The Cognitive Dog

Class 4: Perception & “ Is understanding wolves useful when training dogs?”

Agenda

• Ideas from last week

• Plan for next week (Choice of Readings!!!!)

• The Brain Trust, part 3

• Perception: BB

• “Is understanding wolves useful in dog training?” : CB

Unfinished ideas from last week

• 40 x 40 = 1600.

• The big ideas from last week:

• Wolf behavior is wicked complex and poorly understood. We don’t know enough to draw conclusions other than not to draw conclusions other than that the simple “alpha wolf” model is a cartoon model.

• Wolves are not dogs nor a good model for dogs

• Wolf social behavior is for interacting with wolves in the pack/family group. They don’t use it for strange wolves...

Next week: molecular genetics

• Everyone, please read survey articles...

• Pennisi, E. (2004). Genome Resources to Boost Canine's Role in Gene Hunts. Science. 304: 1093-1095.*

• google “broad institute unleashes dog genome”

• If especially interested...

• Parker, H., L. Kim, et al. (2004). Genetic Structure of the Purebred Domestic Dog. Science. 304: 1160-1164.*

• Lindblad-Toh, K., C. M. Wade, et al. (2005). "Genome sequence, comparative analysis and haplotype structure of the domestic dog." Nature 438(7069): 803-819.*

Next week: observing your dog

• Everyone should read...

• McConnell, P. (2006). For the Love of a Dog: Understanding Emotion in You and Your Dog. New York, NY, Ballantine Books. Chapter 2.

Following week: origins of the dog

• Everyone read Coppinger

• Coppinger, R. and L. Coppinger (2001). Dogs: A Startling New Understanding of Canine Origin, Behavior, and Evolution. New York, NY, Scribner. Chapters 1-3

• If interested you can order the Trut article from American Scientist...

• http://www.americanscientist.org/

The brain trust Cheetara & Ella

The perceptual world of dogs...

Big idea...

• Dogs as a ‘species’ probably perceive the world quite differently than we do...

• We know this, but we often don’t act on it

• There is no reason to suppose that the morphological diversity found in dogs isn’t matched by an equivalent level of perceptual diversity...

Vision

Carroll, S. B. (2006). The Making of the Fittest: DNA and the Ultimate Forensic Record of Evolutiom. New York, NY, W.W. Norton.

View to an eye...

• Lens focuses image on the retina

• Receptors in the retina absorb light of different wave lengths

• When they absorb light they ‘excite’ a nerve cell and a signal winds up being transmitted to the visual cortex in the brain

Can see in 1/4 as much light

• Large pupil, cornea and lens let in more light

• loss in depth of field

• less able to focus

• Tapetum reflects light back to retina

• produces “smeared” but brighter image

• Ratio of rods to cones 2x ratio in humans

The big picture on rods & cones

Rods better at collecting light, cones better at resolving details

details & color motion & low light

Dogs see color differently...

 Humans see:      VIBGYOR  Dogs see:            VIBYYYR

Dana K. Vaughan, Ph.D., Dept. of Biology, University of Wisconsin, Oshkosh http://www.katiesbumpers.com/K9colorvision.htm

This is because dogs have cones that are ‘tuned’ to 2 frequencies of light, whereas humans possess cones that are ‘tuned’ to

3 frequencies

How do they know?

Dog trained to press panel under the light that doesn’t match the other two and a cookie drops in the cup if they are right

Criteria: if they get better than 33% right, must be able to

distinguish between colors...

Implications for toy colors

• Yellow, Green, Orange toys all look similar to dog

• Yellow & Orange toys may blend into grass

• Blue, Violet, Red best...

• Contrast helps as well (Blue & White)

Dogs have a wider field of view, but varies by breed

Beaver, B. V. (1999). Canine Behavior: A Guide for Veterinarians. Philadelphia, PA, W.B. Saunders Company.

By comparison, humans have a

binocular field of 140-160 degrees and field

of view of 180 degrees

Note difference in binocular field across breeds

Dogs have visual streaks not foveas

• In humans, cones are concentrated in a circular region of retina called the fovea, and peripheral vision provided by rods

• The fovea of dogs is an elongated horizontal ellipse

• Better peripheral vision

• The extent of the “visual streak” depends on the breed

• The longer the muzzle, the more pronounced the streak

Shape of visual streak varies greatly across breeds & seems correlated with the length of the skull...

