Characterizing spontaneous rescue behavior towards their owners in domestic dogs

BENTOSELA M.; DAMIAN, JP; DZIK, M.V.; CASANAVE, E; FREIDIN, E.; CARBALLO F.

Virtually Everywhere, The World

Congreso; HBES (Human Behavior & Evolution Sciences) Conference 2021; 2021

Human Behavior & Evolution Society

Rescue behavior refers to a set of pro-social responses that aim to help another individual who is in a stressful or dangerous situation. The main objective is to evaluate if domestic dogs (Canis familiaris) are able to rescue their owners when they pretend to be trapped and stressed. Moreover, factors such as previous training, emotional contagion, oxytocin (OT) administration and the level of the dog-owner bond are analyzed. Dogs were assessed in a rescue task in which their owner pretended to be trapped inside a box. In the experimental group he emitted clear signs of stress and called for help, while in the control group he remained calm. The results showed that dogs opened the box more frequently and did it faster in the experimental group, revealing spontaneous rescue behavior. Previous training in search and rescue tasks tended to reduce latencies to open the door. In addition, an increase in heart rate across trials in the stressed group and a decrease in the calm one were observed, but there were no differences in cortisol levels and only few and inconsistent discrepancies in stress-related behaviors between groups. Therefore, the evidence regarding emotional contagion is yet inconclusive. Finally, the administration of intranasal OT decreased the frequency of openings and increased the latency to release the owner and a higher level of bonding appeared to have an additional detrimental effect on the rescue response of dogs who received OT. Futures studies are required to clarify the mechanisms involved in dogs? rescue behavior.