Pet dogs prefer to work alone than to engage in a challenging cooperative task with conspecifics.

ABSTRACT: Understanding the role of a partner is key to effective human cooperation. While we know that non-human animals extensively cooperate with each other, how well they understand the role of their partner is unclear. This has been explored using economic games, yielding mixed results. A previous study showed that dogs understand the role of their human partner in an economic game setting, adjusting their behavior according to the partner's choices, but there are no clear results when it comes to dog conspecific cooperation. In this study, we tested pairs of pet dogs in the stag hunt game. In the typical payoff group, dogs had the option to perform a more challenging, cooperative action for a higher reward or work individually for a lower one. To test for a potential effect of motivation for t

SUBMITTER: Wallner Werneck Mendes J 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC12857557 | biostudies-literature | 2026

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature