
other transmissions. 16 Likewise, humans tend to be highly
aware of their dogs’ often obnoxious pawing or nudging.
These gesture behaviors ranked second highest for overall
communication behaviors. Action behaviors involving
more elaborate movements came in next.
Complex and modeling appeared to be more inventive
and combined several behavior categories. Perhaps
anthropomorphism counted for these categories fairly
high scores. However, these behaviors produced some
Figure 1: Behavior Ethogram
Behaviors Definition
Action change of position, location or activity to convey message (i.e.
sit, down, movement)
Complex combination of two or more behaviors to communicate
message (does not include modeling)
Gaze eye movements including stare, glance or look at a specific
person or in specific direction
Gesture singular body movement in limited space (pawing, nudging,
scratching)
Modeling imitation of human-like behavior or action; or the manipulation
of objects not normally associated with canine activities
Touch a single use of paw or nose to contact a specific person or
object
Vocal vocalization or other natural dog-made sounds (growling,
barking, whimpering) to communicate to a specific human but
not to a stranger or unknown situation
Figure 2: Message Ethogram
Message Definition
Potty dog communication interpreted by human to mean a dog!s
need to go outside to eliminate
Request interpretation that dog requests the human to perform an
activity or service for the dog other than related to elimination
Affection/Empathy human interprets behavior as an expression of affection or
empathy for a particular person
Alert Behavior interpreted as a specific warning to its human (not
directed to a stranger), an announcement, an attempt to
protect human or a non-threatening notification of a situation
of which the human should be aware
Attention Human interprets the dog seeks human attention for reasons
not otherwise listed
Avoidance Human interprets behavior as dog!s desire not to be involved
with an activity, behavior or situation
Beg Human interprets behavior as a request for food or other
resource currently possessed by human
Greet Human interprets behavior as a pleasurable welcome for a
known human
Permit Behavior interpreted as seeking human!s approval for a
specific action or behavior to be performed by dog
Play Behavior interpreted as a an invitation by the dog to the
human to engage in play-related activities
Pleasure-other Behavior interpreted by human as dog seeking other
pleasurable action by human not mentioned elsewhere
Other Behavior interpreted as dog communication not mentioned
elsewhere
unexpected results. Two of the poorest scoring behaviors
in the overall results ranked extremely high in these areas.
For example, gaze equaled only 8% of the behaviors but
a huge 29% of those included in the complex category, a
particularly interesting result as researchers cite gaze as >
26 w The APDT Chronicle of the Dog w November/December 2008 www.APDT.com
Value Title
100%
75%
50%
25%
0%
Figure 3: Behavior Mean Baseline
29%
3%
11%
20%
8%
12%
17%
Behavior Baseline
Vocal (29%)
Touch (3%)
Modeling (11%)
Gesture (20%)
Gaze (8%)
Complex (12%)
Action (17%)