McGreevy, P., T. Grassi, et al. (2003). "A Strong Correlation Exists between the Distribution of Retinal Ganglion Cells and Nose Length in the Dog." Brain, Behavior and Evolution 63(1): 13-22.

Dogs have difficulty seeing up close...

• Generally accepted that dogs have difficulty focusing on an object closer than 30 - 50 cm, whereas a young child can focus on an object that is only 7 cm away.

• Some families within breeds may have a tendency to be myopic...

Murphy, C., K. Zadnik, et al. (1992). "Myopia and Refractive Error in Dogs." Investigative Ophthalmology & Visual Science 33(8).

Visual acuity is poorer than in humans, but dogs may be more sensitive to quality of motion

20

75E

ERecognized moving person at 1000 Meters

Recognized stationary person 500 Meters

How do they know?

Dog trained to press panel under stripes & if they are right a cookie drops in the cup

Criteria: if they get better than 50% right, must be able to distinguish stripes from solid...

Dogs: 3-12 cycles/degree

People: 56-67 cycles/degree

Motion acuity...

• Dogs have a higher “flicker fusion” rate than people

• Above 55 cycles per second, people see a constant glowing source, whereas dogs may see a flicker until 75 cycles per second.

• This may be why some dogs ignore TVs (60Hz)

• Means they are more sensitive to motion in an image

Visual Perspective

• Obvious point perhaps but taller dogs see different things than smaller dogs

Cross species comparison

L. David Mech and L. Boitani, Eds. (2003). Wolves: Behavior, Ecology, and Conservation. Chicago, IL, University of Chicago Press.

Hard to know if difference is real between dogs and wolves

Hearing

Higher range, more sensitive

Dog’s acoustic range reflects origins as predator and frequency of dog vocalizations

No need to shout, they hear you just

fine...

Morton’s Hypothesis Works remarkably well across species

Morton, E. S. and J. Page (1992). Animal Talk: Science and the Voices of Nature. New York, NY, Random House.

Harmonic Noisy

High Frequency

Low Frequency

Pattern of acoustic signals (in wolves)

• This is consistent with Morton’s hypothesis...

• Submissive, care-soliciting signals tend to be pure tone, high frequency

• Threatening signals tend to be noisy, low frequency

L. David Mech and L. Boitani, Eds. (2003). Wolves: Behavior, Ecology, and Conservation. Chicago, IL, University of Chicago Press.

Localizing sound...

• Localizing sound

• Difference in intensity (louder in closer ear)

• Difference in arrival time (arrives sooner in closer ear)

• Humans better than dogs in localizing sound (1 degree vs. 8 degrees, a pinky vs. a palm)

• Accurate localization may be more important for animals with high visual acuity?

Do ultrasound dog devices work?

• Little evidence that they do...

• Problems...

• narrow directional field (needs to be pointing at dog)

• power (requires more energy for signal of equal loudness)

• ultrasonic sounds may bring to mind mice

Lindsay, S. R. (2000). Applied Dog Behavior and Training. Ames, IA, Iowa State University Press.

Some quirks...

• Rats can learn to discriminate between recorded Japanese & Dutch but not if played backwards.

• Link between structure of languages and perceptual mechanism?

• Toro, J. M., J. B. Trobalon, et al. (2005). "Effects of Backward Speech and Speaker Variability in Language Discrimination by Rats." Journal of Experimental Psychology: Animal Behavior Processes 31(1): 95-100.

• Dogs have problems discriminating between recorded utterances

• Fukuzawa, M., D. S. Mills, et al. (2005). "The Effect of Human Command Phonetic Characteristics on Auditory Cognition in Dogs (Canis familiaris)." Journal of Comparative Psychology 119(1): 117-120.

QuickTime™ and aH.263 decompressor

are needed to see this picture.

rover@home

Smell

We forget that odor is a big deal

• Humans have 1000 different kinds of receptors (neurons) in nose for detecting odors and can discriminate among 10,000 different odors.

• 1 of every 100 genes in rats has something to do with smell...

A view to a nose...

Syrotuck, W. G. (1972). Scent and the Scenting Dog. Canastota, NY, Arner Publications.

Milo D. Pearsall and H. Verbruggen (1982). Scent: Training to Track, Search and Rescue. Loveland, CO, Alpine Publications.

The olfactory bulb in the dog’s brain is bigger in absolute terms than that in a human brain...

Lindsay, S. R. (2000). Applied Dog Behavior and Training. Ames, IA, Iowa State University Press.

Huge difference with humans...

Surface area of olfactory epithelium is 5 to 50x larger in dogs, as are number of olfactory receptors

Humans Dogs

Kaldenbach, J. (1998). K9 Scent Detection. Calgary, Canada, Detselig Enterprises Ltd

Varies by breed...

Coren, S. (2004). How Dogs Think: Understanding the Canine Mind. New York, NY, Free Press.

Streets of Philadelphia

• 1 drop of Butryric acid in the bottom of a teaspoon

• Human can smell it if released in a 10 story building & standing right by the window.

• Dogs can smell it if released in area the size of Philadelphia up to a height of 300 feet.

• Each footprint may contain a million times the amount of butryic acid needed for a dog to detect it.

What do they use their noses for?

• Prey detection

• Social functions via detection of pheromones

• Scent mark investigation (identify strange males)

• Sexual status and receptivity

• Kinship recognition

• does it bootstrap visual and auditory kin recognition?

• Hypothesis: dogs must have “layering” (be able to keep all scents separate) and the equivalent of focus of attention

Localizing origin and direction

• .003 second difference in odor reaching one nostril vs. another is sufficient for determining general location

• Dogs seem to track by comparing difference in olfactory concentration between foot prints (i.e. discrete samples)

Higher Concentration

Lower Concentration

Direction of travel

Bicycles are a lot harder to track because no discrete

samples

Taste & Touch

Taste...

• Less sensitive than humans (especially wrt salt)

• Food preferences

• Fetal (rats seek out food eaten by mom during pregnancy)

• Palatable (tastes good) & novel

• Prior experience (taste aversion...)

Touch...

• 40% of touch receptors in dogs dedicated to face especially around whiskers and ears

• Whiskers may help “locate, identify and pick up” small objects that might otherwise be out of focus.

• Distant early warning (air currents...)

• Especially sensitive between toes and pads of feet

• Harrington makes good point when he says that the role of touch is greatly under-appreciated.

Take home message...

• Our intuition, based on how we perceive the world, may not serve us well in understanding how your dog perceives the world.

• We think of vision as being central to our perception of the world

• Vision is important to dogs, but their visual perception may be quite different than ours, and olfaction plays a much bigger role, and it is hard for us to get our heads around olfaction

• Think movement & sound

Take home message

• Left unsaid until now, but wicked important, and I do mean wicked important, is “focus of attention” & perceptual bias. That is, what your dog attends to in any given context is likely to be quite different than what you attend to.

• Perceptual differences

• Emotional differences

• Motivational differences

• Learning

Wolf behavior and Dog training…

Do they go together?

ALPHA /PACK LEADER or Leader?

Origins of being “pack leader” Popularized by the books of the Monks of New

Skete beginning in the 70’s Acting as Alpha or Pack leader over your dog

came from the belief that because dogs are related to wolves and wolves are pack animals we should mimic Alpha wolf behavior

The Theory Mimic wolf behavior by use of dominance such

as the Alpha Roll, Scruff Shake, Shake Down Dogs have similar behavior patterns of wolves

Based on the knowledge at the time of wolf behavior A clear linear hierarchy was the current belief

Alpha - Beta – Omega

Old Knowledge Wolves lived by a dominance hierarchy Alpha pair or often the male

Dominated with force To keep pack together

Underlings thought to challenge to lead Seems very antagonistic

Sets up an antagonistic relationship with dogs

A few of the methods

Alpha Roll Physically placing dog on back and kneeling over

Scruff Shake Grab by scruff and shake

Was commonly used for puppy discipline

Shake Down Face dog grab by cheeks and lift off front feet, shake

to make your point

Mimic wolf/dog behavior by use of dominance

Dominance and forced leadership becomes the setting for dog training

Correction based vs. Reward based Set up to make a mistake and correct until no mistake,

then praise The norm in the 80’s

Difficult to find other methods Appears quick

For some of us…

On to a new time

Current Wolf research – quick review Wolf packs are generally family groups

`mom/dad and offspring

Wolf packs The leaders are generally the parents and are

sources of food Wolves do what they do for survival and the young

follow Initially due to imprinting

and maybe later due to

observational learning

Wolf packs

Hierarchy is probably not a simple linear of alpha, beta, and omega To some extent changes as pack members come and go

Wolves rarely use violence within a pack Serious injuries are usually between packs

They communicate through the use of many facial and body positions along with vocalizations This prevents serious altercations between pack members

Wolf packs

Submission is not usually forced it is offered Submission can be active or passive

Active = submissive animal approaches Passive = submissive animal is approached

Discipline is swift; it does not go on and on as human discipline to a dog tends to

And sometimes dog to dog as well

Humans act as wolves/dogs ?

Problems: Humans are not dogs or wolves! We just do not have

the right shape Or the teeth

Humans act as wolves/dogs ? Dogs are not wolves

Do domestic dogs pack as wolves? I think of dogs as groups not packs Wolf packs are mostly family and individuals can and do

leave

Humans act as wolves/dogs ? Dogs are not wolves continued

Remember: last weeks lecture and wolf packs being dispersal units

Pet dogs cannot do this – we hold them captive in a group like it or not Unless we decide to re-home one of a group

We also change dynamics via spay and neutering

Humans act as wolves/dogs ? Dogs are not wolves continued

Dogs do not need cooperative living to hunt Pets: we feed them which can create a resource issue

The human is the resource of resources Village dogs/Scavengers: resource issues

Dogs do however have similar communications Often not well developed due to human intervention

Or lack thereof

Humans don’t always interpret canine language well - often confusing the canines

Humans act as wolves/dogs ?

More Problems Dangerous - Potential to harm both parties

Dog injuries from being thrown and shaken Human injuries due to dog retaliating in self defense Correction based training unhealthy for both

Leash pops: dog neck & spine, human shoulders

Humans act as wolves/dogs ? Creates fear not submission in many dogs

Fear can create defensive aggression Goes back to injury potential to human

Undermines a trusting relationship Training is more difficult without trust Potential for an antagonistic relationship

Humans act as wolves/dogs ?Smiling human Smiling Dog

The Dog Whisperer - Season Three - Cesar Millan

courtesy Mark Thiessen/National Geographic Channel

NOTE: NO SMILE ON DOG

SO…Is being ALPHA/Pack Leader a good idea? How society views the concept of Alpha Controlling vs. leading

Sets the stage for a confrontational relationship Do you want to be controlled or guided by a leader?

Which motivates you more? Which creates emotion

Less emotion = more learning Many people do not like to control others

Alternative View: leadership vs. pack leader?

Adult wolves (the alpha) lead the group via follow-ship not force

to hunt to move from place to place

The leader/s are the source of food and guidance rewards

Alternative View: leadership vs. pack leader?

Rewards Food Water Safety Shelter Breeding

Alternative View: Leadership for dogs Mostly use positive reinforcement

Increases behaviors you want Creates a follower

Add some negative punishment Behaviors you want to stop

Time out, removal of reward Ignore or manage what you do not want

Extinction If never reinforced behavior goes away Be careful of what IS reinforcing

Alternative View: Leadership for dogs Some use of negative reinforcement

Take away an aversive to increase good behavior Release tension when guiding up to stop shock

Occasional use of positive punishment Addition of an aversive that will decrease an

unwanted behavior Use both nr & pp only as needed

Potential for fallout of fear or mistrust

Alternative View: Leadership for dogs

Management CLEAR rules: Be Consistent

Dogs learn constantly and will do what works No gray areas: keep it black and white

examples Can’t jump up sometimes and not others Cannot feed from table and expect no begging

Alternative View: Leadership for dogs

Management Preventing bad habits

Use crates, pens, gates, leashes while in training Exercise Train Exercise Train Exercise Train

One of the biggest contributors to behavior we don’t want is lack of exercise and training

A job for your dog; make training part of life let the dog work for what he wants

NILIF= nothing in life is free

Jobs for dogs…