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Secure base effect in former shelter dogs and other family dogs: Strangers do not provide security in a problem-solving task

Domestic dogs display behavioural patterns towards their owners that fulfil the four criteria of attachment. As such, they use their owners as a secure base, exploring the environment and manipulating objects more when accompanied by their owners than when alone. Although there are some indications...

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Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores principales: Cimarelli, Giulia, Schindlbauer, Julia, Pegger, Teresa, Wesian, Verena, Virányi, Zsófia
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: Public Library of Science 2021
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8694447/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/34936692
http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0261790
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author Cimarelli, Giulia
Schindlbauer, Julia
Pegger, Teresa
Wesian, Verena
Virányi, Zsófia
author_facet Cimarelli, Giulia
Schindlbauer, Julia
Pegger, Teresa
Wesian, Verena
Virányi, Zsófia
author_sort Cimarelli, Giulia
collection PubMed
description Domestic dogs display behavioural patterns towards their owners that fulfil the four criteria of attachment. As such, they use their owners as a secure base, exploring the environment and manipulating objects more when accompanied by their owners than when alone. Although there are some indications that owners serve as a better secure base than other human beings, the evidence regarding a strong owner-stranger differentiation in a manipulative context is not straightforward. In the present study, we conducted two experiments in which pet dogs were tested in an object-manipulation task in the presence of the owner and of a stranger, varying how the human partner would behave (i.e. remaining silent or encouraging the dog, Experiment 1), and when alone (Experiment 2). Further, to gain a better insight into the mechanisms behind a potential owner-stranger differentiation, we investigated the effect of dogs’ previous life history (i.e. having lived in a shelter or having lived in the same household since puppyhood). Overall, we found that strangers do not provide a secure base effect and that former shelter dogs show a stronger owner-stranger differentiation than other family dogs. As former shelter dogs show more behavioural signs correlated with anxiety towards the novel environment and the stranger, we concluded that having been re-homed does not necessarily affect the likelihood of forming a secure bond with the new owner but might have an impact on how dogs interact with novel stimuli, including unfamiliar humans. These results confirm the owner’s unique role in providing security to their dogs and have practical implications for the bond formation in pet dogs with a past in a shelter.
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spelling pubmed-86944472021-12-23 Secure base effect in former shelter dogs and other family dogs: Strangers do not provide security in a problem-solving task Cimarelli, Giulia Schindlbauer, Julia Pegger, Teresa Wesian, Verena Virányi, Zsófia PLoS One Research Article Domestic dogs display behavioural patterns towards their owners that fulfil the four criteria of attachment. As such, they use their owners as a secure base, exploring the environment and manipulating objects more when accompanied by their owners than when alone. Although there are some indications that owners serve as a better secure base than other human beings, the evidence regarding a strong owner-stranger differentiation in a manipulative context is not straightforward. In the present study, we conducted two experiments in which pet dogs were tested in an object-manipulation task in the presence of the owner and of a stranger, varying how the human partner would behave (i.e. remaining silent or encouraging the dog, Experiment 1), and when alone (Experiment 2). Further, to gain a better insight into the mechanisms behind a potential owner-stranger differentiation, we investigated the effect of dogs’ previous life history (i.e. having lived in a shelter or having lived in the same household since puppyhood). Overall, we found that strangers do not provide a secure base effect and that former shelter dogs show a stronger owner-stranger differentiation than other family dogs. As former shelter dogs show more behavioural signs correlated with anxiety towards the novel environment and the stranger, we concluded that having been re-homed does not necessarily affect the likelihood of forming a secure bond with the new owner but might have an impact on how dogs interact with novel stimuli, including unfamiliar humans. These results confirm the owner’s unique role in providing security to their dogs and have practical implications for the bond formation in pet dogs with a past in a shelter. Public Library of Science 2021-12-22 /pmc/articles/PMC8694447/ /pubmed/34936692 http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0261790 Text en © 2021 Cimarelli et al https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) , which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.
spellingShingle Research Article
Cimarelli, Giulia
Schindlbauer, Julia
Pegger, Teresa
Wesian, Verena
Virányi, Zsófia
Secure base effect in former shelter dogs and other family dogs: Strangers do not provide security in a problem-solving task
title Secure base effect in former shelter dogs and other family dogs: Strangers do not provide security in a problem-solving task
title_full Secure base effect in former shelter dogs and other family dogs: Strangers do not provide security in a problem-solving task
title_fullStr Secure base effect in former shelter dogs and other family dogs: Strangers do not provide security in a problem-solving task
title_full_unstemmed Secure base effect in former shelter dogs and other family dogs: Strangers do not provide security in a problem-solving task
title_short Secure base effect in former shelter dogs and other family dogs: Strangers do not provide security in a problem-solving task
title_sort secure base effect in former shelter dogs and other family dogs: strangers do not provide security in a problem-solving task
topic Research Article
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8694447/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/34936692
http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0261790
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