Dogs have become an integral part of many peoples’ lives; it is impossible to go outside and not see people walking their dogs. Even on the Internet, we can watch millions of cute videos of dogs. How have dogs, a species that shares little anatomical similarities to humans, become their companions?
Interest in the subject of dog cognition can be tracked all the way back to the studies of Charles Darwin. In his third treatise, The Expression of the Emotions in Man and Animal, Darwin was able to discern the different expressions of emotions in dogs. In spite of these studies, dogs have always been considered an artificial species due to their domestication throughout history. Dog domestication began around 12,000-14,000 years ago (Vila et al., 1997). They have always occupied an anthropogenic niche. However, they can even be distinguished among other domesticated animals: dogs have the abilities to hunt our prey, help herd our livestock, protect our homes, and most importantly, be our close companions.
Recently, there has been a wave of interest in the study of canine cognition about the level in which human cues can control the behavior of dogs (Haire, Brown, Williamson & Tomasello, 2002). There has been a notable pattern in the behavior of dogs in response to human cues: it has been shown that a human pointing overpowers the dog’s natural preference. For example, a study conducted by Pongracz, Hegedus, Sanjurjo, Kovari, and Miklosi found that dogs would constantly pick a bowl with a carrot over a bowl that contains a sausage in the case that a human would physically point towards the bowl with the carrot. In another experiment, researchers conducted a delayed response test in order to show the effects that humans have on dog behavior. To begin with, they showed the dogs the location of food. Then, while the dogs were unaware, the food was taken away and hidden. As expected, the researchers noticed that, while the dogs were looking for the food, they naturally searched the place where the food was last seen. However, in the case that humans would point to a location different from the one where the food was last seen, the dogs would expectedly search the place where the humans indicated before the location where they last saw the food. Although these experiments did show some cases where the dogs did not follow the popular behavior, these studies can conclude that physical communication by humans have strong control over dog behavior, even to the point where it overpowers the dogs’ propensities.
How about the memory of these dogs? Do these dogs remember the faces of humans? Many animal cognition scientists have wondered how a nonverbal animal was able to retain information about a stimulus that is rather complex. To begin with, Pattison, Lause, and Zentall wanted to answer questions about whether dogs were able to detect changes in a certain stimulus. They called it “the case of magic bones.” The experiment first consisted of the dogs being allowed to observe a bone. Then, the size and color of the bone was altered. The researchers noted that the dogs looked at the bones that were transformed for a longer duration than the duration they looked at a bone that was unchanged. They concluded that the dogs were able to remember and notice the physical characteristics of the bone (including the size and color). In another experiment, Huber, Racca, Scaf, Viranyi, and Range tested the memory of dogs for a more complex stimulus, the face of humans. Initially, the faces of humans were shown. Afterward, only certain facial features of faces were shown to the dogs. Despite only seeing certain features, the dogs were able to differentiate between the faces and identify the humans. These experiments demonstrate the dogs’ ability to remember complex stimuli, which comes in very handy in their relationships with humans.
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Also, another phenomenon that many researchers have pondered about in the dog’s incredible ability to comprehend our language. What allows these dogs to understand us whenever we command them to sit? In a study conducted by Pilley and Reid (2011), they trained a border collie, named Chaser. They trained Chaser to differentiate among the given names for over a thousand different objects. Surprisingly, over the long duration of the experiment, Chaser was able to learn the names of the different objects. In a similar manner, Macpherson and Roberts wanted to study the dog's ability to use an approximate number system (ANS). Prior to the experiment, the exact counting of objects based on number symbols, or ANS, was considered to be reserved for only humans and non-human primates. This idea seemed consistent when the study showed that the dogs failed to discriminate between small and large quantities of items when the items were shown in a sequential manner. However, when the different numbers of objects were shown sequentially, a rough collie showed a clear ability to discriminate. It’s ability to discriminate the objects was even consistent with Weber’s Law, which says that the noticeable difference is a constant proportion of the original stimulus amount. Thus, these studies show that dogs have very similar cognitive abilities to those of humans, not only linguistically, but also numerically.
As you can see, their incredible abilities to recognize our gestures, remember our faces
and understand our language has allowed them to be the “man’s best friend” that we know and love today. Considering the cognitive abilities that dogs have shown, some researchers have even concluded that dogs have a level of sentience equal to that of a human child. It’s truly amazing how these four-legged creatures can have such an intimate connection with the human species. In spite of these findings, animal abuse remains an issue throughout the world. Puppy mills, which are commercial dog breeding facilities that often have inhumane conditions, continue to thrive worldwide. The dog meat trade also continues to flourish, especially in Asian countries. In addition, physical abuse towards these dogs continues to be an issue. Next time you see your pet dog, make sure to show it love. We need to remember that these dogs are just another one of us.
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