Dogs Also Get 'Down In The Dumps'

First Posted: Sep 18, 2014 05:30 PM EDT
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Even dogs can get down in the dumps. 

A recent study published in the journal PLOS One shows that though these animals generally seem like happy-go-lucky, cheerful creatures, they can be pessimistic, too. 

"This research is exciting because it measures positive and negative emotional states in dogs objectively and non-invasively. It offers researchers and dog owners an insight into the outlook of dogs and how that changes," said Dr Melissa Starling, from the Faculty of Veterinary Science, in a news release. "Finding out as accurately as possible whether a particular dog is optimistic or pessimistic is particularly helpful in the context of working and service dogs and has important implications for animal welfare."

For the study, researchers instructed dogs to associate two different types of sounds with whether they would get the preferred reward of milk or instead get the same amount of water. Once they learned the discrimination task, they were presented with an ‘ambiguous' tone.

However, if the dogs didn't respond to the ambiguous tones, it showed that they expected good things to happen to them or they were "optimistic."

"Of the dogs we tested we found more were optimistic than pessimistic but it is too early to say if that is true of the general dog population," added Dr. Starling. 

However it does mean that both individuals and institutions (kennels, dog minders) can have a much more accurate insight into the emotional make-up of their dogs.

Researchers noted that a dog with an optimistic personality expects more good things to happen and less bad things. He or she will take risks and gain access to more rewards, typically than more pessimistic ones.

With future studies, researchers hope that this will reveal how personalities will affect the way dogs see the world and how they behave. In turn, they hope it will also help it show how positive or negative their current mood is.

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