Is Your Dog a Pessimist?
By TARA PARKER-POPE
NY Times blog: Well
October 12, 2010
Does your dog droop when you leave the house? It may be a sign that your pet is a pessimist.
Today’s Observatory column describes a fascinating experiment in which dogs in British animal shelters were offered food bowls that were sometimes full and sometimes empty.
By TARA PARKER-POPE
NY Times blog: Well
October 12, 2010
Does your dog droop when you leave the house? It may be a sign that your pet is a pessimist.
Today’s Observatory column describes a fascinating experiment in which dogs in British animal shelters were offered food bowls that were sometimes full and sometimes empty.
After training the dogs to understand that bowls can sometimes be empty, and sometimes full, they began to place bowls in ambiguous locations. Dogs that quickly raced to the locations were more optimistic, and in search of food. Those that did not were deemed pessimistic.
The more separation anxiety a dog expressed while in isolation, the more likely the dog was to have a pessimistic reaction, the researchers found.
To learn more about the research and what it means to dog owners, read the full report, When a Dog’s Dish Seems Half Empty. Have you suspected that your dog has a dish-half-empty view of the world?The more separation anxiety a dog expressed while in isolation, the more likely the dog was to have a pessimistic reaction, the researchers found.
