Exceptional running skill in dogs requires extensive experience.
Performances across a wide variety of animal species share a similar pattern of development. Performance starts out low, over time increases to a peak, and then declines with old age. The increase of performance in early life is due to growth, adaptation, and learning. The author examined changes in running performance in 14 elite greyhound (Canis lupus familiaris) runners. The time to peak performance from initiation of a professional career took up 9.1% of a typical dog's lifespan. This amount of time devoted to skill development relative to species lifespan is similar to that of elite human track runners. Even with controll for changes in size (weight in kilograms), dogs' skill development showed marked improvement with increasing race experience. The author discusses the benefit of future research on motor-skill acquisition in nonhuman athletes.
Helton
William S
WS
Department of Psychology, University of Canterbury, Christchurch, New Zealand. deak_helton@yahoo.com
D000375:Aging / Q000523:psychology*; D000818:Animals; D003163:Competitive Behavior; D004285:Dogs / Q000523:psychology*; D005260:Female; D008297:Male; D009048:Motor Skills; D010805:Physical Conditioning, Animal; D011214:Practice, Psychological; D012420:Running; D013045:Species Specificity