Brown Kelsea M, Feuerbacher Erica N, Hall Nathaniel J, Protopopova Alexandra
Animal and Food Science Department, Texas Tech University, Lubbock, TX, United States.
Department of Animal and Poultry Science, Virginia Tech, Blacksburg, VA, United States.
Behav Processes. 2020 Aug;177:104145. doi: 10.1016/j.beproc.2020.104145. Epub 2020 May 20.
A growing number of studies make claims about canine sociability in both applied and basic contexts. Yet, there is currently no standard for measuring sociability in dogs. The purpose of this two-part study was to determine whether procedural differences among canine sociability tests would affect dogs' behavior. In Experiment 1, we used a mixed-subjects design to assess whether experimenter position (standing, sitting, or kneeling) and presence of affection (petting and praise or none) affected leashed dogs' social behavior. Mixed-effect logistic regression modeling showed statistically significant main effects and interactions between posture and social contact. On average, dogs were more social when the experimenter knelt and provided social contact. However, there were individual differences in how dogs were affected by changes in procedure. In Experiment 2, we examined correspondence between leashed and unleashed dogs' social behaviors including time in proximity, following patterns, eye gaze, body orientation, jumping, and touching. Individual differences were examined by calculating a binomial mixed-effect logistic regression with condition (leashed, off-leash, following) and subject ID as fixed effects. Interactions were statistically significant for all behaviors, indicating that individual differences were present. The results have implications for the validity of sociability tests.
越来越多的研究在应用和基础背景下对犬类的社交能力提出了各种说法。然而，目前尚无衡量犬类社交能力的标准。这项分为两部分的研究旨在确定犬类社交能力测试中的程序差异是否会影响犬类的行为。在实验1中，我们采用混合受试者设计来评估实验者的位置（站立、坐着或跪着）以及是否给予关爱（抚摸和赞扬或不给予）是否会影响拴着绳子的犬类的社交行为。混合效应逻辑回归模型显示，姿势和社交接触之间存在统计学上显著的主效应和交互作用。平均而言，当实验者跪着并给予社交接触时，犬类表现得更具社交性。然而，犬类受程序变化的影响方式存在个体差异。在实验2中，我们研究了拴着绳子和未拴着绳子的犬类社交行为之间的对应关系，包括接近时间、跟随模式、目光注视、身体朝向、跳跃和触摸。通过计算以条件（拴着绳子、未拴绳子、跟随）和受试者ID为固定效应的二项混合效应逻辑回归来检验个体差异。所有行为的交互作用均具有统计学意义，表明存在个体差异。这些结果对社交能力测试的有效性具有启示意义。
