Is your dog a good communicator? Want to find out?

DBB

Do you think your dog is good at knowing what you're trying to tell him? Do you think you know what he's trying to tell you? If your dog fits the profile below, then you can find out how good you both are!:)
I am conducting a research experiment in conjunction with, amongst others, the Family Dog Project in ELTE University in Budapest, a research centre specialising in research into the co-evolution of social cognition in humans and dogs.
I am looking for volunteers, both owners and dogs, to take part in this research project.
Please note, I refer to dogs here as “he” purely for brevity, but this project is open to male and female dogs of any age, neutered and entire.
My project aims to test dogs bred for different functions in two communication tasks. These tasks are completely non-invasive and fun for the dog. We’ll be trying to measure how well your dog reads human body-language, and how he reacts when given a puzzle to work out.
This work will help to refine future research into the inter-relationship of dog/human communication, and it will also give owners a chance to see how their dog performs in communicative tasks… is he a free-thinker, or does he prefer to ask his owner for help?!
I’m afraid I have to limit the dogs chosen to smaller purebreeds only: this is not an attempt to discriminate towards crossbreeds or big dogs, it is simply a matter of experimental design, so no offence to the mutts and mongrels out there!

If you’re interested in participating, here are some other conditions we’re looking for:
· Your dog(s) must be a mainly-indoor, pet dog. We cannot test working dogs.
· Your dog(s) should have, at most, a basic level of training: I can’t use highly-trained agility dogs as we need them to be reasonably innocent in training terms!
· Dogs will be tested in their own homes.
· Your dog(s) should be reasonably motivated by food or toys.
· All you need in your home is a space of about 3m x 2m for the test area.
· I will be asking you to fill out a short questionnaire about your dog, and there will be video cameras set up in the test area to video the dog’s performance.
· I can test up to 2 dogs in each home.
· I will travel to you: as I live in the northeast I will preferentially go for volunteers from Counties Dublin, Meath, Louth, Monaghan, Down, however, if I get a group of volunteers further afield I’d be happy to arrange a tour of your area! So don’t let geography prevent you from volunteering!
· Confidentiality is assured at all times and volunteers may withdraw from the project at any time.


So, the breeds I’m looking for are:

From the Gundog Group:
Cocker Spaniels (English)
Smaller Springer Spaniels (Welsh and English)
Brittany Spaniels
Clumber Spaniels
Sussex Spaniels

From the Herding Group:
Smaller Border Collies
Shetland Sheepdogs (Shelties)
Hungarian Pulis
Corgis (Cardigan and Pembroke)
Tibetan Terriers

From the Terrier Group:
Westies
Cairns
Scotties
Border Terriers
Lakeland Terriers
Patterdale Terriers
Wire- and Smooth-Haired Fox terriers
Parsons Jack Russells
Jack Russells
Glen of Imaal Terriers
Sealyham Terriers
Czesky Terriers
Dandie Dinmont Terriers
Note: No Staffies as we’re looking specifically for “earth dogs”

From the Hound Group:
Dachshunds (Standard and Miniature, all coat types)
Beagles
Bassett Hounds
Whippets

From the Toy/Companion Group (please note: we can’t use the flat-faced breeds):
Pomeranian
German Spitz
Japanese Spitz
Bichon Frise
Bolognese
Havanese
Papillon
Phalene
Cavalier King Charles Spaniel
Poodle (Toy and Miniature)
Maltese Terrier
Chihuahua
Coton du Tulear
Chinese Crested and Powderpuff
Miniature Pinscher
Lowchen

I may have forgotten some breeds that fit the profile, if you think you have a breed that might be suitable for inclusion, let me know!
If you’d like to participate, and find out some interesting things about your dog, as well as making a valuable contribution to our understanding of why dogs and humans get on as well as we do, please PM me and we can make arrangements for testing to be done.
Thank you all very much for reading this long post!

Cherry Blossom

Is there an option for people to do/video the tests themselves or does that interfere with the controlled environment factor?

DBB

The tests will be done by me as the same experimenter throughout.

That said, I can't see any problem if owners would like to video their dogs doing the trials for their own interest.
All owners will be given the results of how their dog got on individually, and in the experiment as a whole, if they request them.

Please folks, feel free to ask questions here, I'll try to answer them as best I can.

toadfly

What about Yorkies?!

DBB

TillyGirl wrote: »

What about Yorkies?!

Aw, I knew someone would ask! They're too cross-overy between the terrier and toy group from a functional perspective. These tests will help discern how dogs from different working backgrounds perform, so breeds that are still too close to a different functional from the one they're in now could distort things.

Cutie18Ireland

I have 2 pure bred poms and im in Cavan if thats any use to ya?

borderlinemeath

What about my 2 Irish setters? They're small, probably small border collie size. Based just outside Drogheda.

Very responsive to food and toys!:D

Mountjoy Mugger

No labradors?

PCPhoto

(attaches sceptic hat) No offence intended OP but how do we know this is genuine.

on the face of it... someone on boards posts a message saying I want to "test" your dog....I only want pure bred dogs and need to test the dog in your home.

so the information you gather from your research is the address of pure bred dogs and once inside the home you could get details of any security which is clearly visible.

(takes off sceptic hat)

Good luck to ya
Ps. am I jealous because I have a yorkie/papillion cross and cant afford or dont want a pure bred dog...nope !

DBB

PCPhoto wrote: »

(attaches sceptic hat) No offence intended OP but how do we know this is genuine.

on the face of it... someone on boards posts a message saying I want to "test" your dog....I only want pure bred dogs and need to test the dog in your home.

so the information you gather from your research is the address of pure bred dogs and once inside the home you could get details of any security which is clearly visible.

Hands up, it was me yer honour. The cynicism indeed! I haven't seen you posting much here before, so perhaps you won't have seen that almost all of my own posts are dog behaviour and welfare related and I think I have exhibited a reasonably reliable reputation in that regard.
Apart from that, boards.ie doesn't allow people to post looking for people to take part in projects unless the person has built up a genuine "history", and unless they deem the project to be absolutely genuine.
I have named one of the organisations involved in this project, a department within a highly reputable university in Budapest. There are other organisations involved, including Newcastle University in the uk.
Obviously, I can't post every last nugget of information about the project in an "interest gathering" post such as my op is, but anyone participating in this project will be fully briefed in what's involved, who's involved, will see ethical clearance paperwork, and will sign consent forms.
It is an important experiment, but it's also great fun for participants, and owners may learn things about how smart their dog is that they never knew before!

Thank you to everyone who has been in touch so far, I will be contacting you all by PM later today. Thanks again!

callmekenneth

search mccul99 on youtube to see a dog that communicates very well

Whispered

I'd be very very interested in this but with one mixed breed and one staffy I'm not eligible. I'd love more info on doing it myself if possible.

DBB

Mountjoy Mugger wrote: »

No labradors?

I'm afraid not... that'd make life too easy for me!:D
The reason I'm constrained by size is that in visual tasks, which these are, big dogs tend to be better than small dogs due to difference in binocular vision.
Because the Toy Group are an important element in this experiment, it means I have to try and control, as far as possible, the sizes of the other breeds from the Gundog, Herding, Terrier and Hound groups, which means I have to limit myself to the smaller breeds within these categories.
Sorry Labradors, Retrievers, Pointers, Setters, Rough Collies, Airedales etc!:o

Cherry Blossom

PCPhoto wrote: »

(attaches sceptic hat) No offence intended OP but how do we know this is genuine.

Mod Post:

The OP has sought and been granted permission for this thread in advance, I can also verify that the OP is one of the founding members of APDT in Ireland.

DBB

callmekenneth wrote: »

search mccul99 on youtube to see a dog that communicates very well

Heh heh! What a funny character! He sure does communicate, I think "happy" is his core emotion:D
Is he your dog?

lrushe

DBB, when will the test take place?
I've a Chihuahua and a Japanese Spitz but I am due a baby in March so it wouldn't be good timing if the test was scheduled for around then, wouldn't like to have to dash off mid test if baby decided to make an unexpected appearance

DBB

lrushe wrote: »

DBB, when will the test take place?
I've a Chihuahua and a Japanese Spitz but I am due a baby in March so it wouldn't be good timing if the test was scheduled for around then, wouldn't like to have to dash off mid test if baby decided to make an unexpected appearance

:eek::D
Congratulations on the bump!:)
I'm going to start testing in the run-up to Christmas, and up to about May in 2012, so there's no problem accommodating you with whatever suits you!

Andromeda_111

What about the mastiff 'Big Lump' varieties? I've a bullmastiff that does the best facial expressions that leave you in no doubt what he's trying to tell ye

DBB

OasisGirl wrote: »

What about the mastiff 'Big Lump' varieties? I've a bullmastiff that does the best facial expressions that leave you in no doubt what he's trying to tell ye

Thanks Oasisgirl, your dog sounds like a great character:D
However, I'm afraid I'm confined to smaller breeds for this particular experiment.

mymo

I have a Tibetan terrier, but I'm in the south east.

We have yet to progress far with the training, he'll do the usual, sit, stay, high fives and give the paw, etc....but only when he wants to:rolleyes:

He's very good at communicating when its bedtime...I have been getting sighed at for the last half hour.

DBB

mymo wrote: »

He's very good at communicating when its bedtime...I have been getting sighed at for the last half hour.

:D

Have sent you a PM.
Once again, thanks to those of you who have contacted me so far to volunteer yourselves and your dogs!:)

TooManyDogs

When you say JRT do you mean only IKC registered jackers or rescue centre jackers?

loopyloulilly

I have a West Highland Terrier and Miniature Pom. Based in Longford.

Dyr

Why in the jaysus would a university in hungary run a test involving pulis in Ireland? Theres feck all of them over here and tons of em in Hungary

DBB

Bambi wrote: »

Why in the jaysus would a university in hungary run a test involving pulis in Ireland? Theres feck all of them over here and tons of em in Hungary

Heh heh! Good point!
The test involves pulls simply because they conform to the criteria of being a small, herding breed. If I was testing bigger dogs, the Vizsla and Kuvasz would be in there too!

Cedrus

I have two mini dachshunds in Cork, smooth and wire coated?

ABajaninCork

Shih Tzu?

DBB

Thanks AbajaninCork,
I'm afraid the flat-faced breeds are not included in the study because they are better in visual tasks that longer-nosed breeds, and therefore will muddy the results when compared with the longer-nosed working breeds in this study.
Thank you, however, for your enquiry

chiefwiggum

basset hound in wicklow

belongtojazz

I'd be really interested in doing this, but my springer would probably be too big, my JRT does a lot of agility and my other 2 are jack cross breeds
It sOunds fascinating

frenchmartini

are mixed breeds out (poodle/retriever)? she's not huge, more like a small retriever.
she's a very smart girl :rolleyes: