title: Verbal attention getting as a key factor in social learning between dog (Canis familiaris) and human.
abstract: Pet dogs (Canis familiaris) learn to detour a V-shaped fence effectively from an unfamiliar human demonstrator. In this article, 4 main features of the demonstrator's behavior are highlighted: (a) the manipulation of the target, (b) the familiarity of the demonstrator, (c) the role of verbal attention-getting behavior, and (d) whether a strange trained dog could also be an effective demonstrator. The results show that the main factor of a successful human demonstration is the continuous verbal communication with the dog during detouring. It was also found that an unfamiliar dog demonstrator was as efficient as the unfamiliar experimenter. The experiments provide evidence that in adult dogs, communicative context with humans is needed for effective interspecific social learning to take place.
authors.affiliation: Department of Ethology, Eötvös Loránd University, Budapest, Hungary. uupeter@ludens.elte.hu
authors.forename: Péter
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Pongrácz
authors.forename: Adám
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Miklósi
authors.forename: Katalin
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Timár-Geng
authors.forename: Vilmos
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Csányi
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001288:Attention; D004285:Dogs; D006801:Humans; D007858:Learning; D012919:Social Behavior; D013060:Speech; D013647:Task Performance and Analysis; D014743:Videotape Recording