Scientists Developed A Strategy For How You Can Make Your Dog Pay Attention
Dogs may be the most adorable, loyal, and cuddly companions out there, but they have the shortest attention spans.
One second, they perk up when you’re calling their name, and the next, they’re too busy sniffing a random patch of grass to give you the time of day.
Getting your dog to focus isn’t all about yelling louder. Dogs have sharp ears, so they can definitely hear you; they’re just ignoring you. It’s about using the right techniques to encourage them to do what you’re asking.
If you have trouble getting your pup’s attention, don’t worry! Scientists have come up with a strategy to get dogs to pay attention.
A team of Austrian researchers strapped eye-tracking helmets on 20 dogs to determine where they looked when presented with various scenarios.
The test subjects included mongrels, Staffordshire terriers, Australian shepherds, and poodles. The experiment was conducted in the University of Veterinary Medicine Vienna’s Clever Dog Lab.
Each canine faced a kneeling scientist, with a bowl placed on either side of them. Only one of the bowls contained a hidden treat. Then, the dogs were exposed to five different scenarios, six times each.
The scientists would point at the bowl while staring at the dog, or point and look at the bowl at the same time, or look only at the bowl.
According to the researchers, pointing and staring at an object is the best way for dog owners to get pets to follow their commands. An owner’s gaze and gesture can be useful separately, but they are more powerful when combined.
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Recordings from the headgear showed that the canines achieved better results when a researcher both pointed and stared at the bowl that held the treat.
Perhaps you can try out this trick and turn your distracted four-legged friend into a focused, well-behaved pooch.
Or, at least get them to stop constantly ignoring you at the park. Overall, the findings support the hypothesis that dogs follow human referential communication cues, not just directional ones.
The dogs were able to understand the meaning of the information they were given instead of just running in the direction they were being pointed toward. However, it is unclear exactly how much the dogs understood about what was happening.
“Is it for them more like an imperative directive to go somewhere? Or do they understand it more in a communicative way?” said Christoph Voelter, the lead author of the study.
Further research is needed to learn more about how dogs respond to human instruction. In the future, researchers will also figure out if dogs are better at learning and memorizing when we address them.
The new study was published in Proceedings of the Royal Society B.
More About:Animals
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