Dogs have feelings too: How your pooch can be divided into an optimist or pessimist

By DAVID DERBYSHIRE


Half full or half empty? Scientific research has discovered that some dogs have a pessimistic attitude, while others are optimists


If your dog gets upset when you walk out of the door, it's probably a pessimist.

For scientists have shown that for every pooch who believes its water bowl is half full, another is convinced that the bowl is half empty.

While the discovery that dogs have all-too-human personalities won't surprise pet lovers, the researchers say it sheds light on why some animals are happy to be left on their own, while others suffer from separation anxiety.

Dogs who are naturally optimistic are convinced their owners will return, while the pessimists assume they have been abandoned, they say.

Professor Mike Mendl, head of the animal welfare and behaviour research group at Bristol University who led the study, said: 'We all have a tendency to think that our pets and other animals experience emotions similar to our own, but we have no way of knowing directly because emotions are essentially private.

'However, we can use findings from human psychology research to develop new ways of measuring animal emotion.

'We know that people's emotional states affect their judgements and that happy people are more likely to judge an ambiguous situation positively.

'What our study has shown is that this applies similarly to dogs – that a 'glass-half-full' dog is less likely to be anxious when left alone than one with a more 'pessimistic' nature.'

The findings emerged from a study into the personalities of 24 dogs at two animal shelters in the UK.

Each of the dogs was first assessed to see whether it suffered from separation anxiety - behaviour such as barking, jumping on furniture or scratching at the door when it was left alone.

Each dog was then trained to expect that when a bowl was placed at one specific location in a room it would contain food, but when it was placed in another it would be empty.

Once the dogs had learned that only some bowls contained a meal, the researchers placed bowls in 'neutral' locations in the room.

Dogs that bounded up to the bowls expecting food were classified as optimists. But those who didn't bother approaching the bowls were deemed to be pessimists.

Animals who suffered from separation anxiety were far more likely to be pessimists, the researchers report in the journal Current Biology.

'Around half of dogs in the UK may at some point perform separation-related behaviours - toileting, barking and destroying objects around the home - when they're apart from their owners,' said Prof Mendl.

'Our study suggests that dogs showing these types of behaviour also appear to make more pessimistic judgements generally.'

Dr Samantha Gaines, from the Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, said: 'Many dogs are relinquished each year because they show separation-related behaviour.

'Some owners think that dogs showing anxious behaviour in response to separation are fine, and do not seek treatment for their pets.

'This research suggests that at least some of these dogs may have underlying negative emotional states, and owners are encouraged to seek treatment to enhance the welfare of their dogs and minimise the need to relinquish their pet.

'Some dogs may also be more prone to develop these behaviours, and should be re-homed with appropriate owners'


source :dailymail