Owners as a secure base for their dogs

Behaviour ◽  
2013 ◽  
Vol 150 (11) ◽  
pp. 1275-1294 ◽  
Author(s):  
Chiara Mariti ◽  
Eva Ricci ◽  
Marcella Zilocchi ◽  
Angelo Gazzano
Keyword(s):  
Social Play ◽  
Wilcoxon Test ◽  
Physical Contact ◽  
Secure Base ◽  
Strange Situation ◽  
Normal Behaviour ◽  
Strange Situation Test ◽  
The Stranger ◽  
Social Behaviours

A modified version of the Ainsworth Strange Situation Test was used to analyse 40 dog–owner pairs in order to assess whether owners can represent a secure base for their dogs. The Wilcoxon test revealed significant differences between owner and stranger for protest at separation (whining), contact maintenance effect (proximity, attention seeking and physical contact) and secure base effect (exploration, individual play and social play). The results suggest that dogs behave similarly to children towards the mothers and to chimpanzees towards human caretakers in the Ainsworth Strange Situation Test: owners are the preferred recipient of affiliative behaviours and, in their absence, dogs show behaviours indicative of distress. After reunion with the owner, dogs show an increase in social behaviours towards him/her. Dogs did not show fear of the stranger, and it was regarded as a normal behaviour for adult well-socialized dogs. Until now whether owners represented a secure base for their dogs was debated, due to controversial results. This study found that dogs play and explore more when owners were present, suggesting that owners can represent a secure base for their dogs. Therefore, according to Bowlby’s definition, dogs are linked to their owners by an attachment bond.

scholarly journals Hand-reared wolves show similar, or stronger, attachment toward human caregivers compared to hand-reared dogs

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Christina Hansen Wheat ◽  
Linn Larsson ◽  
Hans Temrin
Keyword(s):  
Canis Lupus ◽  
Developmental Stages ◽  
Canis Familiaris ◽  
Social Bond ◽  
Strange Situation ◽  
Strange Situation Test ◽  
Emotional Dependency ◽  
The Stranger ◽  
Attachment Behaviour ◽  
Over Time

AbstractDomesticated animals are generally assumed to display increased sociability towards humans compared to their wild ancestors. Dogs (Canis familiaris) have the ability to form lasting attachment, a social bond based on emotional dependency, with humans and it has specifically been suggested that this ability evolved post-domestication in dogs. Subsequently, it is expected that dogs but not wolves (Canis lupus), can develop attachment bonds to humans. However, while it has been shown that 16-weeks-old wolves do not discriminate in their expression of attachment behaviour toward a human caregiver and a stranger when compared to similar aged dogs, wolves at the age of eight weeks do. This highlights the potential for wolves to form attachment to humans, but simultaneously raises the question if this attachment weakens over time in wolves compared to dogs. Here we used the Strange Situation Test (SST) to investigate attachment behaviour expressed in hand-reared wolves and dogs toward a human caregiver at the age of 23 weeks. Both wolves and dogs expressed attachment toward a human caregiver. Surprisingly, wolves, but not dogs, discriminated between the caregiver and a stranger by exploring the room more in the presence of the caregiver compared to the stranger and greeting the caregiver more than the stranger. Our results thereby suggest that wolves can show attachment toward humans comparable to that of dogs at later developmental stages. Importantly, our results indicate that the ability to form attachment with humans did not occur post-domestication of dogs.

Behavioural effects of training on water rescue dogs in the Strange Situation Test

2016 ◽  
Vol 174 ◽  
pp. 121-127 ◽  
Author(s):  
Anna Scandurra ◽  
Alessandra Alterisio ◽  
Biagio D’Aniello
Keyword(s):  
Strange Situation ◽  
Behavioural Effects ◽  
Water Rescue ◽  
Strange Situation Test

Some Normative Data on Preschool Children's Social Behaviours

1986 ◽  
Vol 3 (1) ◽  
pp. 41-47
Author(s):  
Keith D. Ballard ◽  
Terence J. Crooks
Keyword(s):  
Social Interaction ◽  
Social Interactions ◽  
Normative Data ◽  
Social Validity ◽  
Social Play ◽  
Social Involvement ◽  
Repeated Observation ◽  
The Social ◽  
Social Behaviours

Data on rate and qualitative features of social interactions and on peer social involvement in play were obtained from repeated observation measures taken across 14 to 23 weeks on two children randomly selected from each of 6 kindergartens. Session-by-session variability was found to be a feature of the social interaction and social play data, and there was evidence that social behaviours may vary systematically across different kindergarten settings. A case is made for obtaining normative data in each setting of interest in order to identify atypical behaviour and to evaluate the social validity of intervention outcomes.

scholarly journals Infantilizing Companion Animals through Attachment Theory: Why Shift to Behavioral Ecology-Based Paradigms for Welfare

2020 ◽  
pp. 1-18
Author(s):  
Amelia Lewis
Keyword(s):  
Attachment Theory ◽  
Behavioral Ecology ◽  
Separation Anxiety ◽  
Social Bonds ◽  
Companion Animals ◽  
Alternative Theory ◽  
Strange Situation ◽  
Human Infants ◽  
Mature Adult ◽  
Strange Situation Test

Abstract Attachment theory, proposed in the 1950s to understand the development of parent-child relationships, is often applied to human–companion animal relationships. I argue the application of this paradigm to test nonhuman animals’ social bonds with humans infantilizes mature animals and has a detrimental impact on animal welfare. The premise is that Ainsworth’s Strange Situation Test is inappropriate to investigate the emotional ties between domestic animals and humans. Instead, I propose an alternative theory, that dogs form mature social bonds with their guardians, and that the phenomenon known as separation anxiety is the result either of the frustration of mature adult group behaviors, or an overdependency fostered by the guardian. Rather than view mature dogs as comparable to human infants in their social relationships, we should perceive them as socially and emotionally mature at adulthood and shift the focus from attachment-based paradigms to the behavioral ecology and cognition of companion animals.

Attachment and Social Withdrawal in Autism: Hypotheses and Findings

Behaviour ◽  
1995 ◽  
Vol 132 (5-6) ◽  
pp. 319-350 ◽  
Author(s):  
J.K. Buitelaar
Keyword(s):  
Social Cognitive ◽  
Social Withdrawal ◽  
Empirical Support ◽  
Social Impairment ◽  
Strange Situation ◽  
The Social ◽  
Approach Avoidance ◽  
Strange Situation Test ◽  
Concurrent Assessment ◽  
Attachment Behaviour

AbstractAutism is characterized by an impaired development in social interaction and communication and a markedly restricted repertoire of activities and interests. This paper summarizes the research into the social abnormalities in autism, and reviews the empirical support for two behavioural hypotheses on autism, i.e. that autism results from impaired attachment, or from intense and prolonged approach-avoidance conflicts. The core social impairment of autistic subjects seems to be a deficit in attunement and timing of actions and reactions rather than a difference in frequencies of behaviours. Attachment behaviour of most, if not all autistic children tends to be disorganized; nevertheless, they do form attachment relationships in terms of preferential proximity seeking or reunion behaviour in the Strange Situation Test. Attachment studies performed sofar however have methodological limitations ; particularly the study of maternal-infant attunement and reciprocity has been neglected. Empirical evidence fails to support the presence of approach-avoidance conflicts in autistic subjects, and is further at variance with the predicted consequences of such conflicts. Insufficient attention has hitherto been paid to the clinical heterogeneity of autism in behavioural studies. A promising approach to deepen our understanding of the development of the autistic symptomatology is the early detection and subsequent behavioural study of 1-2 year old children at high-risk for autism. Finally, behaviour observation studies in autistic subjects are likely to benefit from the concurrent assessment of physiological indices of arousal, and from the integrated measurement of social-cognitive processes.

scholarly journals Reduced caregiving quality measured during the strange situation procedure increases child’s autonomic nervous system stress response

2019 ◽  
Vol 13 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Franziska Köhler-Dauner ◽  
Eva Roder ◽  
Sabrina Krause ◽  
Anna Buchheim ◽  
Harald Gündel ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Nervous System ◽  
Autonomic Nervous System ◽  
Maternal Behavior ◽  
Left Ventricular ◽  
Left Ventricular Ejection ◽  
Strange Situation ◽  
Autonomic Nervous ◽  
Ventricular Ejection Time ◽  
The Stranger ◽  
Strange Situation Procedure

Abstract Background Dysfunctional maternal behavior has been shown to lead to disturbances in infant’s regulatory capacities and alterations in vagal reactivity. We aim to investigate the autonomic nervous system (ANS) response of the child during the strange situation procedure (SSP) in relation to the quality of maternal behavior. Methods Twelve month after birth, 163 mother–child-dyads were investigated during the SSP. Heart rate (HR) and both, the parasympathetic branch (PNS) via the respiratory sinus arrhythmia (RSA) and the sympathetic branch (SNS) via the left ventricular ejection time (LVET) of the ANS were continuously determined during the SSP using electrocardiogram (ECG) and impedance cardiogram (ICG) measures. Maternal behavior was assessed by using the AMBIANCE measure. Results The ANS response in infants of mothers with disruptive behavior compared to infants of non-disruptive mothers was significantly altered during the SSP: HR increased especially when infants of disruptive mothers were alone with the stranger (F (1, 161) = 4.15, p = .04) with a significant vagal withdrawal when being in contact with the stranger despite of presence of the mother (F (1, 161) = 5.11, p = .03) and a significant increase in vagal tone during final reunion (F (1, 161) = 3.76, p = .05). HR increase was mainly based on a decrease in LVET (F (1, 161) = 4.08, p = .05) with a maximum infant’s HR when the stranger came into the room instead of the mother. Conclusion Both, SNS and PNS branches of the child are significantly altered in terms of an ANS imbalance, especially during contract to a stranger, in relation to dysfunctional maternal behavior. Our findings suggest the importance of supporting high quality caregiving that enables the infant to adapt adequately to stressful interpersonal situations which is likely to promote later health.

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