The effectiveness of visual and auditory elements of a compound stimulus in controlling behavior in the domestic dog (Canis familiaris)

Screen interaction behavior in companion dogs: results from a dog owner survey

Despite availability of video content marketed for dog (Canis familiaris) entertainment, there is little information on dog behaviors when viewing content, nor describing which content is engaging. The aims of this study were to define demographics of dogs that engage with screens, owner observed behaviors, and perceived content interest. A digital survey was distributed to dog owners (03/2022-03/2023). We collected demographics, home environment, owner-rated behaviors, content interest, and interest in 4 presented videos. We compared the representation of dogs from different purebred dog groups (categorized by job/purpose by the American Kennel Club) with the estimated general purebred dog population. Most respondents (total n=1,246) lived in the USA (89%). Median age was 4 years, 54% were purebred, 51% were female. Most (86%, n=1,077) stated their dog watched screen content. Excitement behaviors were often described: 78% of dogs approached the screen, 76% vocalized. Many owners played videos for their dogs when left alone. Dogs most frequently engaged with animal content; dogs were the most popular animal. Age and visual status influenced the frequency of perceived interaction; age and breed influenced content interest. Within purebred dogs that were stated to watch content, there was a relative over-representation of "sporting" and "herding"-type breeds. A dog's age, visual status, and breed type may influence their interest in video content at home. Because many owners reported excitement in their dogs in reaction to screen content, owners may wish to determine whether video content would be suitable for use when their dogs are left alone.

Meowing dogs: can dogs recognize cats in a cross-modal violation of expectancy task (Canis familiaris)?

Dogs can recognize conspecifics in cross-modal audio-video presentations. In this paper, we aimed at exploring if such capability extends to the recognition of cats, and whether it is influenced by exposure to these animals. To reach our aim, we enrolled 64 pet dogs. Half of the dogs were currently living with cats, while the rest had never been living with cats, nor were at the time of the experiment. All dogs underwent a cross-modal violation of expectancy experiment, where they were presented with either a cat or a dog vocalization, followed by a video of either species on a blank background. The result revealed that dogs did not exhibit a surprise reaction towards the incoherent stimuli of a cat vocalization and a dog video or vice-versa, implying that they had not recognized the stimuli portraying cats. The pattern of results did not differ between dogs living or not with cats, implying that exposure to a limited number of cats, however, prolonged, is not sufficient to grant dogs with the ability to recognize them on audio-video presentations. We propose that the lack of recognition could be due to the small number of individual cats the dogs are regularly exposed to, or to the possible lack of early exposure to cats during the socialization phase.