Sustained attention to the owner is enhanced in dogs trained for animal assisted interventions.

Adaptation in human societies requires dogs to pay attention to socially relevant human beings, in contexts that may greatly vary in social complexity. In turn, such selective attention may depend on the dog's training and involvement in specific activities. Therefore, we recruited untrained pet dogs (N=32), dogs trained for agility (N=32) and for animal assisted interventions (N=32) to investigate differences in attention to the owner in relation to the dogs' training/working experience.

Global bias reliability in dogs (Canis familiaris).

Dogs enrolled in a previous study were assessed two years later for reliability of their local/global preference in a discrimination test with the same hierarchical stimuli used in the previous study (Experiment 1) and with a novel stimulus (Experiment 2). In Experiment 1, dogs easily re-learned to discriminate the positive stimulus; their individual global/local choices were stable compared to the previous study; and an overall clear global bias was found. In Experiment 2, dogs were slower in acquiring the initial discrimination task; the overall global bias disappeared; and, individually, dogs tended to make inverse choices compared to the original study.

Peripheral leukocyte populations and oxidative stress biomarkers in aged dogs showing impaired cognitive abilities.

In the present study, the peripheral blood leukocyte phenotypes, lymphocyte subset populations, and oxidative stress parameters were studied in cognitively characterized adult and aged dogs, in order to assess possible relationships between age, cognitive decline, and the immune status. Adult (N = 16, 2-7 years old) and aged (N = 29, older than 8 years) dogs underwent two testing procedures, for the assessment of spatial reversal learning and selective social attention abilities, which were shown to be sensitive to aging in pet dogs. Based on age and performance in cognitive testing, dogs were classified as adult not cognitively impaired (ADNI, N = 12), aged not cognitively impaired (AGNI, N = 19) and aged cognitively impaired (AGCI, N = 10).

Part-based and configural processing of owner's face in dogs.

Dogs exhibit characteristic looking patterns when looking at human faces but little is known about what the underlying cognitive mechanisms are and how much these are influenced by individual experience. In Experiment 1, seven dogs were trained in a simultaneous discrimination procedure to assess whether they could discriminate a) the owner's face parts (eyes, nose or mouth) presented in isolation and b) whole faces where the same parts were covered. Dogs discriminated all the three parts of the owner's face presented in isolation, but needed fewer sessions to reach the learning criterion for the eyes than for both nose and mouth.

Hierarchical stimulus processing by dogs (Canis familiaris).

The purpose of this study was to assess the visual processing of global and local levels of hierarchical stimuli in domestic dogs. Fourteen dogs were trained to recognise a compound stimulus in a simultaneous conditioned discrimination procedure and were then tested for their local/global preference in a discrimination test. As a group, dogs showed a non-significant trend for global precedence, although large inter-individual variability was observed.

Does the attachment system towards owners change in aged dogs?

Changes during senescence can significantly affect both the emotional and relational needs of old individuals and the characteristics of the attachment system. In order to determine whether the emotional response of dogs is affected by old age, we compared the behavioural parameters of adult (AD <7 years of age, n=25) and aged (AG ≥7 years of age, n=25) dogs in a distressing situation, which gives rise to attachment behaviour patterns (Strange Situation Test, SST). The physiological response of dogs was assessed by measurement of salivary cortisol variations in samples collected both at the dogs' homes and at the study location, before and after the SST.

Spatial reversal learning is impaired by age in pet dogs.

Aged dogs spontaneously develop progressive decline in both cognitive and behavioral function, in addition to neuropathological changes, that collectively parallel several aspects of human aging and Alzheimer's disease progression and likely contribute to the development of canine cognitive dysfunction syndrome. In the current study, ethologically relevant spatial learning, retention, and reversal learning tasks were conducted, with the goal of expanding canine neuropsychological testing to pet dogs. Initially, dogs (N = 44, aged 7.