Are dogs able to communicate with their owners about a desirable food in a referential and intentional way?

ABSTRACT: The ability of dogs to use human communicative signals has been exhaustively studied. However, few studies have focused on the production of communicative signals by dogs. The current study investigated if dogs are able to communicate by using directional signals towards some desirable object in the environment and also if they show an apparent intention to manipulate their owner's behavior in order to receive it. Some operational criteria were used to investigate referential and intentional communication: the signal should be influenced by the audience and by the recipient's direction of visual attention; the sender should display gaze alternations between the recipient and the object and attention-getting behaviors, and, finally, the sender should persist and elaborate the communication

SUBMITTER: Savalli C 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4169500 | biostudies-literature | 2014

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature