Does your dog really prefer you to strangers?
Scientists find canines may be more fickle than thought, and treat a new person like a friend in 10 minutes
Man's best friend may not be as loyal as you might think, research suggests, and may start treating new people like friends within just ten minutes. When a dog is feeling nervous in unfamiliar surroundings, they cling on to their owners around 80 per cent of the time. However, when they are relaxed and in a familiar location they prefer to spend up to 70 per cent of their time with strangers, a new study has found.
Previous research suggested shelter dogs start to treat someone differently after three 10-minute interactions, but the study cuts this to one 10-minute encounter. Researchers from the University of Florida and Arizona State University gave pet dogs a choice of getting petted by their owner or stranger in different situations. During the 10-minute sessions, the dogs were free to do as they wanted and, if they approached someone, they were petted for as long as they wanted, writes National Geographic. Researchers wanted 'to test whether owned dogs would prefer their owner over a stranger and whether the familiarity of the testing context would influence preference', according to the paper.
'Owned dogs preferred to interact with their owners when in an unfamiliar context, but allocated more time to the stranger in a familiar context', researchers wrote in a paper published in the Journal of the Experimental Analysis of Behaviour. The research shows context and environment are important in dog behaviour and how they form preferences. Experts acknowledge that it is the owner's presence in the familiar place that makes the dog feel safe enough to spend time with a stranger. They also found that shelter dogs were particularly likely to form bonds with strangers. This suggests they are unlikely to be pining for their old home after being taken in by someone new.
Earlier this month, researchers found that 'dog-- speak' is important for bonding with pets. Scientists found that dogs need to hear words spoken rhythmically in a high-pitched emotional voice in order to find it relevant.