Dogs are renowned for their ability to read humans. They can hear your emotions in your tone of voice, read human facial expressions, and even distinguish between different languages. And they do all this far better than their closest relatives: wolves. But just because dogs can understand us, does that mean they are interested in what we have to say? And can they learn from what we tell them? New research shows that it all depends on the breed.
Dogs Are Sensitive to Attention-Getting Speech
Petra Dobos, a graduate student at Eötvös Loránd University, and Dr. Péter Pongrácz, associate professor in the Department of Ethology, wanted to explore how different dog breeds respond to attention-getting speech known as ostensive communication. That would be phrases like “hey, pup” or “watch me” that indicate to the dog your words are directed at them. Dobos says we also talk directly to dogs with higher intonation, just as we would with human infants.
According to Dr. Pongrácz, ever since a 2009 research study by Dr. József Topál et al. on dogs’ sensitivity to human communication, it’s been accepted that one of the main differences between a tame wolf and a dog is that dogs are sensitive to ostensive communication, just like infants and adult humans. “This was the basic thinking among scientists. That dogs in general are sensitive to ostensive communication and this is adaptive to them because they will know when we want something from them.”
Cooperative Versus Independent Dog Breeds
But there is such a huge variety across dog breeds, not just in physical size but in behavior too. So, in a study published in BMC Biology, Dobos and Dr. Pongrácz looked at whether all dogs were equally sensitive to verbal instructions. They decided to test two different categories of dogs – cooperative breeds and independent breeds. They included only those breeds that were developed for a specific task, and they considered whether that task involved relying on human guidance, visual or vocal, or not. But Dobos says, “There are also breeds that cannot be categorized because they weren’t selected for any kind of work, or they were selected for multiple works and that are a mixture of cooperative and independent. So we only worked with those breeds that could be categorized precisely.”
The breeds that rely on human guidance included herding dogs, like Border Collies and Australian Shepherds, and gun dogs, like Labrador Retrievers and Irish Setters. On the other hand, the independent breeds included sled dogs, like Siberian Huskies or Alaskan Malamutes, hunting dogs that were developed to be sent away from the owner, such as Dachshunds and Whippets, and terriers, like the Fox Terrier.
Navigating Around a Detour
To test the two breed groups, Dobos set up a detour task which consisted of a V-shaped fence with a reward placed at the inside intersection of the two sides. The dogs needed to detour around the fence to reach the reward inside. Although this may seem obvious to people, it’s a task that can flummox dogs. For the first trial, Dobos simply got the dog’s attention then dropped a reward behind the fence. Then the dogs were given 60 seconds to retrieve the reward by detouring around the fence.
Next Dobos demonstrated to each dog how to navigate the obstacle. For one group of subjects, she used ostensive communication to grab the dog’s attention as she walked around the fence, saying the dog’s name as well as phrases like “look” and “here I go” in a high-pitched voice. She did this twice alternating which side of the fence she detoured around each time. For the other group of subjects, Dobos again demonstrated the detour, but this time she recited a poem in a monotone voice. After her demonstrations, the dogs were again given 60 seconds to retrieve the reward.
Cooperative Breeds Outperform Independent Breeds
In the first trial, both groups of dogs showed similar times to complete the detour task. But as the dogs got a second and third try, the independent breeds’ performance didn’t improve. The cooperative breeds got faster at the detour after Dobos’ demonstrations. In fact, the cooperative breeds got faster both with the ostensive communication and the monotone poem. It seems that any kind of speech was enough to grab those dogs’ attention. This way, they could learn from the demonstrations.
Dr. Pongrácz and Dobos were surprised by that result. Previously, there was a central belief that dogs need ostensive communication to learn from humans. But even a monotonous poem was enough for the cooperative dogs. Dr. Pongrácz says, “We think that most probably cooperative dogs are much more interested in general in human activity and, if you give the minimal acoustic cue, like just talking while you do something, they will pay attention to you.”
They also found that the dogs, in general, watched Dobos longer when she used ostensive speech. But the cooperative breeds spent more time watching her in both conditions. And those dogs that watched the demonstration longer, were more likely to successfully perform the task. Dobos believes even though the cooperative dogs didn’t always know what she was saying, such as with the poem, they wanted to watch her because she was doing something. She says, “I think they are in general more interested. This leads to their ability to be better in social learning from us. Because independent dogs might be better in learning from other dogs, but that’s another story.”
Should Dog Owners Use Ostensive Communication?
Dobos believes their research has applications for dog trainers and owners as well. She says it’s important to be aware of how sensitive different breeds are to ostensive communication. You can’t deal with them in the same way. “I think that an independent dog can be trained to be more reliable on ostensive cues,” Dobos says. “It’s just important to know that some breeds might need more effort to pay attention to us.”
Dr. Pongrácz adds that you should plan your reinforcement based on your dog’s heritage. For cooperative dogs, it’s easy to gain their attention, even with a boring poem. But for independent dogs, he thinks you would need to do something really drastic to make them watch you. “I think verbal praise can be a very good reinforcer most of the time. Meanwhile, if you want to use some kind of food reward, for independent dogs that might do the trick better.”