Not all dogs look on the bright side

How often do you see a cranky dog on TV?  Not often, I’ll bet. Dogs in the media are overwhelmingly depicted as happy-go-lucky creatures, bounding joyfully after a ball or effusively greeting people.  One could conclude that most dogs have an optimistic view of the world, but a study from the University of Sydney disproves that assumption.  It turns out that some dogs have a gloomier outlook on life than others.

The researchers in Australia taught dogs to touch a target after they heard a tone associated with a bowl of milk (the reward) and to abstain from touching the target after hearing a tone associated with a bowl of water.  Once the dogs learned that, the scientists added tones between those that the dogs had already learned and measured how long it took the dogs to touch the target.  Those that touched the target with less hesitation through a broader range of tones were considered more optimistic: They expected the preferred bowl of milk, even if the tones were closer to the tone producing the water.

How does that translate into a dog’s behavior, and why should you care?

 

The pessimistic pooch expects more bad things to happen in day-to-day life, which might make him avoid new or unusual situations, or give up when things don’t go his way.  This guy might not seem unhappy, but he most likely will prefer the status quo.  He might need coaxing to engage in new activities or situations.

The optimistic personality expects that most things will go his way.  This is a dog that is willing to take risks to get rewards, and that recovers more easily from setbacks and disappointments.  Unlike the negative-thinking dog, he won’t be stressed by failure.  The cute terrier in this video is the quintessential optimist!

Knowing a dog’s outlook on life is important when a trainer needs to assess the dog for working roles.  The optimistic dog would be in his element tenaciously searching for a missing child, a fleeing criminal, or a cache of explosives.  The more thoughtful pessimist would take fewer chances and would make a good guide dog for the blind. 

For the pet owner, learning the emotional makeup of his or her companion is the key to interacting with him and training him most efficiently. The cheerful, confident dog will try and try again, even after failure.  Your training sessions with him can be longer and more adventurous.  Noisy agility classes are fun for this dog but might initially intimidate the pessimist.  Ditto for raucous romps at the park, which might be too stimulating for the less carefree canine.

The less outgoing dog will need gentler, more gradual training, with lots of rewards offered along the way to build confidence.  He might prefer a game of fetch in the back yard over a stint at doggy day care.

Of course, there is a range of positivism; no pooch is a pure optimist or pessimist (although I’ve met some golden retrievers and Labs that come pretty darn close to being the perfect Pollyanna!). Most pet owners probably have a pretty good idea, without doing any fancy experiments, where on the spectrum their companion falls.  Once you make that realization, you can more thoughtfully train and otherwise interact with your dog so he has an easier time navigating the world in which he lives