Biologia Futura: four questions about ageing and the future of relevant animal models

Understanding how active and healthy ageing can be achieved is one of the most relevant global problems. In this review, I use the “Four questions” framework of Tinbergen to investigate how ageing works, how it might contribute to the survival of species, how it develops during the lifetime of (human) individuals and how it evolved. The focus of ageing research is usually on losses, although trajectories in later life show heterogeneity and many individuals experience healthy ageing. In humans, mild changes in cognition might be a typical part of ageing, but deficits are a sign of pathology. The ageing of the world's populations, and relatedly, the growing number of pathologically ageing people, is one of the major global problems. Animal models can help to understand the intrinsic and extrinsic factors contributing to ageing

Viselkedésgenetikai szempontú személyiségvizsgálatok kutyán = Behavioural genetic approach to dog personality

Kutatásainkkal az utóbbi években egyre elterjedtebb kutyaszemélyiség-kutatások módszertanának fejlesztéséhez kívántunk hozzájárulni, valamint a környezet és gének személyiségre gyakorolt hatását vizsgáltuk. A nyugati civilizációjú államok háztartásainak jellemzően 40%-ában él kutya. Személyiségük szakszerű leírása lehetővé teszi, hogy speciális funkciókra a megfelelő kutya legyen kiválasztható, és ezzel mérsékelhetők legyenek az együttélés nehézségei. Munkánk során öt új kérdőívet dolgoztunk ki, és kettő, korábban validált kérdőívet alkalmaztunk. Emellett kifejlesztettünk egy olyan viselkedésteszt-sorozatot, amellyel viszonylag rövid idő alatt fel lehet mérni egy kutya jellemző viselkedésmintázatát, anélkül, hogy a gazda véleményére kellene hagyatkoznunk. A pályázat 3 éve alatt összesen mintegy tizenötezer kutyát mértünk fel ezekkel a módszerekkel, ebből közel ötszáz kutyáról viselkedéses adatot is gyűjtöttünk. Emellett a kutyák ingerületátvivő anyagokkal kapcsolatos génváltozatai és személyiségvonásai között kerestünk kapcsolatot. A SE Orvosi Vegytani Intézetében genotipizált közel 900 kutya (német juhászkutya, belga juhászkutya, szibériai husky, beagle) és viselkedésük asszociációs vizsgálata azt mutatta, hogy a dopaminnal kapcsolatos gének, akárcsak az embernél, a kutya esetében is kapcsolatban vannak az aktivitással, impulzivitással és egyes szociális viselkedésformákkal. | The aim of this research was to develop the methodology of studying dog personality. In Western countries every 4 households out of 10 has at least one dog. Approximately 40% of households in the Western civilization keep at least one dog. Identifying dogs' personality might help in decreasing human-canine conflicts. We developed five new questionnaires, adapted two validated questionnaires and worked out a test battery to assess the behaviour of the dogs without asking the owners' opinion. We identified several personality traits by the mean of multivariate statistical analysis. We surveyed approximately 15,000 dogs - 500 of which had participated in the test battery. Besides, in cooperation with the Semmelweis University we found further evidence that polymorphisms of candidate genes involved in dopamine pathways are associated with activity/impulsivity and/or some aspects of social behaviour in German shepherds, Belgian shepherds and Siberian huskies. This research confirmed the hypotheses that the investigation of canine personality could be a very fruitful model for human personality

Current Trends in Canine Problem-Solving and Cognition

Dogs have occupied a central place in modern comparative cognition, partly because of their specific past and present relationship with humans. Over the years, we have gained insights about the functioning of the dog’s mind, which has helped us to understand how dogs’ problem-solving abilities differ from those present in related species such as the wolf. Novel methodologies are also emerging that allow for the study of neural and genetic mechanisms that control mental functions. By providing an overview from an ethological perspective, we call for greater integration of the field and a better understanding of natural dog behavior as a way to generate scientific hypotheses

Dominance in dogs as rated by owners corresponds to ethologically valid markers of dominance

Dominance is well defined in ethology, debated in psychology, and is often unclear among the dog owning public and in the press. However, to date, no study has examined how owners perceive dominance in dogs, and what different behaviours and personality types are used to describe dominant and subordinate individuals. A questionnaire study was launched to investigate the external validity of owner-derived estimates of dominance in dog dyads sharing the same household (N = 1,151). According to the owners, dogs rated as dominant (87%) have priority access to resources (resting place, food, and rewards), undertake certain tasks (defend and lead the group, bark more), display dominance (win fights, lick the other’s mouth less, and mark over the other’s urine), share certain personality traits (smarter, more aggressive and impulsive), and are older than their partner dog (all p < 0.0001). An age-related hypothesis has been suggested to explain dominance in dogs; but we found that dog age did not explain the occurrence of dominance related behaviours over the owners’ estimate of dominance status. Results suggest that owner-derived reports of dominance ranks of dogs living in multi-dog households correspond to ethologically valid behavioural markers of dominance. Size and physical condition were unrelated to the perceived dominance. Surprisingly, in mixed-sex dyads, females were more frequently rated as dominant than males, which might correspond to a higher proportion of neutered females in this subgroup. For future studies that wish to allocate dominance status using owner report, we offer a novel survey

A comparison of rating and coding activity-impulsivity and inattention in dogs

The aim of the present study was to examine the links between independent rating and coding approaches to assessing activity-impulsivity and inattention in dogs. Fifty-six adult Belgian shepherd dogs were videotaped performing in behavioural tests. 17 behavioural variables were measured by coders (video-coding). Raters watched the same videotapes and then rated the activity-impulsivity and inattention of each dog (video-rating). Owners filled out the Dog ADHS-RS questionnaire measuring activity-impulsivity and inattention. Video-rating of activity-impulsivity correlated with the scale scores of the owner, but video-codings did not. The results suggest that the owner ratings and video ratings are tapping the same constructs, but behavioural variables assessed in the present study were not appropriate for mirroring the owners’ assessments. The findings suggest that if consistent individual differences in broad behavioural traits are the primary focus of analyses, then ratings seem to capture information not easily captured in coding approaches designed to assess the same constructs

A comparison of rating and coding behavioural traits in dogs

The aim of the present study was to examine the links between independent rating and coding approaches to assessing activity-impulsivity and inattention in dogs. Fifty-six adult Belgian shepherd dogs were videotaped performing in behavioural tests. Seventeen behavioural variables were measured by coders (video coding). Raters watched the same videotapes and then rated the activity-impulsivity and inattention of each dog (video rating). Owners filled out the Dog ADHS-RS questionnaire measuring activity-impulsivity and inattention. Video rating of activity-impulsivity correlated with the scale scores of the owner, but video codings did not. The results suggest that the owner ratings and video ratings are tapping the same constructs, but behavioural variables assessed in the present study were not appropriate for mirroring the owners’ assessments. The findings suggest that if consistent individual differences in broad behavioural traits are the primary focus of analyses, then ratings seem to capture information not easily captured in coding approaches designed to assess the same constructs

Fetching what the owner prefers? Dogs recognize disgust and happiness in human behaviour

Research using the two-object choice paradigm showed that dogs prefer the object associated with the happy human emotion. However, they provided rather ambiguous results regarding the negative emotions. We assumed that differences between the dogs' and owners' interest towards the 'negative' object might be responsible for this. In our experiment, dogs observed their owner expressing different emotions towards two uniform plastic bottles. Five dog groups were tested based on the condition they received: (1) happy versus neutral, (2) happy versus disgust, (3) neutral versus disgust and (4-5) neutral vs neutral, as control groups. Contrary to previous studies using free choice paradigm, we used a task-driven approach. After the demonstration, the dogs had to retrieve one object to the owner. The dogs' performance in the two neutral-neutral groups did not differ from the chance level. In contrast, subjects were able to distinguish between the happy and neutral expression of the owner: they both approached and fetched the 'happy' object. In the happy-disgusted and neutral-disgusted groups, the dogs approached the bottles randomly, suggesting that they found the 'disgusting' and 'neutral' objects equally attractive. Nevertheless, the dogs preferentially retrieved the object marked with the relatively more positive emotion (happy or neutral) to the owner in both conditions. Our results demonstrate that dogs are able to recognize which is the more positive among two emotions, and in a fetching task situation, they override their own interest in the 'disgusting' object and retrieve what the owner prefers. © 2014 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg