Bakos Viktória, Vékony Kata, Pongrácz Péter
Department of Ethology, ELTE Eötvös Loránd University, Pázmány Péter sétány 1/c, 1117 Budapest, Hungary.
Institute of Cognitive Neuroscience and Psychology, HUN-REN Research Centre for Natural Sciences, Magyar Tudósok krt. 2, 1117 Budapest, Hungary.
Animals (Basel). 2025 Jun 28;15(13):1916. doi: 10.3390/ani15131916.
Cohabiting family dogs form hierarchies, and there are rank-related differences in certain behaviours even in noncompetitive situations. For companion dogs, the main limited resource could be the owner, but this assumption needs further behavioural testing. We hypothesized that dogs' hierarchical status within multi-dog household is associated with variations in their attachment and dependency behaviours toward their owner. We tested = 62 cohabiting companion dogs from 31 multi-dog households. The rank score of each subject was determined with a questionnaire (DRA-Q). We used the strange situation test (SST) to assess the dogs' attachment complex towards their owner. The results show that higher-ranking dogs showed less signs of stress in the SST when their owner was present, but they also showed fewer friendly behaviours towards the stranger. Older dogs also presented fewer stress behaviours; however, they were friendlier with the stranger. This is the first time that dogs' hierarchy was taken into consideration regarding dog-owner attachment. We can conclude that dogs' rank and its stability could play a crucial role in creating differences between cohabiting dogs' attachment patterns. We propose further research into the functional analysis of these behavioural differences.
同居的家庭犬会形成等级制度，即使在非竞争情境下，某些行为也存在与等级相关的差异。对于伴侣犬来说，主要的有限资源可能是主人，但这一假设需要进一步的行为测试。我们假设，在多犬家庭中，犬的等级地位与其对主人的依恋和依赖行为的变化有关。我们测试了来自31个多犬家庭的62只同居伴侣犬。通过问卷调查（DRA-Q）确定每个受试犬的等级得分。我们使用陌生情境测试（SST）来评估犬对其主人的依恋情结。结果表明，等级较高的犬在主人在场时，在陌生情境测试中表现出的压力迹象较少，但它们对陌生人表现出的友好行为也较少。年龄较大的犬也表现出较少的压力行为；然而，它们对陌生人更友好。这是首次在犬与主人的依恋关系中考虑犬的等级制度。我们可以得出结论，犬的等级及其稳定性在造成同居犬依恋模式的差异方面可能起着关键作用。我们建议对这些行为差异进行功能分析的进一步研究。
