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rospigan

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Posts:372

12/14/2008 2:30 AM
Don Nicol from Australia , dnicol@b022.aone.net.au , asked me to post this to the list. He is the one who can read but not post to the list. ----------------------------------------- Dogs can sniff out unfair situations and show an emotion similar to envy or jealousy, according to Austrian researchers. Dogs sulked and refused to "shake" paws if other dogs got treats for tricks and they did not, says Dr Friederike Range, an animal psychologist at the University of Vienna, who led the study into canine emotions. "It is a more complex feeling or emotion than what we would normally attribute to animals," says Range. The study, which was published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Science, also showed dogs licked and scratched themselves and acted stressed when they were denied rewards given to other dogs. Other studies have shown monkeys often express resentful behaviour when a partner receives a greater reward for performing an identical task, staging strikes or ignoring what they view as inferior compensation. It turns out dogs are able to show a similar, if less sensitive, response, says Range. Uneven rewards In a series of experiments using different breeds of dogs, the researchers looked at how two animals sitting next to each other reacted to unequal rewards after handing a paw to a researcher. They observed that the dogs did not seem to care if they were only given bread after the other dog was given sausage. But dogs not given a treat licked their mouths, yawned, scratched and showed other signs of stress and stopped performing the task, says Range. "It was not the presence of the second dog but the fact that the partner received the food that was responsible for the change in the subjects' behaviour," she says. "The fact that the subjects refused earlier and hesitated longer to obey the command to give the paw to the experimenter when the partner received a reward but they themselves did not ... suggests that dogs are sensitive to an unequal reward distribution." To show this was not just because the animals were not getting food, the researchers then tested the dogs alone and found that in this situation the envious canines cooperated longer before stopping. "It is really about the unequal distribution of the reward," Range says. "If it was only about frustration they would stop at the same time." Tags: animal-behaviour, mammals, emotions ----------------------------------------------------------------------- Torsti Borta Med Vindens Kennel www.rospigan.net "Ask not what your dog can do for you. Ask what you can do for your dog!"

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